WALKÜREN - THE THREE MARIES Chapter Twenty-Three

 WALKÜREN - THE THREE MARIES

Chapter Twenty-Three

The days passed with relative calm. Daily incidents did not deviate from that normal routine. Everything was going as it should... the most that Deputy Santana needed to do in those days was break up fights between drunks who were overindulging in the cachaça they drank... Yes, tranquility had arrived in the city...

Taking advantage of the calm, and knowing that it wouldn't last long, Juvêncio decided to walk around the city. Mainly through the center. Mainly through the most important places... your first stop was at the train station. Not that he intended to travel somewhere by train, but it was always good to be aware of their arrival and departure times... after walking around the station for a while, he decided to extend his trip to Grupo Escolar Doutor Almeida Vergueiro. His hope was to find in that piece of Paradise some clue... some legend... some story... that would help him elucidate what was happening... of course, it would be much more practical if the city had a library... But as they say... whoever doesn't have a dog, hunts with a cat...

Dona Matilde, the school director, welcomed the delegate with a smile. It was great to receive an authority within the school. He was led to his room by a teacher. They started talking, Juvêncio asked a lot of questions. Some, the teacher knew how to answer, others were left open. Juvêncio asked, mainly, about the time when the city still lived under the slave regime. He thought it was very important to know whether, when the transition took place, the now freed people had a lot of resentment against their former masters. Of course, the teacher couldn't know from memory, but there were records. And it was about these documents that the delegate asked the questions. Yes, there were some incidents as soon as the slaves were freed. But it was in an acceptable proportion... but wasn't there some kind of rebellion against the farmers? Well, after the abolition of slavery, there was no record. Everything went in the most perfect order... as far as possible, of course.

Juvêncio asked if he could have access to the records from the time. Matilde explained to him that it would not be very simple, since most of the documents would be in the possession of families in the region. But she would do her best to help him, since she knew most of the families, even due to her position in the city. After talking a lot about various subjects, including folklore, and due to the late hour, Juvêncio asked him if he would like to join him for dinner. The director declined the request, explaining that besides being too early for dinner, she still had to go home, where several tasks awaited her. But she didn't close the door on a future invitation...

Juvêncio continued his walk through the city streets. It was still early to return to his guesthouse, so he would take the opportunity to think as he walked. When he realized, he was in front of the Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows... As he was unarmed, he went in to pray and be grateful for the divine protection he received, as he knew that without it, most of his "impossible" cases to solve would be really impossible. He sat down on one of the benches and immersed himself in his thoughts. So much so that, when the parish priest touched his shoulder, he ended up getting scared. But he controlled his emotions... it wasn't good for his image that people realized that he didn't always have control over everything... in any case, he thought it was great that the priest had come to him... usually priests were a source inexhaustible information....reliable, which was better.

- My son, I can't say anything...

- I'm not asking you to talk about any of your parish priests, Father. What I'm asking is if you haven't noticed anything strange lately...

- What do you mean strangers, my son?!

- I don't know, Father... anything different from normal...

- I can't remember anything.

- Look... it's very important. I don't know... some believer acting strangely...

- Why?

- I'll be honest, Father... you certainly heard about the deaths around the city...

- Yes, of course... even the police chief instituted a curfew, and the citizens obey...

- Well then... that's exactly what I'm talking about...

- Look, I think... no, no... I'm delusional...

- Can you tell me about that?

- It's been a few days... a wanderer appeared here... but soon left... you know, these people don't stay anywhere for long...

- Yes, but... what was strange about him?

-His eyes... were black like the moonless night...

- Most people have black eyes...

- Yes, but this one was different... his eyes were completely black... I'm not referring to the apple of his eye...

Juvêncio ended the conversation with the Father. Now he would have to check with other people if anyone else had seen this "man" whose eyes were completely black... it was a good lead to follow, no doubt. But our friend decided to leave it to continue the investigation the next day. Now all he wanted was a good dinner and a warm bed waiting for him....

As he walked towards the pension, he met Doctor Carneiro, who was accompanied by his assistant. As she lived a little far from the center, the doctor accompanied her every day... it was father-daughter care, let's be clear. Juvêncio then invited the two to have dinner with him, and promised to accompany the girl home after the meal. They accepted, since both of them, after a tiring day at the clinic (at least it wasn't in the morgue) were really hungry. Juvêncio was happy... he could ask the doctor what he thought of the information he had received from the Father...

- Totally black eyes?

- Yes, doctor... that's what the Father told me...

- This is impossible...

- Why, doctor?

- Honestly... I've never seen anyone... in any time... whose eyes didn't have sclera...

- Th... what? What is this, doctor?

- Sclera is the white part of the eyes, where the pupil and iris are...

- Could you explain better?

- Another time... as interesting as the conversation may seem at first, I don't think it's the best topic to talk about during the meal... but I insist that a person with eyes like the one you told me is impossible... At least, as far as I know...