Waste Not, Want Not Chapter XXI

As El Indio continued his story he paused from time to time as both men smoked and sipped tea. These breaks allowed Paul a moment to absorb the incredible tale that El Indio was unfolding. He continued. “Let me start from the beginning. I am a Quiche (pronounced KEE chay) from far to the south in the Yucatan. The Quiche and the Mayans were closely intertwined and usually co-operative, sometimes though, wars would break out. The Quiche came to the Yucatan from this area many centuries ago. This land was called Aztlan. Events occurred that made life in Aztlan unbearable. Once a mighty nation wars with other peoples sapped their strength. A terrible drought and much pestilence drove my people to the south where they encountered the dominant Mayans and other peoples. The Quiche abandoned their gods, whom had deserted them, and adopted the religion of the Mayans. The Mayans gods were numerous and had many allies and spirits. Some were powerful and bold, others were craven and weak but full of hate. Some liked the people and helped them while others were to be feared and the people had to guard against them to prevent harm. Even Kukulcan, the Mighty One, could not always keep these evil spirits in check. Ah, the god of death, ruled Xibalba. Ah and Kukulcan often warred against each other and neither could gain the upper hand. Death could not be stopped in the long run.
Ah hated humans. He was always seeking to kill them. To keep him restrained Kukulcan ordered the people to make sacrifices of humans and to offer their hearts up to Ah in order to keep him satisfied in his blood lust. So this the people in the Yucatan and other places did regularly in order to preserve a sense of peace and order.”
Once again El Indio paused and they again smoked and sipped their tea.
Paul spoke for the first time since El Indio had begun his narrative. “This is a fantastic story you have here, you tell me this is all true?”
“I do not lie,” said El Indio. “This is the real and true story of the past. Listen, there is more and if you open your ears you might understand.”
“By all means, go ahead.”
“I am very old. You would not believe me if I told you my actual age. I come from a long line of men of what you might call shamans. We called such people men of knowledge. Here they are referred to as brujos, though that term is not quite correct. One of the duties my ancestors had was to guard the portals to Xibalba. We tried to make sure the most evil spirits could not come out among the people and do their harm. For a long time we succeeded but eventually events occurred that destroyed the civilization there and it was nearly gone when the white men first came. When the Yucatan civilization fell my ancestors did all they could to keep the evil spirits and demons trapped underground. Some slipped out and others followed the course of the underground rivers and made their way to other areas, including here to this cavern in old Aztlan.
Since those days the old men of knowledge and their descendants have worked to find and send back to Xibalba those spirits. It is for the good of the entire world we do this. My grandfather followed the underground passages to this place and he lived here the rest pf his life to be a sentinel guarding the gate to what people here call hell. He took a wife and his son took a wife and I was born from this union. I have no wife and now doubt I will have one, people here who know me are too frightened of me to consider marriage and besides it would take a very special and strong woman to be my wife. I am thinking about how to get my replacement when it is my time to pass on. But back to the rock. The rock you found is a portal to Xibalba. It must stay shut. You were able to open it once, which is amazing to me. I have used my powers to keep that rock in place yet you were able to move it.”
“Well, I did it with my truck and the winch,” said Paul.
“Yes but I am still amazed you could do it. You could not do it the second time, could you?”
“No,” said Paul, “I couldn’t.”

Waste Not, Want Not Chapter XX

Paul quickly found his way to the rock. He was excited but somewhat apprehensive as well.
As he pulled to a stop something seemed odd. He got out of the truck and walked over to the hole. It was covered! The rock had been put back in place! There were no tracks, no foot prints. How could this happen?
Truly perplexed he once again ran out his winch line and wrapped it around the rock. He got in the cab and began to reel in the line. It would not move. The line pulled taut, he gave it some gas and the truck moved, a sideways lurch toward the rock!
His tires were hot and smoking so he decided it best to give up on the idea.
Paul drove back to the ranch house and tried to think this out. It was odd and more than a little scary.
He got on the phone and rang up Conrad.
“Conrad, can you get on down here? I am going to need you here. Things are a bit problematic and I need your help.”
“Sure Mr. Hewitt,” Conrad replied. “You want me to come right now?
“No, you can come down in the morning.” said Paul. “I am going to do some other work tonight and make a phone call to Washington. In the morning will be fine.”
Paul opened his filing cabinet and drew out a handful of manila file folders, all bulging with documents. He sat down and began thumbing slowly through a stack.
He heard a knocking on the front door. “Who could that be?”
It was El Indio he greeted as he opened the door.
“Senor Hewlett,” said El Indio. “Did you move the rock?”
Paul was surprised. “What about the rock? How did you know about the rock?”
“May I come in””
“Of course, come in. Tea?”
“Yes, thank you.”
El Indio took a seat at the table. Paul had some water boiling and brought two cups, each with a tea bag draped over the edge.
“You moved the rock?” El Indio asked Paul. His face betrayed a slightly quizzical expression. “What did you find?”
“A big hole,” Paul replied.
“Why did you move it?”
Paul had no intention of saying anything about his plans. “I am just interested in caves,” he said.
“Did you have a visitor last night, “ asked El Indio.
“What do you mean? I had no visitors,” Paul said.
“Maybe in your dreams?”
Paul found this very disturbing. “What are you talking about? How would you know anything about my dreams?”
“I saw him” said El Indio. “I saw him go to your house.”
“What do you mean you saw him?” asked Paul.
“I saw Palinche Kha flying into your house last night,” said El Indio.
“You saw what?” Paul had no idea what he was talking about.
“Last night you had a bad dream didn’t you?” El Indio asked pointedly.
“How could you know anything about my dreams?”
El Indio said “He will make himself known to you as you sleep, He will appear in a dream. He is wanting to see into your ways. He wants to try to scare you, a test.”
This kind of talk was making Paul edgy. “El Indio, I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“I know you have an interest in the cave. That is a place you need to leave alone, stay away from there and never move the rock again,” said El Indio.
“Now look here, this is my place and I can do what I want! If I want to look into that cave I will!”
El Indio paused and looked into Paul’s eyes. Paul did not say a word.
“I will tell you about the cave,” said El Indio. “Let me explain the situation.”
El Indio said he needed a smoke and they sat there at the table and smoked together, El Indio with his pipe and Paul lit up a Cuban cigar. Then El Indio spoke.
“That rock covers a portal to Xibalba, the underworld where the dead go and the lords of Xibalba rule.” El Indio paused and looked intently at Paul as his words sunk in. He continued.
“It is a dreadful place. It reeks of sulfur, there is a river of putrid pus flowing through it. All along the floor of the caves, which are vast and meandering as they wind deep down into the earth, scorpions crawl and vampire bats fly through the caverns. There are holes and caves throughout, many are filled with the bones of long ago dead."