Now that we are preparing for Halloween, I remembered a bit all the dark novels and short stories I had read through the years: Poe, Lovecraft, also the immortal tale about the autumn people in "Something wicked this way comes" by Bradbury, "Rappaccini's Daughter" by Hawthorne, the enigmatic "Olalla" by Stevenson, even some of the scariest biblical passages. However, after reading the novella "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank redemption" last April, I decided for the first time to try a long novel from Stephen King and chose "The Shining". The book was a second-hand copy given to me by a friend/coworker after his wedding last July.
Well, just two weeks ago after finishing the novel, I was telling my friend and some colleagues at work about my favorite scenes, so I reminisced about how five-year old hero, Daniel Torrance goes around the scary third-floor rooms of the old hotel. Little Danny knows all the hauntings in the hotel can disappear if he concentrates the power of his mind, so he runs and shouts across each room: "False face. I know who you are. You are all just masks and lies." But Danny still fears because the hotel is like a wasps' nest, full of bad spirits and ghosts, shouting and living in it, and one never knew where the next danger would come from. The haunted restaurant? The rooms? The fireplace with the mechanical clock? The elevator, hallways and stairs?
Then I laid back over my chair at lunch and told my colleagues "Know what? We needed a real Danny Torrance in this building." One of them replied "Why? Do you see many ghosts around here?" I just burst "Are you kidding me? Just think about our building - it is a four-floor solid institution from the mid 1920s, early classical 20th century architecture. And just think about all the powerful men that have governed this workplace! All those souls that did not want to relinquish power, still yearning for the status and influence they lost after leaving us. Of course, we have plenty of ghosts here. No wonder we are so often in a bad mood, always uptight and nervous about our tasks, writings and stuff. We suffer the bad influence of all those former governors, managers, board members, still making their aura felt around here!"
After laughing hard at this, people did confess that indeed one hears of ghosts inside the building, like the little girl who cries and the old man on his cane walking the dog. Just for you to have an idea and see what we were joking about, I leave you some pictures of our lovely 1920s work building. It is indeed a pleasure and a privilege to be here at such a solid institution in a great South American country. You can see pictures of the front entrance, the stairway, an office meeting rooms full of paintings from influential people that governed our institution, the hallways, our wonderful cafeteria with its large painted wall, and even a haunted clock from one of our emblematic rooms.
