Kapitel 19: Love is in the fair
PRAÇA DA GRANJA - DAY
Sunday. There is a gathering of neighborhood residents with their children. Churchgoers left the Mass and went straight to the tents that were armed. As stated by Cássio, the fair is small, with a limited number of stalls. Still, people enjoy what they have. There are two novelties: Luis's cassette tapes stall and Carina's stall with several pictures painted by her. At Luis's tent, Cássio and Sandra approach.
"See, darling? Luis got it."
Sandra speaks haughtily, "Yeah, how interesting..."
Luis takes advantage, "And, of course, are you going to honor your friend here?"
Cássio replies joyfully, "Ah, sure, let me see what you have!"
Cássio leans over to the showcase. Sandra, with a twisted nose, walks away. She looks around until she finds Miriam with bags.
She approaches the lunatic girl, "Now, can you explain to me what shame was that yesterday?"
"What shame, my friend? I killed it; I made the dead-fly girl think that Carlos possessed me yesterday!"
"And now 'Carlos' is thinking you are the biggest slut in Rhodia River Environmental Park!"
Miriam drops the bags, "I hadn't thought of that!"
"I'm glad I'm here to help you. I'm with Cássio today, but tomorrow, we'll meet at the Malthus cafeteria."
"Bye!"
Miriam gathered her bags and left without noticing that her "friend" Sandra did not say goodbye to her.
We went back to Carina's tent. She is attentive, reading a book. Without realizing it, someone is approaching her and talking to her.
"Look, how interesting... The girl has an artistic vein!"
Carina looks up and looks at Ricardo with astonishment. He looks back at her with a smile. Carina is nervous and afraid before Ricardo. He looks at the pictures and chooses one. Extend it to her.
"How much is it?"
Carina gets scared, "Please, sir, stop bothering me."
"Ricardo. You can call me Ricardo. And you are..." He looks at a corner of the screen, "Carina Sousa. Beautiful name, Carina."
"Please, sir, go away! You don't want to buy my painting; you just want to piss me off! I'll scream!"
Ricardo makes gestures, he finds it funny, "Calm down, miss! I'm indeed interested in painting. I thought this blue was very nice with this hue of shades until it became purple."
Carina becomes hostile, "What do you understand about painting?"
Ricardo responds in a mysterious tone, "Much more than you think."
Carina takes a deep breath and tries a tactic, "R$ 200.00"
"Are you sure?"
"Are you deaf? That's the price."
Ricardo is gallant, "No, it's because... It's too cheap for so much talent. Here..."
Ricardo takes his wallet, opens it, and takes out R$ 300.00. Carina gets wide-eyed and shakes her head.
"I can't accept it, sir! I said two hundred."
"Carina, I know how to value things. I know exactly what price I should pay. I want to give you a fair price. Accept, I'll take the painting, and I'll be gone. Come on!"
Upset, but thinking about the idea of him leaving, Carina accepts the transaction. Ricardo smiles at her.
"It was a pleasure to do business with you, Carina. You are going far."
Ricardo leaves. Carina relieved herself, she was shivering. However, because of Ricardo's purchase, other customers began to approach.
"And this one, young lady, how much is it?"
Carina smiles and gets touched.
RICARDO'S LIVING ROOM
Ricardo comes in with a silly smile, thinking about Carina. He looks at the painting, kisses it, and when he goes to put it on the wall, he undoes the smile. With the board very close, he realizes that the price is written in the upper corner. The price was R$ 50.00. Ricardo hardly believes that he had given R$ 250.00 more. Then he starts laughing and hangs up the painting at once.
"Carina, Carina... Who knew, huh, you tricking someone? But it was your eyes..."
He shakes his head, "Calm down, Ricardo, I won't be able to think about it right now. First deals, but she is not indifferent to me. Let's see in time..."
Ricardo steps out into the hall.
MONICA'S LIVING ROOM
Monica, Célio, Annie, and Jonas are gathered and seated, each with a glass of juice in hand. They talk and drink.
"Here's the thing, folks," Annie begins, "For some reason we don't yet know, Miriam is thinking that Carina wants to steal Chief Carlos from her."
Monica reacts astonished, "First of all: is the officer hers?"
"Apparently, no! He was embarrassed and tried to explain to people that they had only gone out together. But she said he left her in bed!"
"'Leaving' is different from 'taking'. Let's assume he only drove her home. Maybe she drank too much."
"Yes, I felt that she wanted to make an impact."
"And right behind, Sandra," Jonas adds, "who quickly fled to Cássio's side and snuck out. Does she have anything to do with it?"
"Oh, people, no! How awful of her if she had it."
"Carina said she showed up at Rosa's stationery shop and bragged to Carina, showing off herself as if she were meeting Prince William. Sandra was with her."
Everyone begins to reflect. Then, Célio asks, "Is Cassio aware of this?"
"They are usually the last to know," Jonas replies.
With general laughter, Monica continues, "Guys, I'm going to ask the two of them directly to find out what a joke this is. Carina is our friend and doesn't deserve to be mistreated like that. And there is still an aggravating factor."
"Which one?" Annie asks.
"They caught the attention of Chief Carlos. Now he will pay attention to Carina. And it may even happen exactly what they fear: he will fall in love with Carina."
The three nod in agreement.
Annie adds dreamily, "Not for anything, but that tug of his arm and that stare when he wanted to know when they would talk about advertising again... I thought it was cute!"
Jonas jokingly says, "Yeah, the two crazy people are throwing Carina into Roldão's arms."
"Clueless people..."
After Monica's lament, everyone drinks more juice.
RICARDO'S LIVING ROOM
Ricardo, in simpler clothes, meets Luis and lets him in. Luis enters, still not so comfortable with the guy.
"Here I am, sir."
"Did you manage to sell anything?"
"Yes, so I wanted to get it right."
Luis reaches into his pocket and takes out the money. He gives it to Ricardo. Ricardo takes the bills, counts, and returns half the amount. Luis is happy.
"Luis, I repeat so that you do not comment to your friends that I am the one who is financing everything. The officer didn't get along with me, and his friends here took me for being unsympathetic, but I never did anything bad to them."
"I understand, sir. I just told Cássio I was going to work. I didn't quote you. Of course, they saw me today."
"That's right. The officer didn't even show up. If it's up to him, he would arrest everyone. But Seu Tito won't let him."
"If more vendors want to pay the license fee, they will want to. He should fix that place and buy a computer."
"That's right."
Ricardo stands looking at Luis. He understands that it's time to leave and he leaves. Ricardo closes the door.
"Yes, I could recover a little of the money I spent today. That Carina..."
Ricardo smiles again, even though he told himself that he was not going to think about Carina anymore.
CARLOS'S LIVING ROOM
Carlos is lying on the sofa in the living room watching the famous Sunday afternoon soccer. No shirt, only shorts, beer can in hand, like every Brazilian. The door of the room opens; Miriam approaches and again freezes over the muscular and hot body of the officer.
When she drools enough, she gets closer and calls him, "Carlos?"
Carlos is startled, "Ah, it's you, Miriam."
"Can I come in? We need to talk."
"Yes, you can. I think I even know what it's about."
Miriam enters and tries not to evidence her attraction. Carlos straightens up on the couch and gestures for her to sit on the armchair.
"Carlos, I don't even know where to start..."
"In the beginning," Carlos answers dryly.
"The beginning was when we go out for the Pizzeria..."
"And you drank my wine."
Miriam is ashamed, "Forgive me, Carlos, I don't usually do that. I went overboard."
"Was it just the day of the pizza, Miriam? Are you sure you didn't go overboard on other occasions?"
Miriam ponders what she is going to say, "You're right: Yesterday at the Residents' Association."
Carlos replies firmly, "You made half the world believe that we made love. You were actually so drunk that you don't even remember I took you home because you wanted to dance at the pizzeria table, paying the utmost shame."
Miriam puts her hand on her face, "My Father..."
"And when I asked you out, it wasn't with that intention. I intended to get to know you better, Miriam, not to be the neighbor anymore. I want you as a friend. We started well, but the wine hindered everything. It hindered... Or revealed... "
Miriam becomes scared, "Revealed what?"
"You were very unpleasant about Monica and Carina. And when you hinted yesterday, I felt it was addressed to both. Carina was very shocked, and I don't know if I'll be the poster boy anymore."
"What project?"
"They want to convince the residents to support the police station. You saw how precarious we are. My computer is going off in its way, and it's Windows 3.0. Carina was trying to help; in fact, the whole gang."
"And I started to see things. I'm sorry, Carlos, for the embarrassment. Carina and Monica are my friends and I don't think they are a thief of men, especially Carina."
"But then..."
Miriam gets up before Carlos asks more questions, "So that's it, Carlos. I came here to ask for your forgiveness, according to the song. I hope you'll forgive me and may we continue where we left off. Now you can watch your soccer."
Miriam hurries out. Carlos is intrigued, trying to imagine what she wants.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein