The Miracle Cures of Dr. Aira by César Aira Read Free Book Online Page B

the brains and engine behind the group’s entire operation,
the natural head of the family. What they wanted to emphasize was the
unacceptable injustice that he of all people would have to depart before seeing
the fruits of his talents, his creativity in the business world, his boundless
energy.
    Dr. Aira’s head was crackling, as if it were full of soda.
He was also slightly embarrassed for having paid such close attention to the
explanations, and he wanted to get back to the purpose of his being there. What
was the illness? he asked. Cancer, regrettably. Cancer of everything. Large
spreading masses, metastasis, the disease’s uncontrollable growth. They pointed
to a file on the glass desktop.
    “All the paperwork is there, including his clinical
history, up-to-date as of today. Though we suppose you don’t work along those
lines. It documents the failure of the best oncologists in the country and
around the world. They no longer even bother to pretend to hold out any hope at
all.”
    “How long do they give him?”
    “Weeks. Days.”
    They had waited a long time to come to him. Anyway, it was
impossible. They had probably begun alternative treatments months ago, and all
available charlatans and healers must have already filed through. He felt
paradoxically flattered to be the last one. They apologized with vague lies,
unaware of how unnecessary it was to do so: their brother had undergone the
conventional treatments with admirable stoicism; he had not given up even in the
face of the most adverse outcomes . . . Finally, he had given them permission to
try the Miracle Cure, and, as he had done from the very beginning, he was
bringing all his faith, all his trust into play: Dr. Aira could count on
that.
    There was nothing more to say. He looked at the file and
shook his head as if to say: I don’t need this; I know what awaits me. The truth
was, he would have liked to take a peek, just out of curiosity, though he would
not have understood anything because surely every entry was in medical jargon,
which was inaccessible to him. Moreover, it was true that he didn’t need it
because his intervention occurred on a different level. The case had to be shut
in order for him to come on stage; the clinical history had to have reached its
end. And by all appearances, this is what had happened with this man.
    The next step: he accepted the mission. Why? In spite of
all his promises and precautions, he took the plunge. Once again, the well-known
saying proved true: “Never say never.” He vowed he would never do it (his
interlocutors must not have known about this vow because they took his
acceptance as a matter of course), and now he rushed to say yes, almost before
they had finished making their proposal. This could be explained a priori by a
defect in his personality, which had caused him many problems throughout his
life: he didn’t know how to say no. A basic insecurity, a lack of confidence in
his own worth, prevented him from doing so. This became more pronounced and more
plausible because the people who had requested his services on the basis of his
capabilities and talents were, by definition, unfamiliar with his field, and
little or poorly informed about his worth and his history. Hence, a refusal on
his part would leave them totally blank, thinking, “Who does this guy think he
is, playing hard to get like this? Why did we bother to call him?” It was as if
he could only refuse those who were fully informed about his system, those who
had already entered his system, and by definition such people would never ask
him for a Cure, or they wouldn’t ask him for one in earnest.
    There was an additional motive, related to the previous
one, and the result of another defect, one that was quite common but very
pronounced in Dr. Aira: snobbery. This office with its Picassos and its Persian
carpets had impressed him, and the opportunity to enter into contact with such a
first-rate celebrity was irresistible. It’s true that