Disciplined Rain

 

Last Sunday it was stormy. Though, the result wasn’t a proper storm but a quiet rain intermittently falling down since Monday. That day I walked the dogs right after the rain to discover that rain makes people more equal. And smiling. And playful. Dogs and school children seem to love it. Keket was particularly excited with the newly washed streets. I love it too, even if slippery with all the lilac jacarandas covering parts of the walk.

 

It hasn’t been a good walking week, but Wednesday was general election and nobody worked. Mid afternoon we found small groups still arriving at the neighbourhood election post. Not far from it I saw a homeless man profoundly sleeping on the street. We can sporadically find beggar and homeless near a place where the rubbish is deposited, but it’s the first we see sleeping like that. Keket was clearly intrigued. A human figure in such strange and vulnerable position!? I almost cut my wrist in two to prevent my little dog from awakening him.

 

I was intrigued too. It could be simply a drunken, a man who celebrated democracy in a particularly effusive way. If he had voted too, how could a visibly homeless man register near the place where he lives if he doesn’t have a known address? Was he sleeping tired of the early morning queues or of his fruitless attempts to vote? Above all, I wondered about the party a homeless man would vote for.

After a Long Day

 

After a long, very hot day
When quiet silences install and
The world seems to fade away
Pushed by shadows that fall
Softly delaying crafted gestures

 

Draw the curtains
Turn on the lights

 

In the dark everything makes sense
Love, waiting, past and

                                    present

He Found Us

 

Months ago I wrote about a chimpanzee, but then I lost the text and felt too lazy to put it together again. The chimp I am talking about used to live in the local zoo, where he reigned as its main attraction ever. Actually, he ended up as a victim of that attraction. Another case of fatal attraction. Being extremely clever, he mimicked and learned everything people taught him, including heavy smoking.

 

One day we returned home and found Andy sitting in front of the television. He looked worried and said: “It’s done, they are taking Joao to South Africa from where he is not returning for sure…” We looked at him totally puzzled. It happens we know closely a person called Joao and our first reaction was thinking about that person. Why on earth would someone take Joao to South Africa forever?

 

After the evident laugh caused by the confusion, Andy explained that Joao-chimp was so sick due to his cigarettes addiction that he had to be rescued from the adoring crowd that kept feeding his deadly habit. He had a nasty temper and showed other manifestations of dependency.

 

Andy, who always had a special interest for any kind of monkey or ape, kept coming with the subject. “What could have happened to Joao?” he usually wondered, and we always thought first of Joao-person before we could realize it was about Joao-chimp. Last time he came up with the subject, we decided to satisfy Andy’s curiosity and start looking for Joao-chimp. And I wrote about this intention, so that we didn’t forget it. The text was lost and the intention could follow the same destiny, but then it happened that thing between Andy and monkeys. If there’s a monkey, he cannot be too far from where Andy is. We went to Nelspruit and accidently discovered where to Joao was taken. The old chimp is still very much alive and an attraction at Chimp Eden. We immediately set a date to visit Joao. And I am sure I shall have another good reason to write about in here.

Little Mary

 

MARIAZINHA
Escondida na rua
Brincando sozinha
Onde estás, Mariazinha?

 

O sol já se pôs
E ela na vizinha
Onde estás, Mariazinha?

 

Perdida no mundo
Como uma avezinha
Onde estás, Mariazinha?
Onde estás, Mariazinha?

Drawer Personality

 

How many drawers does an average house have? I suppose the number varies according to the number of people living in there and also with personal tastes and options. Some prefer shelf storage to drawers. Others opt for boxes.

 

I spend a great deal of time around drawers. I don’t mind because, since I was a child, I found fascinating any storage place. My mother playfully called me “mexeriqueira”, wrongly associating the word with mexer (touching things), when actually means gossiper. Storage places should be left alone. They should remain untouched, unless an imperious motive forced her to act. While most of my colleagues and friends sat in front of television sets, I was discovering the contents of any armoire or drawer. I suppose this is only a reflex of my treasure hunter vocation.

 

Excluding armoires, shelves, boxes and any other storage form, I recently counted more than 80 drawers. Ignoring if the number is normal or too big, I justify it because of family size and also because we have too many things that we don’t really need and end up in some drawer. I do expect that this explains it, because the stories I know involving drawers are not flattering for drawer-like people.

 

I know about a region where dinner tables have drawers so that the family members can quickly hide the food they are eating inside of them, and don’t have to share it with neighbours and friends. Totally wrong personality!

 

I just hope that having drawers is nothing but a storage option…

 

Note: If you are more into armoires, that could mean that you are not very mature. Compared to drawers, I have the insignificant number of six armoires. Pretty mature, don’t you think?

Wheel of Time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Na roda do tempo eu estou
Na roda do tempo eu sigo
E o tempo é meu aliado
E o tempo é meu inimigo

 

Há dias em que nem sei quem sou
Há dias em que é bom estar vivo