3 - THE BEGINNING...

 3 - THE BEGINNING...

The afternoon was coming and Maria was about to leave the field. The day at work was good, she managed to do more than she expected. That meant extra money on Saturday. She looked at the horizon, where the mountain range began. The sun, reddish, little by little lowered the horizon, giving way to the first mists of the night. All the comrades started to walk towards their homes, already thinking about how many blocks they would walk the next day. After all, the more they produced, the more they would earn. And when the harvest ended on the farm, surely some neighbors would still have services to offer to those who were willing to walk a little further. Graça was in a bit of a hurry, and was well ahead of Maria, as the former still needed to fetch firewood to feed the stove in her house. “Well”, thought Maria, “I think Mom also needs firewood for cooking…” and she tried to hurry to catch up with her friend. The two started talking about everyday banalities, and headed towards the woods. The night was already present when the two finally got lost among the trees, looking for sticks that would serve for their home. After an hour, a little more, a little less, finally the two bundles of firewood were ready. Now all we had to do was make our way back to the street… Graça was a little apprehensive… after all, it was a full moon… it was Lent… and they were closer to the mountains than to the settlers’ village… and there was the ox-tatá circling around through the mountains… "I hope he doesn't go down to the valley", she thought to herself… the problem was that she didn't have the slightest idea where the beast's origin was… what if the beast was coming from the village where they lived? It could very well be from there… of course she was praying that it wasn't, but… Well, the best the two of them could do at that moment was hurry back home. And to be as careful as possible… because the night sometimes brought unpleasant surprises to the lives of the villagers… They placed the bundles over their heads and started to walk. After some time, Maria asked her friend if she wasn't finding the way back longer than when they entered the forest. Grace had sensed that, but she didn't want to alarm her mate. In any case, the moon had already appeared and was slowly rising in the sky. Soon it would be time for the souls to leave for the world, and the two there, lost in the middle of the woods... they walked for some more time, and nothing from the end of the woods appeared. So Graça decided it was better to stop for a while and pray, because then the path would open for them. Maria accepted right away, of course. After all, she was already getting terrified with the fact that they had been walking for so long and apparently had not progressed in their journey. First they crossed themselves, then they began with the Our Father, followed with an Ave Maria and hitched a Hail Queen. When they were halfway across Credo, the forest began to fade and they realized that they were already a few steps away from their homes. Without worrying about what had happened, the two hurried their steps and soon each one was safely in their home. Of course, Zacarias scolded his daughter for having left the trail and gone into the woods in the middle of the night, during Lent. The girl explained that she had noticed that the supply of firewood was almost exhausted, and she decided to keep her friend company. Her father understood the situation, but still warned the girl that everything had its right time to be done, and the night was not to be abused... especially at that season... Maria shrugged. She understood her father's concern, but what could she do? Let her friend go off into the woods alone? She didn't think that was right, so she decided to follow Graça, because company helped a lot in a time of trouble. And Grace, many, many times, had held her hand when she needed it...

It was already a little late when Maria finally went to sleep. Earlier, he had helped his mother finish the day's tasks... she went to fetch water from the stream, which was a few meters from her ranch, arranged the firewood she had brought along with what she still had near the kitchen, made the food they were going to take to the fields the next day and prepared the coffee they would have before hitting the road. Zacarias packed his things, separated his pair of boots and took the cartridge belt, starting to clean it. He prepared the ammunition he would eventually use, put away the already loaded cartridges, hung the shotgun on the wall and finally headed to her room...

- Are you going on a campaign, father?

- I'm going to get some head of cattle from Poço Grande. Sr. Nardi bought a herd, about twenty head more or less...

- Go alone?

- No... it's me, Juca and Tonhão...

- Coming back tomorrow?

- Are you crazy, girl? We're not going to walk around at night, no... we should be here at the farm in two or three days...

- But Poço Grande is not so far...

- If we have a good horse and if we go straight there... but let's lead a small herd... and the cattle have their own marching time...

- And you're not afraid to camp in the mountains at night, are you?

- Fear, I have... but what has no remedy, is remedied...

- And the ox-tatá?

Zechariah crossed himself...

- Stop talking nonsense, girl... whoever takes God in their heart and has faith in the Virgin Mary is not afraid of anything, neither this nor the other world...

And without saying anything else, Zacarias withdrew...

Maria remained seated on the stool beside the stove for a while longer. The embers were dying out little by little... it was time to go to bed, because in a few hours she would have to go back to her daily work... her parents and siblings had already been snoring for some time when she finally went to bed. Suddenly, a bad feeling took over her body. Terrified by the sensation, she began to pray, chanting every prayer she knew. But that unexplained dread wouldn't let go of hers...