Deus Lhe Pague (God Bless You)

The year was 2020, and he was alone at home during quarantine.

At 89 years old, he was experiencing the biggest pandemic of all time! In his home on the 7floor of a building in his hometown Lagos, in Portugal (not Nigeria), from his balcony, he could see the city center and the famous Meia Praia bay, where the ocean would typically be calm and turquoise most of the year! 

Every day he would wake up and go to bed with the sound of the seagulls! 

In his hometown, the seasons were mainly tempered, resembling summer most of the time; bread, tomatoes, wine, fresh fish would prevail, and sardines on top of a piece of bread would be the most common food, from June to August!

He was born on 19 September 1930. His mother, a farmworker, might have been raped by a rich man from a town nearby. 

He was the fruit of that unfortunate happening, himself; most probably because of that, her mental health, which was already weak, would worsen.

Not long after he was born, his mother was sent 400km up north to be a servant in a house in the capital, and one day, out of the blue, she vanished; no one would ever know what had become of her, maybe she was taken to a mental health hospital, maybe…

He would be taken care of by his aunt, and when he turned six, she sent him to a school for needed children in the capital. He stayed in the same house his mother had stayed in years before, where he met the house owner, a lady, and her adult son, who was in a wheelchair.

He usually didn't talk much about that time, as he would typically do about other subjects concerning his childhood years.

He went back to his hometown sooner than he was supposed to. He grew up with his cousins and went to school in his early teenage years until he started working at his uncle's bakery! 

He was then a pastry cook, and during those long years of dictatorship, while the country and all Europe were under extreme poverty, while nearly without money, he would escape to the cinema.

Movies became his school, and he could learn how to be a gentleman, a cowboy, a villain, a comedian. Another picture was taking place at the cinema, where Cary Grant, Montgomery Clift, Paul Newman, Gene Kelly, and many leading ladies like Bette Davis or Ava Gardener were his teachers.

On that big screen, he would watch a movie that he would remember at the age of 89, back in 2020, when his younger daughter brought him to her home in Lisbon. At that time, he was already feeling weaker and weaker, day after day. After a couple of exams and analysis, the doctor would call his daughter, saying that she needed to be prepared; nothing else could be done besides helping him with the best and most zen passing.

One night he was lying down on the chaise longue, with his daughter and her partner, they were all together watching a strange Argentinian movie, when he said that in his teenage years he had seen in the cinema an excellent Argentinian movie; called in Portuguese "Deus lhe pague", in Spanish "Dios se lo pague" and in English "God Bless You" 

His daughter searched for the title on youtube, and it turns out it was there, ready to be watched! 

The impact of that movie on both women was profound, probably as it was on him. 

This movie was all about the law of attraction.

Being who you want to be! Bringing upon yourself what you want in your life. Co-creating your life and even your death. 

Here they were with this powerful message.

He always said he wanted to die at home, in his sleep, and that he wanted to be cremated. He would say this a couple of times to his daughters so that they wouldn't forget his wishes. 

He had an older daughter and two grandchildren living in another country, he waited for them to come back, and when that happened, he traveled in an ambulance to his hometown, back to his home! 

When he arrived there, he suddenly felt hungry and had a strong desire for scrambled eggs. 

He then had the energy to talk to his daughter and son-in-law, to his adult grandchildren, and then he finally felt he was ready. In a couple of days, the vital energy would leave his body forever, during sleep, in his bed, and at home with the sound of seagulls in the background. 

When his body was at the crematorium (maybe thanks to covid), only the family was around, silently crying and then laughing with the stories that each one started to tell about him; it looked like they were all in a film, everything was so cinematic. 

The coffin was taken to another room by the crematorium employee; the family walked together to the car, went back to town to honor him with lunch in one of his favorite restaurants. 

His son-in-law parked the car, and everyone started walking down the avenue. His two daughters were walking together and talking to each other when a man approached them, he needed coins for the parking machine, he asked if they could help, both of them checked their wallets and pockets and found the cash required, he then replied - "God Bless You"