Bunuel_Luis_My_Last_Breath

Saragassa 29I was about fourteen when I began to have doubts about thiswarm, protective religion. They started with the problem of hell andthe Last Judgment, two realities I found inconceivable. I just couldn'timagine all those dead souls from all lands and all ages rising suddenlyfrom the bowels of the earth, as they did in medieval paintings, forthe final resurrection. I used to wonder where all those billions andbillions of cadavers could possibly be; and if there was such a thingas a Last Judgment, then what good was the judgment that wassupposed to come right after death and which, theoretically, wasrumored to be irrevocable? (Today, of course, there are many priestswho don't believe in hell or the devil, or even the Last Judgment.My schoolboy questions would undoubtedly amuse them no end.)Despite the discipline, the silence, and the cold, I have fondmemories of the Colegio del Salvador. There was never the slightestbreath of scandal, sexual or otherwise, to trouble the perfect order.I was a good student, but I also had one of the worst conduct recordsin the school. I think I spent most of my recesses during my lastyear standing in the corner of the courtyard, forbidden to join thegames.I remember one particularly dramatic episode that occurred whenI was about thirteen. It was Holy Tuesday, and I was supposed togo to Calanda the following day to beat the drums. As I was walkingto class about half an hour before Mass, I ran into two of my friendsin front of the motorcycle race track opposite the school. Next to thetrack was a notorious tavern, into which my conniving classmatesshoved me. Somehow they persuaded me to buy a bottle of a cheapbut devastating cognac commonly known as matarratas, or rat killer.They knew full well how difficult it was for me to resist that particulartemptation. We left the tavern and walked along the river, drinkingas we went. Little did I know that as I was swallowing mouthfulsstraight from the bottle, they were merely wetting their lips. In notime at all the world was spinning.My dear friends were kind enough to lead me to the chapel,where I knelt down with a sigh of relief. During the first part of the