Here Comes the Dreaded February!
By Aurelio Pedroso (Progreso Semanal)
HAVANA TIMES – The most similar feeling would be like when we were children and people would threaten us, or in the best of cases warn us, that the “bogeyman” would come soon if we didn’t do this or that. Payment would surely come, dressed up as this evil character.
Will we be ready?
All of the authorities, absolutely all of them, agreed to make us pay bigtime in the month of love. Careful, Saint Valentine might also join this frantic price increase and charge us three or four times the usual for an arrow shot on the day because his bow and quiver are imported.
So, this February 14th should be a very intimate act, like never before, without crowds, from the heart, with lots of love and minimum expense, without giving up on non-material displays of love.
This entire landscape of (dis)order comes without being able to light up a cigarette to calm our nerves because Brascuba has taken its black tobacco cigarettes off the market. Maybe to look after our health, ignoring the positive effect of bringing a cigarette to your lips in a stressful situation. Although we should not overlook the work of the powerful and dangerous character that is the illicit market.
If this weren’t the case, you would have to ask around in the Psych ward how it is that patients get a hold of a cigarette from time to time, alongside certain medicines.
I hope I’m wrong
We are living tense moments right now, it is a really fragile time. Each minister that appears on the TV starts off with the compulsory mouthful of: “difficult situation, we are looking into everything and listening to public opinion.”
I hope I’m wrong about the socio-political consequences of this and that everything just ends up being like a dentist’s forewarning when they say that you’ll just feel the first pinch. And, that I can eat an ice cream with my grandchildren – after waiting in line of course – now that the price increase of a scoop has dropped.
An expert in seismology might be able to explain what is happening in Cuba. With an exception though, that this earthquake of a great magnitude was foretold. It was not something that our mother Nature caught us by surprise with, unexpectedly betraying us.
The first impact was not very positive and brought us a lot of headache, unease and worries. Just like when the Earth opens up and swallows entire houses. Then come the “aftershocks” from the reorganization of infrastructure or plates after the earthquake.
Nature has its way of adjusting itself. Humans have their defects, or bureaucrats’ mistakes and those of other members of this gang, who consciously or unconsciously decide not to listen to the people.
An unforgettable February, with COVID-19 sweeping through the nation, is soon to be upon us.