THE CRYSTAL CUP - Chapter Fifteen

 THE CRYSTAL CUP

Chapter Fifteen

Another day began in Tocantins. Cecilia was thinking about what she was going to do. The inner city was good for wandering around, and she even had an impulse to stick around. But after a quiet week… too much, by the way… she was reassessing whether it was really worth staying there. Even because she still hadn't managed to get any placement and although her monetary reserve allowed her to stay calm for a few months, she was thinking about the possibility of looking for another place. The job market was somewhat restricted, and she was experiencing difficulties in adapting. Not even the house she was looking at for rent excited her anymore. Indeed, after a week, she was considering going back to São Paulo. She didn't exactly have to be in the neighborhood she lived in. She might as well go to the other end of town, and her husband would have no way of finding her...

To unwind a little, she decided to walk around the outskirts of the city. She walked slowly, observing everything around her, when she noticed a presence beside her. It was the boy from the other day. She felt uncomfortable with his presence. But she tried not to show it. She was alone, it didn't hurt to give him a little attention. And they started talking. She asked if he had been born right there, he replied that he had not… after all, she had already said last night that he lived in Silverânia…

“Yes,” she replied, “but living somewhere doesn't exactly mean you were born there,” she replied. “I, for example… was born in one city and lived in another”…

-Where are you from?

Upon hearing the question, Cecília tried to dodge the subject. She didn't want to tell him that she was from São Paulo. No. After all, if she decided to go back to the city, she wouldn't want someone going to look for her… and by the look of the boy, he was quite capable of doing that… she found him a bit clingy, and she didn't like that characteristic of him very much… She looked at him. clock… it was two o'clock in the afternoon, at half past four a bus left for Cataguazes. It was a bigger city, maybe he felt better there. She made a lame excuse for the boy, returned to the Hotel, packed her bag and headed to the bus station. She was determined to go to Cataguazes.

At about five in the afternoon, the bus left the platform and headed for the highway. If all went well, by seven-thirty he would be in the other city. She had already booked a room at the Hotel Alvorada, which meant she could take it easy. She hoped to have better luck in the new city. He would stay there for another week, if he didn’t find anything that suited him, he would return to São Paulo… after all, the dust had already settled and, anyway, he would have to go there to terminate the contract at the store where he had worked until recently. time. As the bus cut down the highway, she began to dream. And in her dreams, she was running through the green fields of her childhood. She had always lived in the same place, and her neighborhood was, in essence, an interior region, where animals grazed peacefully, carts and carts passed through the streets, rivers cut through the entire region and dense forest was the mark of the limit of roads in Earth. In the region she had only one primary school, and it was at least an hour away from her home. She walked, because she didn't have transportation connecting her neighborhood with the place where the school was. But she enjoyed taking this walk. After all, in addition to the cattle that she insisted on crossing her path, there were horses and other animals. Birds, there were several types of them. At the dam that was close to her house, the paturis would party, as well as the herons... the place really was fishy. On fence posts, tizius were always jumping. Thrushes, goldfinches, canary birds, woodpeckers, Bem te vis crossed his path at all times. And the swallows, with their low-flying flights… it was really beautiful to see these little birds squirming on the ground, as if they were taking a bath… of course, from time to time, she would come across a snake in her path… but after the initial scare, each went their own way, without major damage to either side. Frogs, there were plenty. And next to the dam, there was a large taboal, where the children used to look for material to do some manual work that the teacher asked for.

Still in her dreams, Cecília suddenly saw herself together with her childhood friends, playing in a circle. She was Sleeping Beauty, at the center of the game. And Tiago, one of her neighbors, was the prince charming who would wake her up. And he didn't wake her up, did he? Well, not exactly Tiago, but the bus driver, who was patting her lightly on the shoulder, asking her to get off, since they had already arrived in the city…

She rubbed her eyes. She woke up. She got up from the armchair, took her hand luggage and went downstairs... took the bags that were in the trunk of the car, and headed to the hotel she had chosen. It wasn't very far, about seven hundred meters between one point and another. And she walked with her luggage there... “I think I'm paying for my sins, walking up and down”, he thought. And finally arrived at the door of his hotel. She checked in, settled in her room, packed her things, took a shower. After getting dressed, she looked at the time… just over nine o'clock. A good time to eat something, he thought. She remembered that in front of the Bus Station she had seen a Pizzeria, and decided to go there... a pepperoni pizza with mozzarella would go down very well...

About twenty minutes later she devoured the pizza she had ordered. She was alone, but decided that her hunger was enough for a large pizza. And she really ate it with gusto. She didn't know if it was hunger, or if it was the taste of the food, but she had never tasted anything this good, she mused...

About eleven o'clock she was already asleep. She couldn't say why, but she dropped like a stone. And she didn't wake up until after ten in the morning…which meant that breakfast time was already over.

Cecilia went out into the street, both to have her breakfast and to explore her surroundings. This town was a lot bigger than the other one, she realized right away. Who knows if... well, she'd think about that later. Now, what she really wanted was something to eat. Again the bus station was her destination. But she thought a little and decided to walk further, to a hamburger place nearby. They had spoken well of the place, and she was curious to know. What was the name of the place? Was it… Johnnie Grill? Yes, she had the impression that was the name the hotel receptionist had spoken. And then, without further ado, she headed to the Hamburgueria. She sat at one of the tables, looked at the menu and chose one of the options. To drink, she ordered a strawberry juice with milk. She just loved strawberry juice with milk. When her snack arrived, she found it really robust. And she attacked him. With each bite she took of the sandwich, an expression of pleasure was drawn on her face. And so it was, until the last piece. She lay back for some time in her seat, with her eyes closed, still enjoying the snack she had just eaten. Finally, she went to the cashier and paid her bill. She gained the street, again, and started to walk slowly, taking in everything around her. Yes, Cataguazes was a beautiful city. It wasn't big, like São Paulo, but it wasn't small like Tocantins either. When passing through one of the streets… it was Praça Rui Barbosa, close to the City Hall, what does she see? A “Magazines Luiza” chain store, and what does she see at the door of the store? A sign asking… Saleswoman! She didn't think too much, she went in and went straight to talk to the manager... no, to the store manager. They talked for a while, Cecília explained that she had been working in the area for a long time and that she was one of the best salespeople in her store. . But due to personal problems, she had to resign and leave her city. And now she was in need of a job at a new company, in a new city. The manager, whose name was Katia, listened to her very carefully. In the end, she asked if she could speak with her former boss. Cecilia said yes, no problem. And she gave him the phone number of the store, with the name of the manager… they talked some more, then Katia said she would give him an answer, positive or negative, the next day. Cecilia was excited. After all, if she got a job there, she wouldn't have to worry about going back home... not that she would go back to her home, really... but if she could avoid returning to the city for a while, she wouldn't be sad at all...

She left the store and continued her tour of the city. Walking a little further, she arrived at Praça Santa Rita, where the Sanctuary of Santa Rita de Cássia is located. Not a very fervent Catholic, she decided to enter the church to pray a little and breathe that air of peace and tranquility that these mystical places usually have...

After some time of meditation, in which she said her prayers and thanks to God… in her own way, as she didn't go to church much… she always thought that, to talk to God, any place would do. In her opinion, it wasn't necessary to be religious every Sunday (Her mother went every day) for God to be sure that you respected him. The God she believed in was a loving God, who didn't think of revenge against his children... when she told her mother that, the poor thing just needed to have a heart attack. Because her mother was one of those devotees who believed that, to win divine graces, the faithful had to do penance and a lot of prayer…. Well, thought Cecília, each one worships God in the way they see fit... and thus, she avoided conflict with her mother. Her father was already calmer, not only in relation to faith but in many other matters in life. For example, while her mother couldn't wait to see her married, even though she didn't like her future son-in-law, her father always advised her to think carefully about the step she was going to take. After all, dating was one thing, marriage was another. While courtship could be compared to an agate mug, marriage was something more refined… it was a crystal goblet. And, like the crystal, if there was any crack in the relationship, he could even go ahead... but that mark would never erase. Cecília remembers that, until a few hours before the wedding, her father spoke seriously with her and asked her, for the hundredth time, if she was sure of the step she was going to take. Of course she confirmed. The old man shrugged, blessed her and wished her good luck. And wasn't he right? In the first week, the two fell out, and from then on, they just went backwards, as the people used to say. Cecília found out, after a short time of marriage, that she and Ricardo had nothing in common... they fought like cats and dogs. And the worst part... for very silly things, which weren't even worth the effort they made to keep their discussions going... many times she would go to sleep hurting her husband, but didn't try to reconcile with him. She felt that since he was the one who was wrong, he should take the first step towards reconciliation. But we all know that's not quite how a relationship works, right? And that's how the crystal goblet that was their marriage cracked and cracked until there was no way to fix it. And she knew that both of them were at fault... well, as a matter of fact, her parents also had a small share of the blame, as they never tried to appease the couple, in fact, sometimes they even added fuel to the fire. And so, life went on. With the two living in the same house, but in no way as a couple. After all, that flame of love that existed when they were dating was gradually extinguished, until nothing was left... except the company they kept for each other. And even that one was doomed to disappear with time….