Ovid was that cold winter morning in the small but cozy waiting room of the dentist he used to go to. This time it was one of his wisdom teeth, which had been driving him crazy for weeks; it had all started with the small and typical discomforts related to sensitivity to cold, but it gradually increased in such a way that in the last days his torture was already unbearable.
While he waited for his turn in pain, he began to look through one of those typical magazines that are usually found in the waiting rooms of health professionals. On this occasion he was lucky, although not too much, because although he had in his hands one of the last copies of an outreach magazine, its cover, in which a human face covered by a mask, hanging above its head a syringe in the shape of a question mark, had made him uncomfortable.
Ovid was not alone in that room. Another man between 60 and 70 years old, in the company of a woman in the same age group who seemed to be his partner or a close relative, were sitting just two meters from Ovid, who despite still holding the publication in his hands, his interest in its reading had vanished. While he made the gesture of getting up from his chair to stretch his legs a little, the woman decided to break the silence that reigned between those four walls.
— Good thing I'm just here as a companion. I would not like to be in my husband's shoes, because his issue is going to take long. From his face, and excuse my boldness, it seems that things are not going too well for you either with your teeth...
— A tooth is to blame for me being here. But what can I do? There's no choice -Ovidio specified, hoping in vain that his interlocutor had satiated her curiosity.
— I hope it's not a wisdom tooth... those ones are the worst, they give a lot of trouble, I don't wish it on anyone... not even those denialist and other ilk that they are endangering our health and their own... -said the woman, expecting Ovid's complicity in her words, while her husband remained silent and without the slightest intention of opening his mouth. Perhaps because inevitably he would have to open it for a long time later.
Bearing in mind that Ovid, who liked to argue more than deny, was one of those denialists to whom the woman alluded, and that he did not want to continue talking at all, and that the throbbing of pain inside his mouth were intensifying in gusts, the box of thunder could open at any moment.
— Now that you have brought up the subject, and if you will allow me, I will tell you that those who are perhaps not only endangering us, but also directly attacking our health and our freedom, it's not precisely that terrible bug that everyone talks about, but that very few or no one has really seen it... at least in the terms that politicians and the media have launched... for whom the enemy to beat is worse than the Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster and Godzilla together...
— What are you telling me, that this terrible bug, as you call it, doesn't exist... with the number of deaths it has left and continues to leave along the way? -the companion of the mute man came out in a not exactly friendly and defiant tone.
— Bugs like this have existed perhaps since life inhabited the Earth and since then human beings have been living with them, developing a natural ability to face them in case of need. Now, effectively, the bug that politicians and the media are talking about is a kind of super bug from another planet, which has come here with the malevolent intention of exterminating us all... -Ovid replied in a tone that was not a hundred percent friendly either. The positive part was that the toothache, if it hadn't disappeared, had receded into the background.
— But don't you watch TV, listen to the radio or read the newspapers? -the woman returned to the charge with disbelief, while her companion continued without saying a word, although from his look he seemed very attentive to what Ovid was saying.
— That's right, I've been doing it for more than a decade and unfortunately it's not that the world has changed too much, if anything for the worse, but believe me, I see life very differently. You should try unplugging that device, if only for 24 hours. A friend of mine, every time we see each other, talk on the phone or exchange some email, keeps asking me when I think all this nightmare we're living will end...
— And what do you say to him? - interrupted Lady Bugs anxiously. Although he didn't know his name, that was the name that Ovid had imagined in his mind after several minutes of dialogue.
— I tell him next: do you really want all this to end? Well, turn off the TV. Not only the bug will go to a second level or even disappear, but your mental and spiritual health will improve considerably. Don't we human beings show rejection of what intoxicates us?
Lady Bugs didn't seem to like Ovid's remarks very much—indeed, nothing at all. In contrast, Mr. Silence, despite the fact that no word had yet come out of his mouth, seemed delighted with Ovid's interventions; the expression on his face gave him away.
— And what about those television appearances with the military and other Security Forces? No doubt, when these people are mobilized in this way, it is because things are extremely serious, the woman continued angrily.
— That was precisely what it was about, appearing that way...
— What do you mean?
— How do you make a flea look like an elephant? With a good staging to create alarmism and instil fear, or rather... terror, a lot of terror. Hence, a health crisis, from the beginning, is viewed as a political, State, national security crisis... as if we were immersed in a war... this is a war, it was heard and read all the time. Instead of facing the crisis from a health perspective, politicians and experts are put in front of it for the occasion, dispensing with the true specialists, and not only that, discrediting, silencing and civilly death who, among them, have dared to raise their voices. To this theatrical staging, let's add the continuous campaign of terror propagated daily by the big communication media... yes, those who, in exchange for institutional advertising to sustain their unprofitable and unviable business models, they served as support for government propaganda replicating slogans like we are going to come out of all this situation stronger... For the love of God... Let's look around us, have we really come out stronger? seriously?
— And what about those thousands, millions of dead and infected people around the world? -Lady Bugs countered nervously.
— Look, ma'am... what I'm going to tell you is already being recognized by politicians, opportunistic experts and even published and spread by media prostitutes. This bug, the most famous of all the bugs in history, is still very similar in its behavior, as well as in the consequences it has for health, like that other bug that was previously the most popular and to which we were all accustomed to overcome without so much paraphernalia and, above all, using logic and rationality, common sense, totally absent since the apocalypse seemed to hang over us...
— But the fact is that with that other bug that you mentioned, not so many people died... -Lady Bugs insisted, without listening to Ovid's arguments, determined to do assert her truth, the only one, the one that for more than two years had been inoculated into her day after day, 24 hours a day, without rest, without pause, without respite, without... shame.
— If you were to review the death figures attributed to the usual bug that have been published for many years, you would be in for a surprise. Then add the devastating wave of terror carried out with its terrible psychological and physical consequences... just think of the stress suffered and what it can cause in the human body. Also, do not forget the unprecedented, prolonged and illegal confinement to which we were subjected... Our homes turned into punishment cells and to add insult to injury: how to kill time and stay informed for a large part of citizenship? Well, with one of the best and still effective armed arms of the enemy, the more toxic of media par excellence. Also add the stoppage of much of the activity in the health centers, unless the topic, yes, had to do with the bug. Do you know the number of people who will have died simply and sadly because they were confined, their treatment was abruptly interrupted or because their disease could not be diagnosed in time?
I'll tell you a story. A neighbor of my building had the bad luck of breaking his leg at the height of this crisis purposely misfocused. Once in the emergency department of the hospital, he underwent one of those tests that, as the funny character of Pazos embodied by Manuel Manquiña in the movie Airbag said: "Just as I tell you one thing, I tell you the other"... The fact is that my neighbor left the hospital on crutches and with his leg in plaster, but his case, like the many others that in those infamous days they went there for the most diverse reasons, it became part of the list of admissions because of the bug, because what prevailed was the positive of the crude diagnostic test. Do you know that hospitals received money from public coffers for admissions related to the bug, an amount that was higher the longer the stay lasted? It's not just me who say it. You can see it in official bulletins. Those same bulletins that came to publish million-dollar contracts for the acquisition of medical supplies with companies of dubious or null reputation, that did not even have a physical address and that even some of them were precisely known for their swindles.
Lady Bugs listened attentively to Ovid, but in her heart she not only refused to accept any of his arguments, but also the man who was soon to have a wisdom tooth extracted was beginning to be, or rather was already for her a kind of strange or perturbed that, although he was glib, he did not stop suffering from some type of disorder that prevented him from seeing what was clearly, according to her, evident, beyond all doubt and discussion.
— So, regarding jabs... maybe better not to touch that subject at this point... -said the woman in an ironic tone, not realizing that she herself had not even used the usual name with which, inappropriately, those supposed experimental remedies against the bug, whose adverse and sometimes even lethal effects were being hidden, silenced... Remedies that were on everyone's lips and are now a taboo word when justifying the continuous trickle of people who have seen their health seriously deteriorated or who have suddenly and unfortunately left this world... many of them in the prime of life.
— That's right, ma'am, that's right... Sometimes silence... is the best answer... -added Ovid with a certain air of resignation and frustration, but also with the wisdom of those who know how to rectify.
The Ovid of the first and only jab had little or nothing to do with the one who now, several months later, was having that conversation, with which he did not intend to convince anyone or be understood, but only to be respected, trying to release the resentment and rancor accumulated in his heart, seeking conciliation from within his soul and not confrontation with the rest of the souls that surrounded him.
It was clear to Ovid that he was still in a war that a few had decided to launch against humanity, taking advantage of the opportunity offered with a crisis that in another era would have been dealt with normally, naturally and, above all, from a true health perspective. Instead, this crisis, like never before in human history, had been televised in real time minute by minute. In his opinion, it was an unprecedented, direct and coordinated global attack against the citizens all over the world. A brutal offensive bare-faced and in broad daylight, thanks to manipulation, propaganda and the civil death of opinion leaders; not only of those openly opposed to the established official line, but even of those who simply wondered about the abnormality that was being implanted, the one that the social engineers of the new world order call new normal. They had the excuse to carry out and accelerate changes towards a new paradigm of society, actions that citizens would never accept without social alarm, pressure, fear and coercion.
The door to the waiting room opened. Ovid's turn had come, and although he was going to lose a wisdom tooth, it seemed that he kept his wisdom in good health, as well as his mind, his heart and his soul. When Ovid was about to leave the room that for long minutes he had shared with the other two occupants, he stopped, took a step back and with one hand on the doorknob, turning his neck towards Lady Bugs and Mr. Silence, he spoke a few words of farewell.
— I know you're going to think I'm crazy. Actually, I know you really already think so after hearing my comments. But I feel the need to tell you that we are living hard and difficult times, perhaps like never before. We are indeed in the middle of a war. But not just any war. The worst of all. A global war against the soul, against our essence as human beings, a war against freedom. A war in which there are no bullets or bombs, which have been effectively replaced by propaganda and manipulation... invisible ammunition... A war in which our enemies are those to whom we have entrusted our protection, our dreams, our illusions, our expectations, our own lives, that of our families, that of our children. A war in which there will be no allied powers that come to save us, to liberate us. The only allies in this war are each and every one of us. Only by changing within ourselves, individually, will we achieve that great sum of wills that will change the world. They know this and have been doing everything possible to prevent it for a long time, attacking the fundamental principles and values of the human being, distorting and denaturalizing it, in short... dehumanizing it... so that those who play at being gods on Earth can make their evil dreams come true... But for evil to triumph, it is only necessary for the good people to do nothing... and believe me, I can assure you that there are many of us, including you, who have the capacity, and in fact so is being shown, to stop their evil plans and that the light makes its way through so much darkness...
— But the bug exists... -Lady Bugs hastened to affirm with a half smile on her face before Ovid definitively left that room. An affirmation that no longer contained any sour tone, while revealing that perhaps her vision and specially her truth were beginning to be questioned internally.
— Thanks son -Mr. Silence pointed out suddenly and unexpectedly-. Although I do not have studies, I am already an age... and the experience of life. From the beginning of all this there was something that didn't add up to me, but let's see who dared to open their mouths and say what was really going through one's head, just like it has happened to so many others. There is no worse censorship than self-censorship. There is no worse prison than the one you order your jailer to build... how can you be safe behind bars? It is very sad to stand idly by when your freedom is being stolen from under your nose... But to be aware of its loss, it is not enough to have it, but you have to exercise it. Only in this way a part of the flock manage to see the wolf's intentions, while the other part shows its discomfort, not with the wolf, but with the sheeps that warn of his presence and danger. Only those who have conquered and exercise their freedom are aware of how dramatic it is to lose it...
With the stunned face of Lady Bugs, who seemed to be wondering if someone had given her the switch with her husband or if he had suffered a transient personality disorder as a result of Ovid's comments, he politely said goodbye to the couple and headed towards the room where the dentist was waiting for him, realizing that the toothache had disappeared. Perhaps the last message from Mr. Silence, reverberating in his head, radiated an analgesic energy.
