Dawn came and this time he did not sleep so late, he had rested so wonderfully that nothing hurt, he opened his eyes and did not get up instantly, as if wanting to enjoy a few more minutes of that well-being that produced him having slept so well, while reluctantly recovering from the drowsiness, in the distance and among the trees, He managed to hear a different sound, something like the neighing of a horse, jumping up trying to see and locate the horse that he had heard, began to feel a slight vibration on the floor and heard something like a stampede but could not see anything, it was heard among the trees as if hundreds of buffaloes running through the forest were destroying everything, no matter how hard he tried he could not see buffaloes, nor horses, until the sound of the stampede was moving away, He also seemed to hear a kind of fluttering, and a swift shadow pass through the treetops following the course of the stampede and After nothing, once again silence reigned in that forest, he intended to go into the undergrowth but preferred not to move away from the river, because he feared getting lost more than he already was, he shrugged his shoulders starting once again his daily and customary ritual, touching the pockets of his overalls, checking one by one in search of his scarce belongings, When he saw that everything was there, he took off his clothes to rinse them in the waters of the river, wash his face and hands, although the water felt Cold, the cheerful sun seeped through the trees illuminating the center of that backwater of the river that seemed somewhat deep.
He decided to take a bath, and shortly after enjoying that revitalizing morning soak, he went out and began to dress, his clothes were almost dry, when he finished he sat recharged on one of the improvised walls of his night shelter, and taking his transit notebook from among his things, he applied himself to draw a map tracing in it what he He remembered since he began his strange journey and taking 12 noon as a reference he noted:
-From 12:00 to 15:00, the tearing of the mighty 2, fire of the mezquital and I find myself lost in the smoke that later turned into fog.
-From 15:00 to 16:00, the fog dissipates and I appear in the middle of a desert.
-From 16:00 to 18:00; Dawn? And I walk looking for the North and the federal highway Reynosa-Monterrey, taking into account that Reynosa was always on my right and Monterrey to my left with respect to the path of the Sun.
-From 18:00 to 22:00, the Sun reached the zenith and periodically turned on the cell phone in search of some digital signal.
-From 22:00 to 24:00, I kept walking through the desert without finding the road and without finding a ranch or anything.
-From 0:00 to 1:00, I see a horizontal line in the distance and I go to it thinking it was the road and it turned out that it was a forest.
-From 1:00 to 3:00; Dark? And I enter the forest trying to find a Find a river, ranch or some food.
-From 3:00 to 22:00; Sleep?
-From 22:00 to 3:00, walk through the forest.
-Note: it gets dark at 3:00, the schedules are based on what my cell phone says, that is, it gets dark at 3:00 and dawns at 4:00 p.m., that is, the schedule was run about 12 hours.
After writing down schedules he drew an imperfect ring at the bottom of a page, finishing with the drawing of some trees to the North, also drawing a small Moon in the waning quarter on one side as if indicating that at that point it was dark, and writing a one enclosed in a circle, as if indicating that it was the first day, on the next sheet he drew a series of trees crossed by a sinuous line as if indicating the river, and at the same time he drew a Sun and a Moon in the lower and upper part of the page, as if indicating dawn and dusk, enclosing in a circle the number 2, on the third page, he drew again the river and a Sun to the south of the drawing, enclosing the number 3 in a circle, lit a cigarette without discounting it and while smoking it he checked once again his pockets and his shelter, finding the harmonica and introduced it in the knife bag of the overalls, thoroughly checked his attire and prepared to restart the road with the axe in his hand, although he could get stuck between the belt and the lower part of his back he preferred not to do it, Because he felt that he could fall, he was walking without leaving the riverbank, sometimes eating those Strange but tasty yellow fruits, as he walked he checked his pockets and occasionally turned back.
He had the clear feeling that he had forgotten something, and more than once he wanted to return while thinking about what was happening, as if looking for an explanation for his well-being, the absence of his belly, the healing of the burn and his blisters, removing with his hands the long hair that covered his visibility, he realized that perhaps one of the fruits that he had eaten or the water were healing.
-That's it! The water! yes; Maybe the water of this river is healing! Although I do not know of any miraculous plant or water that makes the belly disappear and hair grow, anyway, I will become rich with the water of this river.
And while he spoke only as was a strange custom in him, he took out his transit notebook and making a trace of it, drew a half sun as if indicating noon.
Cutting the drawing of those trees, as he seemed to see in the distance Among the trunks, the end of that forest, he advanced a little further and finally found the end of that lost grove that seemed endless, a vast meadow of green and blue colors whose grasslands when moving with the wind simulated the movement of waves, as if they were the waves of an immense sea, he took the last look back when leaving the forest, He still had the feeling of having forgotten something, after checking once again his clothes he decided to move on, On the distant horizon barely and a set of mountains was distinguished, he continued walking without leaving the riverbank, after all he was his guide and source of food, the wind hissed.
As if it were the noise that rattlesnakes make when waving their tail, and this made him attentive to any movement and not trust, since he remembered how painful a rattle bite is, because he had already been bitten, as things progressed they changed and the on the embankment, cactus, hills and some shrubs unknown to him with small flowers were appearing, the Sun began its descent on the horizon and the walker, although he had already walked for many hours, did not feel tired, and he still had a long way to go to reach those distant mountains.