WALKÜREN - THE THREE MARIES Chapter Twenty

WALKÜREN - THE THREE MARIES

Chapter Twenty

One of Graça's childhood habits was to go religiously to mass on Sundays. But she didn't like always going to the same chapel. For this reason, every week she went to a different church. It was a way to get to know a little more about the city. In her five years living in the Capital, she ended up having her favorite places to visit, including the Igreja da Glória, close to Caminho do Mar. It was rumored that Dom Pedro, after proclaiming the Independence of Brazil, had made a standing there to thank God for allowing him to perform such an act. Of course, this has never been proven, because no one is sure what happened that day... especially after almost eighty years. But that's what was said.

After mass she liked to walk around... one of her favorite places was the Museu Paulista... besides being a beautiful place to visit, it was easy to access, thanks to the tram line that connected the Museum to the center of the city. Among the various places she liked to visit, the Lava-pés stream was another that couldn't be missed from her itinerary. There she was sure that the first Emperor of Brazil had actually stopped, because everyone who came along the Caminho do Mar rested at this point, where they washed their feet in the waters of the stream - this is why the name of the stream - and then entered the Church to give thanks. the fact that they managed to complete their trip.

Cambucí trees were abundant there, and whenever she could - when it was fruit season - Graça picked some and took them home to make a liqueur, which she simply loved. Of course, for this you had to have a reasonable amount of fruit, at least fifteen or twenty... the recipe he used was the one he had learned from his mother... she used about fifteen very ripe fruits, four cups of water , four cups of sugar and a liter of cachaça... oh, yes, she didn't like alcohol, but she always had some liqueurs to serve to friends who visited her from time to time. The preparation of the liqueur was very simple, as most of the liqueurs we know are... she removed all the juice from the fruits, squeezing them with the help of a very clean cloth, then put them on the fire with water and sugar and let it boil. Then she added the cachaça, put it in a bottle, closed it tightly and let it rest for about three days, more or less. And that's it... her cambucí liqueur was ready... of course she didn't teach anyone her recipe... after all, the secret was the soul of the business, wasn't it?...

The region was growing... currently the Italian accent was very common there... most of the immigrants worked in the factories that were emerging in the surrounding area... little by little the farms and farms were giving way to workers' villages... one of the several companies that appeared on the site was the Ramenzoni hat factory... it employed a good number of people. He was an inspiration for Graça, who until then had never thought about making hats... but she thought it would be a good idea to design some models to accompany the dresses she produced. Of course, I didn't follow Mr. Dante's industrial line. But he asked to work at the company for a few days, to learn what the process was like...

There was an association in the neighborhood, the Italian Democratic League. From time to time Graça went there because he found the ideas that were exposed there interesting. Yes, despite loving being isolated from the world most of the time, she felt drawn to that line of thinking... she had never seen or heard such ideas. And she was fascinated by the way people exposed them. On one of these visits to the association Graça met Guido, a young man in his early twenties. He was one of the most intense speakers in the group. Well, just as Graça felt attracted to the boy, he also liked the brunette. And they went out together to walk around the neighborhood a few times. The boy had recently been in Brazil, and talked about what life was like in his homeland, the difficulties he and his family faced and why they decided to come to this land. The girl was enchanted by the stories that the boy told during his walks. Oh yes, they just walked together. They didn't even walk hand in hand. And she, at first, hadn't even told the boy her name...

  Another place she liked to visit, from time to time, was Nadir Figueiredo... of course, at first it wasn't very easy to get permission to enter the factory as a visitor, but Grace was persistent and, after some time, she managed to learn about the manufacturing process of glasses and other glass objects. She was delighted, of course. She never imagined that the process would be like that, of transforming sand into something transparent thanks to the heat... Ah, yes... of course the visits were made during the week, and not on Sundays. Not that they didn't work on the weekends... they did. But Graça's visits to the factories were made during the week, when she looked for new ideas to please her customers. Of course, she often didn't achieve anything, but when something caught her attention, she spent days and days researching the subject and working on the idea. Sunday's walks were limited to visiting the Museum Garden, the Museum itself and the Church... oh, yes, and the walks alongside Guido...

After some time, Graça allowed the boy to know his name... and let him glimpse a little of her world. When she narrated the stories she lived in her hometown, the boy became ecstatic. He asked questions, mixing Italian with Portuguese, in that sing-song accent that pleased the girl so much. Some time passed and he already knew where she worked... at no point did she reveal that she was the owner of the business... and he insisted on knowing where his loved one lived. Yes, he swore eternal love for Graça and said that she was the reason for her life. Well, the girl was not easy to fall for, and although she allowed him to know where her place of work was, she never told him in which neighborhood she lived. Could he figure it out on his own if he wanted to? Of course yes... but the girl had her ways of discouraging him from the endeavor. As? If the two were already hugging each other on the streets, during the walk? But she wouldn't even give the boy a hand... as she always said... one day she would give her heart to someone... but she had to be sure that that someone really deserved her. Otherwise, before only harm accompanied...