The list of the Gothic kings (another of The Caretaker)

The list of Gothic kings (another from The Caregiver)

Well, yes, it came to me, as if a divine-infernal inspiration had visited me (since I suffer from hallucinations due to senile dementia) about what happened to poor Poncio with his caregiver, Efesto.

And it's that he showed up one afternoon with another guy who said he was a schoolteacher. But not just any school, one of those from before, from the 1960s. It was doubtful that this individual, with a very similar appearance to Efesto, i.e., a sturdy body, bearded, crew-cut hair, hooked nose, and satanic signs on his forearms, and an eager gaze to give the world its due, looked much like a teacher. But he did look like someone who could impart discipline.

Efesto made the introductions and called him Teacher Impostor(?). A teaching official with a classroom uniform and teachings, mostly the list of Gothic kings, which he was obsessed with. "He says he's a direct descendant of Recesvinto," the caregiver clarified to a bewildered Poncio.

The good man seemed to be recovering in some way thanks to the shock therapy that the unorthodox physiotherapist was applying to him. He was even getting out of his wheelchair and babbling intelligible things like "water," "piss," "dick" (the last one very clearly).

"Well," Efesto explained, "my friend Impostor needs, once again, to teach the list of Gothic kings, although more than teaching it, what he wants and demands is that we memorize it, both you, sick fuck, and I. What do you think?"

Poncio looked with his eyes about to pop out of their sockets. What was this all about?

Impostor, after putting on some reading glasses, those that sit on the middle of the nose and give a repellent look of being a know-it-all in all classrooms, unfolded a scroll that he nailed to the wall where the names of those who were said to be Gothic kings were listed, starting with Ataulf and ending with Don Rodrigo, the loser of Guadalete.

He also unfolded a series of instruments whose function was yet to be discovered, such as: a wooden square ruler, a flexible rod as a pointer, donkey ear-shaped earpieces, a round stick with leather straps attached to whip rugs, a blackboard eraser with a wooden handle that could easily become a throwing weapon... Then, he handed Efesto and Poncio two smocks like those from elementary school, which they had to put on.

"You put them on, but with nothing underneath. In my class, I don't want anything other than the regulation uniform."

Poncio made a gesture of protest. But Efesto stood firm:

"You're too stagnant in your rehabilitation progress, fucked-up paralytic. My colleague is going to give you a boost. And without charging you. So, shove your protests up your ass, faggot."

Impostor turned to them as if he had heard a swear word against the regime of the generalissimo:

"What did I hear? -he pointed at them with an accusatory finger- ...