FIVE TIMES DROUGHT

De JOSÉ SIRQUEIRA ABREU

"Writing is not hiding our madness". (Arnaldo Jabor)

All that year it didn't rain in our region. Everything died. The grayish caatinga seemed to have died of leprosy. A leprosy that spread graying everything, even the crying turned into a grunt with clenched teeth. We no longer cried to death. Gradually and gradually we said goodbye to everything and everyone. All the cattle died of thirst and hunger. The pack mule, all the animals. It seems that Dad only expected Grandma's death. For it was certain that he would not be able to bear the painful journey to the Southeast.

• Idioma: Português
• Editora: Editora Kelps
• Data de lançamento: 17 de fev. de 2022
• ISBN: 9786553700215

Pré-visualização do livro

NO-MASK MAN IN THE RAIN

The man was wearing white and happiness. He walked in the rain, kicking water puddles. His smile was of innocent happiness, somehow crazy, teasing, but divine. He talked to no one. In fact, he talked only to himself. He took no notice of people, did not care for their claims, heard no criticism or threats.

Mind the traffic!

Look, there are lightnings coming from the sky! Be careful with the storm!

Mind corona virus!

You’ll get covid-19, you son of a bitch! You’re nuts! ... Nuts.... nuuuuts...

It was as if words were said slower and farther away. Not intended to be heard.

He danced in the rain in a sacred, rhythmic and stylish ritual. As if he were a dancer on the catwalk of life. As if in a presentation to heaven, divinely. As if he brought offerings to the invisible altar that came out in circular flights, for many birds could not be seen as transcendent crystals ascending to the heavens. He leaped, small little jumps, as if trying to climb, though on land and submerged in rain, he had already flown higher than any man he had ever seen.

Confined in life, he has always been a mask. There he lived, protected from the toughest thorns, long before Covid-19 pandemic. There he molded to the undecipherable contours of so many situations he has faced in life. He saw himself in riches and all the snares of unlawfulness offered with his many hands of a card player. It is as if he were an octopus with lots of tentacles that offered lots of gifts and asked for only one in return. His soul! Such was life after medical school. He was corrupted and got to be a celebrity. He ate everything and swallowed everyone. And those who fail to know his value think that his gain is huge. He got rich.

When he actually sells for nickels what the whole world does not wish as a bargaining chip, it is the one who sets the values that says: The whole world is not worth a human life. He always lived the mask wisdom to prove intelligence. When he passed any exam, always first in class, it was not due to his intelligence; it was because he was inwardly weak and undervalued. An attempt to show values that satisfied this market of grinding meat, grinding soul, grinding family. He wished to see the daily acknowledgments, as it was not possible to have them every hour. He lived the mask of love that never came. Three marriages and three well succeeded divorces have elapsed. Three sources of rejection and hate. He indeed who has lived only for work. From an early age, always work. To no one has he done intentional harm in all his life. He always takes pride on himself being able to pay well anyone who gets close to him in any way. Through bloodstream, through affective bonds. By labor obligations. He loves and takes good care of these people in his way of loving. Despite all this, his only son runs away from him and does whatever it takes to keep the father away. But today that the rain pours and there are so many lightnings in the sky, in a pandemic and a maddened environment, today precisely, he rediscovers the boy who he killed. He walks through the storm, there is no risk. As if someone who is covered and dressed in their parents’ living room. Alone and smiling, absorbed and senile, he fails to notice the mad traffic that would get stuck before the greater courage of a so much more vehement madman. And we all get stuck! He still had no mask on his face, now hanging around his neck, or in his lab coat pocket. Free from everything, everyone, even sense.

Covid-19 is history. We need no masks. By the way, they will soon be in museums, pieces of sad memories of collective fear. Only now I listen to the radio. I see it on the Internet and on TV.

The wet man, in white soaked clothes sticking to his body, he was as if naked. As if the X-ray of life passed through him, attesting him, at last, to be healthy and able to live. And then as if he insisted on walking. Only in another way, from another point, from another harbor. He felt resolutely happy. It was as if rain washed away the weight of all deaths. The countless anguishes of dead hopes. And the machines working under human actions and medicines were not enough to ensure the continuation of the lives of some who dreamed.

But today the man is marveled by the rain and raptured by soul. He is a winner on his highest podium! A new journey. And he disappeared into his joy in the tenuous mist that covered the tree- lined avenue. As in a festive service of reciprocal offerings in which he and the heavens wept together. At night they saw him leave with homesick eyes.

CARLENE

All extremes of feeling are allied with madness.

Virginia Woolf

Carlene, the newly hired business manager, had a pro-result leadership style for the price of grinding meat. Beautiful and persuasive when necessary. Charming, catwalk model style. Everything was perfect, she was gorgeous, seductive, polite, provocative. Appealingly sensual, she dressed vulgarly for seduction when she was not at work to show off her legs, breasts, stomach and ass. She loved observing male looks and was somewhat happy to see the jealousy expressed on the faces of other women. She had a wide range of admirers and enemies. But she was also envied and opposed.

She openly said that if she was interested in a man, his marital status did actually not interest her. One of her sayings was:

Every relationship happens for some interest and comes with an expiration date.

And she refused to use anything out of best before, not even a condom. She boasted of being the most beautiful and feminine version of Don Juan. And that he was working to surpass him in numbers as well. All this was said in the toilet to the horrified ears of high-society ladies who felt cornered in every way, including by the beauty and aggressiveness of the attractive unrestrained young woman.

She boasted about having dated the top men at the top of the food chain. Socially important ones, of all social classes. Politicians, magistrates, prosecutors, high-ranking military, doctors, lawyers, businessmen. Her second boss would tell the closest people that she had a blackmail card. And that on certain dates of the month she called specific people. They scheduled outings, lunch, dinner and nights for sex. There they exchanged favors. Few in the company were aware of Carlene’s personal businesses. But in the small circle of gossip it was said that even the company partners were on the list of private contributors of the coveted and unlimited beauty.

If, in the company, one were to name joy, jokes, kidding, teasing and hilarious stories that name would be Laerte. Dear and loved by all colleagues. Punctually twenty minutes before check-in time, there he was, with a new joke or making fun of a colleague. But that was just the way of a competent technician, committed to production, quality and results. Excellence. He could be entitled the general management, were it not for the pressing and personal need for technical capacity and the demands of the company. An engineer with a master’s degree in system analysis commanded with great competence all the company projects aimed at this sector.

At the company, it was well-known that Carlene had a crush on Laerte. He always took her advances with humor. He was careful to keep distance. Married, Viviane’s father, he had only one and final love in life, Uiara. They have dated since teenage years, got married, and from the relationship their only daughter was born after six years.

When vacation time came, Laerte could not get the fifteen days he was entitled to, which he used to enjoy when traveling with his family to the beach. He was sorry. But along with grandparents, brothers and cousins, they agreed that Uiara and Viviane would go. So it happened.

The company set a get-together party. Good lunch was offered, there was a swimming-pool, there were games, and group activities. In the evening, everybody said goodbye, Laerte was accompanied to his car by Carlene who asked him a favor. Leave her at a certain place since she had not come with her car. She took a ride. A request that the colleague promptly answered.

On Monday Laerte was approached at a break time:

What is this new business of taking the good-looking home?

Power-boy, you rock!

Laerte, however, was very embarrassed. And he felt uncomfortable with the jokes. And he preferred to remain alone in his room. He changed his routine, arriving at the last minute and leaving at the exact time his shift ended. And if he had extra work to do, he worked extra hours. He was quiet, more than usual. And he started to avoid his friends.

The following week his family arrived. Laerte left early that day to pick them up at the airport. He was really happy. Touchingly happy. And he repeatedly said that he missed them a lot, that he loved them very much. That he missed his little family so much. Uiara was very homesick and gave him a lot of affection. She also brought gifts. Viviane asked her father to take her for a walk and have their favorite ice cream. In fact, the family loved these little walks. While having ice cream, Laerte noticed an insistent call on his cell phone and did not answer. Suddenly the message came:

Answer that bloody phone! Otherwise you will know what I am capable of.

There was another call, he answered and just listened:

Hey man, are you playing with fire? Who do you think you’re dealing with? Tonight I want you in the company parking lot to go out and have sex and I also want five hundred reais.

"I’m not going out with you and I don’t have any money.

Forget about me!"

"Sorry? Are you stupid? Do you like your family, how much are they worth to you? How much are you willing to pay? And there’s more, do you think you can go out with me and treat me like a disposable object? Do you really think so? Fucking cheater! Did you know this is a sin? You have until 10 p.m. to call me from there. If you fail, you won’t sleep today.

Laerte goes back to with his family visibly disturbed. Restless, irritable, scared. On getting home, he goes to