WALKÜREN - THE THREE MARIAS Chapter Sixteen

 WALKÜREN - THE THREE MARIAS

Chapter Sixteen

Graça was passing in front of Largo dos Curros, where a famous bullfighter from the south, Francisco Pontes, was taking place at that moment. She didn't understand how people could appreciate this degrading spectacle. After all, what was the fun of seeing the poor animal run from one side of the arena to the other and being skewered at all times by the choppers, and waiting for the final thrust, coming from the hands of the main star? No, it couldn't be called a "spectacle"... but the crowd loved the bullfighter's volleys, no doubt. The cries of "olé" could be heard almost from the other block...

Graça went to a bullfight once, as soon as she arrived in the Capital. Her mother was still hospitalized at Santa Casa. She imagined, at first, that it was a spectacle similar to the rodeos she was used to in the countryside. It never crossed her mind that that closed place served as a luxury slaughterhouse, since the bull rarely leaves the presentation alive. And people screamed excitedly, wanting more and more... they liked the smell of the blood expelled by the animal... and the juggling done not only by the bullfighter, while he punished the animal, but also by his rear guard team.... that is , the poor animal didn't have a chance in this fight... yes, Graça had already fought with bulls, I've caught some with the claws... but the context was different. He had already killed a few cattle, but an arena? Where did people pay to see the animal suffer? She couldn't understand that... When the second bull of the presentation was sacrificed in the arena, Graça couldn't bear to continue watching the show and got up from her place, leaving. She never entered another circus of that nature again.

She crossed the place as fast as she could, towards Largo do São Bento, to catch the tram that went to her house, in Barra Funda... funny name for a new neighborhood, isn't it? Well, the reason for the region to get that name was due to the fact that the mouth of the Tietê River was very deep... The neighborhood was growing visibly... since she bought her land and built her house on the site, new houses were built. being raised and were installing industries in the region. São Paulo Railway really did a lot of good for the region by bringing its tracks there...

It had been a little over a decade since the Republic had been installed in the country. She could not honestly say that there had been major changes in the country's administration. But that progress, in a way, was coming... well, it's clear that in the Emperor's time things advanced, too... but it was as if the people did not participate in the advances of the Country, because everything that happened was by the work and grace of the Royal Family, even if such a thing were not a fact. For example, the abolition of slavery... the Crown claimed for itself the fact of having extinguished such bizarre

... the dominance of one human being over another... but in fact, when she was twelve years old, the State of Ceará freed its slaves. And in the year that Dona Isabel was credited with signing the Lei Áurea, several cities in various parts of the country had already freed their captives. She was sixteen years old when, two months before the Crown's official announcement, the landowners in her region freed the helpless people they had under their care and began to remunerate them for their services. oficial something that was happening little by little... the world was changing...

Of course, not everything was flowers. Many blacks ended up without resources... after all, until then they received nothing for their services, but they had shelter and food, even if it was meager. After they received the so dreamed freedom, all the expenses they had would come out of their pockets. Home, food, clothes... medicine. Yes, it was a new reality that the former slaves faced. And not everyone did well. Not to mention the prejudice they suffered from some elements of society... you see, not everyone was prejudiced against the new prevailing social class... the newly freed... but there's always a pig spirit to spoil everything, no and even? And, logically, some ended up going into the world of crime. Why wouldn't they? After all, some colonels took everything from these people... their pride, their roots... their identity!

One of the most famous cases that Graça remembered was that of a freed Negro named Rio Negro. It had that name because it came from a small town in Paraná with the same name. Nobody knew exactly why... but Rio Negro had a hatred for all people who didn't have the same tone as his skin. And for a while he terrorized the Vale region, plundering small farms, stealing cattle, raping women who happened to be unlucky enough to be where he was attacking. Yes, it was a really dark time. Rio Negro felt so omnipotent that there came a time when he no longer cared that people knew about his excesses... and one day he decided to attack one of the many besiegers in the region. For some reason he felt attracted to the wife of the farmer, called Zé Leite. The brunette was truly beautiful... auburn complexion, hair as black as a moonless night... eyes of unparalleled intensity. And Rio Negro kidnapped the brunette. When Zé Leite found out about what had happened, he almost went crazy... but he managed to control himself. He took his weapons, gathered some friends to help him track down the bandit and off they went, hunting for the girl's kidnapper.

They found him hiding in a hut near the mountains. After they shouted to Rio Negro, warning him that he was surrounded and that he would only leave if he returned the kidnapped girl, knowing that he would be arrested.... Rio Negro started shooting at the group, who retaliated. Quitéria (that was the name of Zé Leite's wife), seeing the fire spreading, tried to protect herself as best she could. After a few minutes, which seemed like hours, Rio Negro was hit by a few shots... and the terror in the region ceased to exist.

How old was Graça when this case happened? About six, seven years ... he was still a child. But he remembered people's fear when they mentioned the name of Rio Negro, and the feeling of relief everyone felt when his death was confirmed. Some time later, the masked man appeared in the region and expelled other bandits who were still there. It was her first contact with Juvêncio... funny, she had forgotten about that detail... and now, just like that...