THE CRYSTAL CUP - Chapter Six

 THE CRYSTAL CUP

Chapter Six

Ricardo was in no hurry to go home when his shift ended. He made the last trip of the day around eight o'clock at night, after the passengers got out, he turned off the car's itinerary and headed for the garage. Due to the schedule he knew it would take a little longer, but he wasn't worried about it. After all, after everything was settled with reports and the day's vacation, his intention was to go to the bar to have some to forget the problems of the previous day. He really had no desire to return home, especially after the fight he'd had with his wife.

He couldn't remember how the argument started. He knew it was his fault, but he didn't understand why. Perhaps due to the fact that he was drunk when he arrived at his house… Pulling his memory a little further, he remembered the… incident… when his wife had caught the bus he was driving. And it was precisely on that trip that Roseli had to invent giving her a kiss when she got off the bus… and without paying the fare, to boot! The problem is that she did it every day, it was already automatic. Of course, this was due to the fact that the two had already been dating for almost two years, and their daughter had been born from that relationship. Funny, he had never wanted to have children with Cecília, and with Rose it just happened… They had a beautiful and strong little girl, whom they named Letícia. As a matter of fact, at first he wanted to name the girl Diana, and she wanted Melissa… in the end, they agreed on the chosen name…she was almost a year old, and she really was very beautiful…

Of course, Cecília couldn't even dream of that, because if she found out that Ricardo had another family, everything would collapse like a house of cards. And even though it didn't seem like it, he loved his wife.

Well, he was with his friends at the little bar in front of the garage. It was already the fifth bottle of beer they had emptied, not counting the various shots of cachaça consumed between one bottle and the next. It's not that he liked cachaça. In fact, he hated it. But most of his friends liked to drink a caninha and so, in order not to “disregard” his friends, he ended up drinking a few sips of brandy. The problem is that it went up too fast. So he ended up having to take some time off to regain control of his legs so he could get back home.

By midnight he was already quite "breezy", but it was time to go to sleep to catch up early on work. His car was scheduled to pull out of the driveway at half past five, so he only had five hours until he had to return to work. Changing his legs, he walked out onto the street, waiting for the Uber he'd called to get home.

He finally arrived. He paid the driver and got out. Everything was dark, which was strange at first. After all, Cecilia always left the porch light on. But not that day. With some difficulty she finally managed to open the door. With that thick voice, characteristic of a drunk person, he called for his wife several times. No answer. He began to get excited, uttered loud curses, but everything continued in the most sepulchral silence...

He finally arrived at the bedroom door, furious that his wife had not received him. He was about to attack her again when he realized that, besides him, there was no one else in the room. He started shouting profanities at random, but no one could hear him. After a few minutes of screaming like crazy, it dawned on him…he was alone. But how? Why?

He sat up in bed, completely lost. Where could Cecilia be at this hour? Did she go to her parents house? No, definitely not. Even more so after he had that ugly fight with his mother and Estela, to defend Helena. Both Cecília and Helena couldn't stand Estela, and she contributed to the maximum for the sisters' dislike to increase every day...

Well, then he could rule out the mother-in-law's house… where had she gone? A friend's house? But which? And why would she have…wait, that was obvious…the fight. But… just because of that silly little argument? I couldn't understand… “Well, you know what”, he thought, “I'm going to sleep… after all, I have to get up in a little while…”

The sound of the clock on the wall reverberated through his brain, as if a thousand anvils were being struck. His wife's name escaped his lips at all times. With that tearful voice he called out to her…

The loud sound of the alarm clock made him jump out of bed. He checked the time. It was four-thirty in the morning, enough time to take a shower, have some hot coffee and run out to the garage. He had to stop this habit of getting drunk on workdays. It was a wreck, but he had to go to the garage. After all, his daughter needed some things, and for that, it was necessary to earn money.

As he bathed, he called out to Cecilia to prepare his breakfast. He was puzzled when he got no response from his wife.

“Wow, is she so angry that she doesn’t even deign to answer me?” he thought... then, suddenly... like a flash of lightning his memory came back and he remembered that his wife had not slept at home that night. Then the worry came strong… what would have happened to Cecilia? She had never done this before. Why would she stay out of the house at night like that? Over a simple little fight? Of such nonsense?

Ricardo got dressed and went out into the street, without even having coffee. He didn't have time for this anymore. I was still a little dizzy, thanks to the drinks from the night before…