Episode 10

"Good morning, partner!"

"Good morning, Picole. Is your mother better?"

"Yes, she arrived yesterday from the hospital and now she is recovering at home. This Covid is still around, man. Scary."

"It really is! Thank God your mother has recovered! But it was the vaccine, you know, right?" I replied.

"For sure! Thank you for insisting that she take it, she didn't want to listen to me at the time."

I had gone to buy bread and milk for breakfast and was walking up the street where I lived. Soon I would have to take Juliana to school and spend another day trying to find a job.

Since this damn pandemic hit the world, things have been very difficult. I got fired from the registry office where I worked when they started cutting expenses and since then I had been doing odd jobs to help with the household bills. Every hour everything was more expensive and with a small child, it was even worse. I had just spent 15 reais on five loaves of bread and a carton of milk and I was scared.

The shameless man who was my stepfather didn't help us at all, he didn't give a penny of child support to his daughter. There was no way to take him to court, the wretch was as screwed as I was and lived from odd jobs. Roberto had left us for another family and left my mother to raise Ju alone, who was only three years old when he left.

We lived in a rented house here in Madureira, in the north zone of the municipality of Rio and led a simple life. Thank God I was at least able to finish my studies, but college was something that never went beyond a dream, even more so after I lost my father.

Seu Armindo Viana died eight years ago in a serious accident while making a delivery. My father worked for a company that sold furniture, but it was bad at paying and later we found out that they didn't even inspect their vehicles properly, since my father crashed his truck because his brakes failed when he needed them most.

My father didn't stand a chance and was thrown from his truck in a pileup on the Alta Estrada Lagoa Barra on a very rainy day. Other people died and one was seriously injured. A businessman with lots of money. Mom almost died of sadness and we needed to support each other. I was only 18 at the time.

Today, at 26, I had hope for a better future, a future I thought had arrived when Roberto came into our lives, claiming to be very much in love with my mother and treating me very well. When Juliana was born, she brought a lot of happiness to me and my mother; she was a huge gift after so much suffering we went through with the loss of my father, with my mother having to work even harder with her sewing and me taking anything to help with expenses.

Everything was good for the first three years with Roberto, but the bastard cheated on my mother and discarded us for a younger woman. Now it was just the three of us: me, Juliana, and Dona Katia, who was a wonderful mother, even though she was tough.

"Damn it, Mom! I just spent 15 reais at the bakery!" I walk into the house in revolt and catch Dona Katia getting up quickly from the kitchen table with a piece of paper in her hand. She thinks I didn't see her wiping her face too.

"Everything is very expensive, son. This government is destroying our lives. Only the wealthy can support themselves properly" she replies with her back to me, pretending and putting the coffee on.

"Mom? What happened? Don't disguise it. Are you crying?"

"No, my son."

I went to her and turned her body towards me so that she was facing me.

"Don't lie, Mom. What paper were you reading?"

"You're nosy, damn it!"

"I'm not, but I'm your son, I live with you and I want to know what it is."

"An eviction notice" she said in a low voice.

"What? Why?"

"It happens when the rent is late."

"But you told me, when I asked, that it was paid, Mom. Where's the money I gave you from that construction job I took?"

"I put food on the table, Fernando. Your sister didn't even have snacks. The school is not providing anything, I couldn't send my daughter to school and have her go hungry. I spoke with the principal and she told me that the school did not receive the shipment of snacks. The gas was running out too and it alone costs a fortune. My sewing is very slow, trying to get back to normal. So when you gave me the money, there was an overdue payment, but I used it for food and now the second one has accumulated and they sent this notice."

"But do we have to leave already?"

"No, it's a warning. But if within 30 days we don't pay the two that have interest and the third one accrues, then yes, the eviction order comes."

"Real estate, son of a bitch. We've lived here since I was ten, Mom. We've never been late with anything and they're still charging interest?"

"They're trying to survive like us."

"Mom, take Ju to school."

"What are you going to do, my son?"

"Chase after something. We have a deadline and I need to do something."

"What do you have in mind, Fernando?"

"Mom, whatever comes along. I've done a little bit of everything. I've worked as an attendant, secretary, office boy, bricklayer, and I worked at that cleaning company, remember? From that mall?"

"Yes, I remember. I'm sorry, my son."

"Mom! What for! Why are you apologizing to me?"

"For getting us into this. For not having paid the rent."

"You were a mother who put food on the table for her children. Unfortunately nowadays it's like this, either we eat or we pay the bills. It's all going to be alright. I'm going to drop by Rogerio's and see if he has any construction work in sight."

"Alright. I'm going to wake Ju up and get her ready. Then I'm going to finish the hem on Jurema's dress and go collect from Josefa who still hasn't paid me."

"This is the second time you've mentioned Josefa. If she gives you another bounced check, don't do anything else for her. Here we are trying to raise money and others are playing dumb, huh."

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