Temple of Zeus Underwater
CGI
2003
The siblings had spent many years trying to conclude matters that had survived both of their parents. Their father had died nearly three decades earlier. Their mother died years after him, and even then the responsibilities did not end. Properties remained unsold. Before those matters were completed, another loss entered the family. The middle sister died the year before. Her own property and affairs now had to be incorporated into responsibilities that had already extended across many years.
Old registries and chains of title extending into the nineteenth century carried certifications, seals, and annotations from different decades and governments.
The country itself had changed during the last three decades. Currency and property lost value before transactions could be completed. Offices closed and reopened under different regulations, sometimes even under different names.
To release properties, formalize transfers, and liquidate assets, it became necessary to gather records, certifications, and documentary chains that different offices and fiscal authorities required for review. Procedures stalled among administrative demands, fiscal obligations, and intermediaries capable of accelerating processes that otherwise could remain paralyzed for months. Files accumulated beside seals, signatures, and annotations originating from different decades.
The matters had already extended across months and years. Meanwhile the siblings aged separately on opposite sides of the Atlantic. The oldest, still practicing law in Venezuela, continued moving between courts, registries, and offices in pursuit of unresolved claims and transfers.
At the same time, land previously belonging to the family remained tied to a legal dispute after having been illegally expropriated by the State years earlier. Defending the claim required certifications, archival records, legal filings, authorizations, appeals, and countersuits. Municipal fees, taxes, and procedural costs continued accumulating while the responsibilities themselves remained unfinished.
From outside the country, it was possible to perceive only partially how procedures there changed from month to month and sometimes from day to day. Some introduced further demands. Others became unavailable altogether. Another day had already been spent moving between offices, registries, and courts.
Messages moved constantly between them through calls, forwarded emails, receipts, scanned documents, explanations, and reminders. One sibling asked whether a payment could still be completed before another increase in tax fees made the transfer even more burdensome. The reply listed offices already visited that week and certifications still missing. Before the question returned again, the exchange had shifted toward an earlier disagreement others believed had already been resolved.
The second oldest, who had left Venezuela many years earlier, explained to one sibling that reminders concerning powers of attorney were meant to prevent delays. To another, he explained that unanswered messages were beginning to be understood differently. One sibling wrote late into the night to avoid misunderstanding. Another answered briefly the next morning before returning to the offices.
A signature believed to be sufficient was later rejected for lacking an additional authentication no one had mentioned before. One office requested papers already sent weeks earlier. Another confirmed receipt but could not say when the matter would be reviewed. A delayed response no longer remained only a delay.
Some questions received partial replies. Others were acknowledged and left unanswered. A message asking whether the funds could still be sent before the end of the month received only this reply: “We are doing what we can from here.” Another asking whether the property sale documents had already been submitted received a response about summer travel plans and whether the necessary signature would still be available in time.
He remembered a childhood game in which a sentence passed from one person to another until it returned altered, sometimes accidentally and sometimes not. At the time, the changes were part of the amusement.
When he attempted to describe some of this, one sibling told him that he was philosophizing again. The remark was mild enough to avoid argument, yet the explanation did not continue after that.
A requirement completed one week returned the next with another condition attached to it.
A message revised several times before being sent remained unanswered for days. Another received only a brief acknowledgment that did not refer to what had actually been written. By the time the next reply arrived, what had gone unanswered in the earlier message had already begun shaping the exchange that followed.
Later, a message arrived saying that one of the unresolved matters had finally been completed. No one referred to what had preceded the resolution. The exchanges resumed in a calmer tone, and attention moved toward whatever remained pending.
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Ricardo F. Morín, May 7, 2026, Bala Cynwyd, PA.
Observations On Perception 