As Blue As A Blue Sea Read online

  As Blue As

  A Blue Sea

  Luiz Estevam Gonzalez

  Translation By

  Thiago de Lira Capatti

  http://www.proz.com/translator/1068793

  Illustration By

  Gilvan Tadeu Ferreira da Silva

  [email protected]

  Prologue

  Year 2000

  “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”

  Matthew 26:52

  “What a mansion!” Mário thought astonished, waiting for his time to be admitted to the house. “This man really knows how to live,” he mused jealously as he ran his eyes over the three-story residence occupying an entire block facing the bay.

  It was raining heavily and the strong wind coming from the sea howled loudly, making a mournful sound that matched well with his spirit and with the mission result given to him.

  Mário was getting ready to report the assignment outcome to his boss who did not want to wait until the next day and as soon as he knew of Mário’s arrival, he immediately asked him to come in.

  Even under the huge umbrella, Mário was completely soaked when he was admitted to the house. He left a puddle on the sumptuous hall, which only made him feel a little more embarrassed and afraid than he already was.

  Mário was tired, as he traveled all day in order to meet the big man. After the burial, he spent the night on the road. His boss had insisted he would drive back, as he did not want to leave traces of Mário’s trip, such as plane tickets. The old man was too paranoid; Mário could only follow his orders.

  He left his umbrella dripping in the hall and was taken into the presence of the master of the house by his trusted butler. After entering Mário into the office, the butler went to set the dinner table for this boss.

  After this last task of the day, the butler would be free to return to his room until the next day, as the boss himself would walk Mário to the door at supper time. These were his orders.

  Sitting in his cozy office on the top floor of the mansion, the man, who was about seventy years old, with thick, gray hair, well-dressed informally and looked like a well-succeeded businessman, was calmer than usual.

  Slowly, he lifted his crystal glass, filled to just over a half with a very exclusive twenty year old whisky, which he had just served, and held it against the moonlight passing through the immense windows.

  It was a night of contrasts, the stubbornly splendid moon in the sky amid the heavy black clouds that he insisted on ignoring.

  Fascinated, he admired the reflection of the multicolored effect that the moonlight filtered through the thick strands of rain caused on the glass and the liquid inside.

  This time dedicated to himself before dinner had become a particular, daily ritual of relaxation, which was almost unconscious and mechanical; however, pleasurable.

  He did not see himself without this moment of reflection anymore. That was when he put his ideas in order and got ready for the frugal evening meal.

  After having the lonely dinner and watching the news on TV, he reluctantly faced the nighttime sleep, which was increasingly short and difficult due to age and memories of a troubled life that insisted to remain in his mind.

  He rarely let anyone interrupt him at these times. Only on very special occasions someone had access to his private office at night. Whenever this happened, he felt very angry.

  He also liked to dine alone. The house employees always set the table and retired to their rooms, as they knew he did not want to see any of them until the next day. This was his unbreakable night practice and everyone in the house was already adapted to it.

  Today, in particular, the seventy-year old was pleasantly absent minded. Always having a refined taste, he was listening to his bossa nova records when suddenly noticed that his pleasurable routine had been broken. He was no longer alone.

  Impatiently, he took a long sip of whiskey, enjoyed the taste of the expensive drink, turned down the volume of the music and twisted his attention to the visitor who had just been admitted to the room,

  – So, how was it? – he asked exaggeratedly to his minion, without saying anything more since Mário knew exactly what his mission was.

  – It’s done, boss – Mário answered hurriedly. He did not feel very comfortable in the presence of the mighty man before him. He knew his fame and realized that he was a bit more grump than usual – I attended the burial. I saw him dead before they closed the coffin. I have no doubt it was him.

  The old man stood up with a serious expression, walked to the wide view that unfolded beyond the windows, and with his back to the visitor, he opened a wide smile that did not hide his satisfaction and relief.

  Unhurried to face Mário again, the old man kept looking at the bay lit by the full moon, framed at the left bottom by the dim lights of downtown with its old houses.

  Maybe due to the rain, the small harbor was still full of fishing boats waiting for the best time to go to the night shift.

  Keeping a firm countenance, the old man could not resist and curiously asked Mário,

  – What about him?

  – What do you mean, boss? – Mário was amazed by the unexpected question – He was dead as a doornail, pale as a corpse!

  The ancient instantaneously turned again to the window, feeling impatient and amused, barely containing the laughter and thinking, “How can anyone be such an idiot?”

  – That’s not it, asshole! – he said a few seconds later, when he managed to control the urge to burst out laughing – How did he look like? Old, tired, embittered, exhausted?

  – On the contrary, boss – Mário answered hurriedly, a little ashamed of his stupidity – Now I get it! He seemed to be very peaceful. How was it that the priest said in the sermon…? I remembered! Serene.

  – Was there a priest? – asked the old man, marveled, now a little calmer and surprised for knowing well the past and religious preferences of the deceased – What else?

  – Nothing more, sir. The whole town was there. It seemed that the man was very popular – Mário replied relieved. It seemed that the boss had forgotten his previous thoughtless response – I searched all over the hotel as you told with the help from Feliciano. And I found nothing! – Mário added, feeling more confident in reporting the outcome of his entire mission.

  The combination of heavy rain and full moon caused a bright multicolored contrast in the sky, captivating the eyes of the old man, who was fascinated by the sight before his eyes.

  “It’s been a long time I haven’t notice how beautiful this view is,” he mused, still facing the window, enjoying the outlook again and considering what he had just heard from his henchman, “Did that motherfucker bluffed all these years?”.

  Remembering again he was not alone, however reluctant to move away from the window, the old man turned to his servant and finally commanded,

  – Ok, Mário. Thank you. Now you can leave – he was hypnotized, and then looked out again and added – You know the way. Close the door when you leave.

  Calm as he did not feel for a long time, the kingpin kept on his nightly routine, opening the doors, turning on the lights outside and going to the office balcony.

  He prepared to finish his drink preceding the dinner. Savoring it, he reasoned, “If he has really kept any material against me, it should be with his sister or mother, maybe. I’ll have to go after them and get it over with”.

  He would have an immense pleasure in doing so. He would get the truth from her at any cost, before permanently obliterating that damn family, including the mother. He was already sick of these people.

  He stayed for a long time outside, barely bothering with the raindrops tha
t splashed on the balcony roof and on the railing on which he leaned to better admire what was below.

  Suddenly, a flash from inside a boat just below the bay lit up the night, mingling with the faint lightning from the storm, followed by a muffled boom.

  The old man did not notice anything. At this time, if there was still someone by his side, that person would just hear the thud of his body falling on the balcony floor, with a hole in the middle of his forehead.

  - § -

  Viktor E. Frankl

  Man’s Search for Meaning - A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp

  “We meant the meaning of life as a totality which comprises also death, and so it does not offer only the meaning of life, but also the meaning of suffering and death. We fought for this kind of meaning.

  Human life, under any circumstances, never ceases to have a meaning, and that this infinite meaning of life includes suffering and dying, privation and death.

  Whenever there was an opportunity for it, one had to give them (concentration camp prisoners) a why - an aim - for their lives, in order to strengthen them to bear the terrible how of their existence.­­

  Woe to him (concentration camp prisoner) who saw no more sense in his life, no aim, no purpose, and therefore no point in carrying on. He was soon lost. The typical reply with which such a man rejected all encouraging arguments was, "I have nothing to expect from life anymore." What sort of answer can one give to that?

  - § -

  Author’s Note

  Socio-historical context

  The Brazilian military government

  It was the authoritarian military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from March 31, 1964 to March 15, 1985. It began with the 1964 coup d'état led by the Armed Forces against the democratically elected government of the President João Goulart and ended when José Sarney took office as President.

  The military revolt was fomented by Magalhães Pinto, Adhemar de Barros, and Carlos Lacerda (who had already participated in the conspiracy to depose Vargas on 1954), Governors of Minas Gerais, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro, respectively.

  Brazil’s military regime provided a model for other military regimes and dictatorships around Latin America, systematizing the “Doctrine of National Security,” which "justified" the military’s actions as operating in the interest of National Security in a time of crisis, creating an intellectual basis upon which other military regimes relied.

  The Brazilian Armed Forces acquired great political clout after the Paraguayan War. The politicization of the Armed Forces was evidenced by the Proclamation of the Republic, which overthrew the Empire, or within Tenentismo (Lieutenants' movement) and the Revolution of 1930. Tensions escalated again in the 1950s, as important military circles (the "hard-line militars", old positivists whose origins could be traced back to the AIB and the Estado Novo) joined the elite, medium classes and right-wing activists in attempts to stop Presidents Juscelino Kubitschek and João Goulart from taking office, due to their supposed alignment with Communist ideology.

  While Kubitschek proved to be friendly to capitalist institutions, Goulart promised far-reaching reforms, expropriated business interests and promoted economical-political neutrality with the USA.

  In 1961, Goulart was allowed to take office, after a legalist campaign, but under an arrangement that decreased his powers as President with the installation of Parliamentarianism.

  The country returned to Presidential government in one year after a referendum, and, as Goulart's powers grew, it became evident that he would seek to implement the so said "base reforms" such as land reform and nationalization of enterprises in various economic sectors (which would remove the nation from its antique latifundial economy, but that were considered communist reforms), regardless of assent from established institutions such as Congress (Goulart had low parliamentarian support, as the USA had financed UDN's deputies and senators).

  Society became deeply polarized, with the elites fearing Brazil would join Cuba as party to the Communist Bloc in Latin America under Goulart, while many thought that the reforms would boost greatly the growth of Brazil and end its economical subservience with the USA, or even that Goulart could be used to increase the popularity of the Communist agenda.

  Influential politicians, such as Carlos Lacerda and even Kubitschek, media moguls (Roberto Marinho, Octávio Frias, Júlio de Mesquita Filho), the Church, landowners, businessmen, and the middle class called for a coup d'état by the Armed Forces to remove the government. The old "hard-line" militars, seeing in that a chance to impose their Positivist economic program, convinced the loyalists that Jango was a communist menace.

  On April 1, 1964, after a night of conspiracy, rebel troops made their way to Rio de Janeiro, considered a legalist bastion. São Paulo's and Rio de Janeiro's generals were convinced to join the coup. To prevent a civil war, and in knowledge that the USA would openly support the soldiers, ships and weapons, the President fled first to Rio Grande do Sul, and then went to exile in Uruguay.

  The military dictatorship lasted for twenty-one years; despite initial pledges to the contrary, military governments soon enacted a new, restrictive Constitution, and stifled freedom of speech and political opposition with support from the U.S. government.

  The regime adopted nationalism, economic development, and opposition to Communism as guidelines. The dictatorship reached the height of its popularity in the 1970s, with the so-called Brazilian Miracle (helped by much propaganda), even as the regime censored all media, tortured and banished dissidents.

  In March 1979, João Figueiredo made it to President, and combating the "hard-line" while supporting a re-democratization, he couldn't control the economy's chronic inflation, which combined with the concurrent fall of other military dictatorships in South America, gave way to Presidential elections held in 1984 with civilian candidates.

  He also passed the polemic Amnesty Law for political crimes committed for and against the regime. Since the 1988 Constitution was passed and Brazil returned to democracy, the military have stood under institutional civilian control, with no relevant political role.

  United States involvement

  Conducted throughout 1963 and in 1964 gave moral support to the Ambassador Lincoln Gordon later admitted that the embassy had given money to anti-Goulart candidates in the 1962 municipal elections and had encouraged the plotters, that many extra United States military and intelligence personnel were operating in that four United States Navy oil tankers and the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal, in an operation code-named Operation Brother Sam, had stood off the coast of Rio de Janeiro in case of the coup troops required military assistance during the 1964 coup.

  A document from Gordon from 1963 to US president John F. Kennedy also describes the ways João Goulart should be put down, and his fears of a communist intervention supported by the Soviets or by Cuba.

  Washington immediately recognized the new government in 1964 and hailed the coup d'état as one of the "democratic forces" that had allegedly staved off the hand of international communism. American mass media outlets like Henry Luce's TIME also gave positive remarks about the dissolution of political parties and salary controls at the beginning of Castello Branco mandate.

  In the telegraphs, Gordon also acknowledges US involvement in "covert support for pro-democracy street rallies and encouragement of democratic and anti-communist sentiment in Congress, armed forces, friendly labor and student groups, church, and business" and that he "may be requesting modest supplementary funds for other covert action programs in the near future."

  The actual operational files of the CIA remain classified, preventing historians from accurately gauging the CIA's direct involvement in the coup.

  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_military_government

  - § -

  First Part – Mid 1970s

  Looking for attention

  I

  The siren rang sharply announcing the break on that Friday morning closing the first week
of the annual term. Restless, the students group ran to the patio stridently and disorderly, all eager to meet the two basic teenagers' needs, eating and socializing.

  The first four days were too busy and not enough for all of them to tell each other about all their summer break adventures. The students were in such a hurry to reach the patio in order to fill their stomachs with junk food and keep on talking about their summer holidays that they looked like a horde of Vikings, trampling on anyone standing on their own way.

  Pedro Paulo, unlike the others, was slowly shuffling through the corridor, trying in every way to stay well behind his peers, as far as possible from the undesirable racket they never got tired of making every day.

  Despite this being just the first week of classes, his lack of courage in the first days had already drew the attention of some of his closest friends and of several teachers and inspectors. His demeanor was far from what everyone was used to and his absent-mindedness and irresponsibility were unusual.

  As he studied for almost his entire life at this high-standard school in downtown of São Paulo city, the capital of São Paulo state, everyone knew and appreciated him. He has always been one of the most popular and active students, always respectful with teachers and school employees and loyal to his peers.

  His fame was already well known and the school had high expectations about him for this last year. Everyone projected a lot from him. And his drowsiness and absent-mindedness in the first days arose some concern in everyone.

  But this was just the first week and despite the initial strangeness, it was indeed too early for anyone to say anything or even take action. Those who noted his unusual behavior closely invariably thought, “He is still not used to getting up early. He must have gone to bed late during the holidays and his sleep is still irregular”.