Between Cliffs and Airports: Causality in life or a life full of coincidences…

By Maximiliano Mills

Through unpredictable waves we are taken to the laboratory of outstanding faith, planned with playful zigzagging or violent changes, all within the goals of his imagination which he was never willing to give up on. This collection of personal milestones is captivating because of how well the narration is weaved, with moments of hilarious occasional suspense. It also opens, more than doors or windows, a parallel dimension that shows us how to never become discouraged when we have set a goal for ourselves. The author does not aspire to create literature, but indirectly invites us to reflect upon where we are today in our lives. He also intends to share a road built on stubborn paths, always knowing he would bring them down to earth. These are twenty-three stories told during a chronological ride that never deteriorates when it comes to surprises, rejoicing or triumphs, to the point of grazing unusual metaphysic sensations. These stories keep us on the edge of our seats and encompass a period between 1987 and 2008, with a vivacious and descriptive pulse in timing, people and landscapes to which we are invited. Having Max Mills as your flying guide, you are literally transported within those life capsules, feeling a delicious uncertainty.
Enrique Courtin

• Language: English
• Publisher: ebooks del sur
• Release date: Apr 7, 2017

Book preview

Between Cliffs and Airports

By Maximiliano Mills

Causality in life or a life full of coincidences…

This book is dedicated to every being who sees

this planet as a home and not as a mine.

Memories and life stories by Maximiliano Mills. Written on Earth (third planet after the Sun), while travelling through Chile’s coasts… conceived breathing salt air and under the winter solstice in the seaport city of Valparaíso, a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Cover photo: Laqui © Maximiliano Mills.

Back cover photo: Maule Sunset © Maximiliano Mills.

Portrait photo: Lina & Maximiliano Mills © Frank Marchetti.

Layout: Manuel Yañez Díaz ([e-mail])

Internet Consultant: Chris Braine Clancy ([e-mail])

Text corrections: Sarah Stead Wright ([e-mail])

Design & Visual Concept: Maximiliano Mills & Manuel Yañez.

Creative Consultant: Cecilia Fuentes Ibarburu.

Translation: Ignacio Redard ([e-mail]).

Biography: Enrique Courtin.

Published by ebooks del Sur, agosto 2015.

ISBN 978-956-351-230-4 / Journalism, chronicle – Special matters.

Correspondence with the author / Requests for lectures and talks / Autographed books / Writing workshops: [e-mail]

Facebook: Between Cliffs and Airports

All rights reserved. Copyright © 2012 by Maximiliano Mills. This book may not be reproduced, neither partially nor in its entirety. It may not be reproduced nor transmitted in any form using any media, be it electronic, mechanic, by photocopy or any other method, without express written consent by the copyright owner (Decree No. 19227 dictated July 1st, 1993, and which can be found publicly at the International Standard Book Number’s Chilean Agency).

This book has been assigned the intellectual property number # 210837, which was granted to Maximiliano Mills (www.propiedadintelectual.cl). This registration took place on November 23rd, 2011, at the offices of the department of Intellectual Property and Copyrights located on Herrera #360, Santiago de Chile. This organization has been empowered for this task by law No. 17,336 regarding Intellectual Property, and it is overseen by the Chilean Government’s Direction for Libraries, Archives and Museums.

This book is also being processed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) located in Geneva, Switzerland.

Copyright © MMXII by Maximiliano Mills.

For Marina, Coppery Distance...

Index

Preface to the first Edition

Introduction

Overture for a Course

My Copper, Chile’s Wages

Following the Path of Policarpo Toro

Gravity Becomes Fuel

The Best Non-Job I Ever Had

A Rectangular Tripod

Liquid Social Engineering

The Blacksmith from Ventura

Woman is Argentine

Onboard a 747, Sublime is Mandatory

Snowy Year, Good Year

A Harem in the Andes

This is Not It

The Wooden Bucket

The Morning Untouched

Under the Church of the Open Sky

Blessing in Disguise

The Fourteen-Century Door Slammed Shut

Oye Como Va!

Rise and Meet Me, My Brother

Selk’Nam Ergonomics

Marijuana for Sclerosis

Let's Groove Tonight!

Epilogue

Thanks to

Cover Photo

Websites with which I share the same goals

Preface to the first Edition

The painter that is merely coloring his canvas and the writer who starts writing in an empty page both assume a very arduous challenge, for nobody has asked them to do so.

Gonzalo Ilabaca

For the book’s third edition, I can say gratefully and humbly that this time I was actually requested to do this edition, since the scarcity of copies was the only criticism that Cliffs and Airports received. Comments of the likes of I wanted to continue reading; I devoured it; you should have included more stories; or it left me wanting more were some of the most frequent ‘complaints’. I am fulfilling this wish of yours with these four additional stories in this extended edition. To those of you who bought a copy of one of the two earlier editions which had only seventeen stories and are thinking about complaining, I can tell you that a) You are the only ones who will have the ability of telling which these four stories are, and b) Your books will become collectibles, rarities, and will increase in collectors’ value when I become a renowned writer… ha ha ha.

Any true writer’s first duty is to deceive, so that the gap that is created is used to be filled later with the missing information. Because the second criticism that was given to the book by very few people – and which I have already accepted – was that the stories were found to finish without leaving a conclusion or a moral. This was intentional. It wouldn’t have been difficult for me to do it the other way, but immersing oneself in this book implies each reader will be facing some homework… and they will only be able to receive a good grade on this homework within their heart’s silence. My role is merely to try to decipher the hidden reality within everyday signs, so that the simple, durable and satisfactory life is found by those who truly want – or are able to – find it using their own alchemy in the laboratory of outstanding faith.

The great paradox I had to face when I released this book resulted from being congratulated so much for the unusual life I have led by molding my desires as well as for the optimistic vision I portray through my experiences… now of all times, when I am hit by the loss of many loved and close friends; economically stranded because of a fraud committed by a false lawyer; recently emerging from a back injury that wouldn’t get better and which affected me for a whole year; and plunged in fear for the unwarned arrival of the greatest pain in a human being’s life… the moment one’s parents leave for the other dimension. If I had to describe my current state, I would say it is very similar to that of Superman, weakened by green kryptonite. These long weeks I have spent writing, with very little motivation, the four additional stories, I have felt like a prisoner of destiny, with the latter laughing at me, trapped by circumstances and having lost my autonomy.

In this first edition, I want to say thank you for the sincere comments left at the book’s Facebook group, by three people whose words moved me. First, I’d like to thank Nora Niño Parada from Viña del Mar who wrote: That day when you gave Carlos your book I stayed at the beach reading it… what surprised me was that I encountered a human being who has not remained seated watching life go by, but quite the contrary: he has made his life what he wanted it to be, and that, my friend, is hard to find… This is not so much to tell you to keep writing, it’s more to tell you: keep living!!!

The second comment was left by Juan Pablo Donoso T. from Santiago, who wrote: The stories are very entertaining, but what really caught my attention was the tone and the way you write. It feels very close, honest and emotional. I found the book to be very powerful, it emanates… ENERGY. Finally, it was Francisco Cantarero, also from Santiago, who wrote: It’s not that your book gives answers or advice, it’s more that it helps the reader see, through your experiences, that if you follow your dreams and play the game of life, things mysteriously happen. Keep traveling and following what you believe in, Maximiliano. This is what we all need.

I’m very thankful for your comforting words, Nora, Juan Pablo and Francisco!

What you owe people is for you to develop your abilities. The greatest crime in the world is not developing your potential. When you do what you do best, you are helping not only yourself, but the world.

Roger Williams

I read this quote many years ago and I immediately thought it would act as a powerful catalyst for me to focus on one of my main abilities: writing. It almost achieved that. After a short time, I was once again surrounded and distracted by other forces in the system, particularly a fraud committed by my now false lawyer, who was so immensely recommended by his relatives (who I considered my friends). With this compensation, I was planning to finance and film my first documentary on happiness and also, probably, to take one of my fictional stories and have it made into a feature length film directed by myself. All these plans were cut short and I was left adrift in mid 2008.

The idea of writing a book, almost forced by circumstances or feeling the suffocating foot of destiny crushing my soul, haunted me until the end of that year. It had already been a long time since I had given up photography, since with the digital format the world was becoming filled with overnight photographers who were willing to give their images away to anybody for the chance to be published, and also with arrogant editors who thought they were doing me a great favor by publishing my photos in their prestigious magazines… for free (as if I didn’t have a long and respectable professional career to show for myself)! In those days I was already thinking that there might be several similar photos of the same event, competing to see who would publish them, but if I wrote a book, it would be unique and unrepeatable. I changed my skin… and I now only take very specific photos when appointed by my clients. Also for my friends, for fun, and for my own enjoyment (with no expectations, as it was from the very start). The idea of dedicating myself to my thoughts and to imprint them through writing at any point of the day; that is how I started to visualize my near future.

But I still needed some external force to shake me so I could finally… sit down and write!!! And it came unexpectedly within the newspaper Las Últimas Noticias of Monday, January 26th, 2009. Page 17 showed a story about the blind psychologist called Claudio Gregoire and his book It could be a Good Day[1]. What ashamed me was finding out that he wrote his book thanks to a special program that allowed him to listen to everything that comes up on the computer screen. What was shocking was that due to the program’s high price, he was not able to buy it, though he did have access to the trial version, which lasted half an hour. "That’s how I wrote my book. Every 30 minutes I had to restart the system so I could keep using