Free City

by João Almino

  A few days later, after running into Dad by chance at the Oasis Bar, on Central Avenue, Paulão asked him to have a beer with him. He’d had to flee from Carmen’s house naked, because she’d heard her husband coming and threw his clothes out the window. The next day, a pair of underwear was found in the street and word got around, Didn’t you hear about this, Sir?, I like my women just like that, a little mature, like a delicious fruit, or at just the right age, like a fine wine. I heard that you only like women in their thirties, said Dad. No, it’s just that Carmen is something special, an amazing woman, Well, I’ve heard tell of a different woman, Ah, word of Lucrécia’s fame has gotten around to you, too, has it? Is she your girlfriend? No, I brought her here from Bahia, or rather, I didn’t bring her, she was already here when I arrived, but she had worked for me back in Bahia, So, she’s available? That’s a subject we’ve got to handle with care, but for you, Sir, yes, she’s available, When? Give me a couple of days, it’s worth the wait, she doesn’t like to meet up at the brothel, you can invite her to some hotel, I guarantee that she’s the best in all the Central Plateau, but I’ve got something more important to discuss with you, Mr. Moacyr, I wonder if you would like to form a partnership, you’ll just make the contacts, arrange for us to provide the service, and I’ll take care of the rest; once you have some money put away, we can start buying more sand, trust me, we’ll make a huge profit, Let me think about it, replied Dad, who was more interested in Lucrécia than any business deal.

  The next day, as it started to get dark, Dad was strolling along Second Avenue when he walked past a plump, dark-skinned, thirty-something year-old woman, who trailed in her wake a bitter perfume that mixed with the smell of gasoline from the cars. Dad turned about face and followed her distracted gait, as she zigzagged her starched and lustrous backside through the avenues. He kept on following her, strolling throughout the city, and then a few drops of rain began to fall, the first of the “cashew showers.” Dad sat down, dazzled, at the table of some bar and stayed there, watching the raindrops fall and imagining Lucrécia in wet clothes, Lucrécia’s wet, naked body, imagining Lucrécia in bed, Lucrécia, who had mastered all the techniques, as the engineer with green eyes had put it.

  On the agreed upon date, Paulão introduced her to Dad in Olga’s Bar. Dad immediately invited her to accompany him to a party, for which Roberto had managed to get him an invitation. It was to be held at the recently inaugurated Black House, a temporary structure on the south wing of the Pilot Plan. If you want, said Lucrécia.

  Lucrécia had sharp eyes and revealed a specialized knowledge of useless, absurd things. Did you know that there’s already a Brasília? she asked Dad as they headed out in the jeep, Yeah, that’s where we’re going, replied Dad, Brasília is asteroid number 293, which, if you count backwards from 1956, was discovered sixty-six years ago; that’s the number six, two times, six and six, and that’s not by chance; it’s fifty-five kilometers in diameter, five and five. She paused, and all that could be heard was the sound of the jeep’s engine and the tires in the potholes of the highway. Do you know that on the Veadeiro Plateau, in Paradise Heights in Goiás, there’s a base for interplanetary spaceships? Really?, says who?, asked Dad, smiling, Why are you taking me so far out here on this road full of potholes? I thought we were going to do something else, I even brought a surprise for you, You’ll like this, the president himself sometimes attends the parties at the Black House, because the people who live there are engineers from Minas Gerais with connections to him, explained Dad, I want to meet the president, he is the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten, of the eighteenth dynasty, Lucrécia claimed categorically. JK is not going to build just a city, but a civilization. The Pharoah, who governed between 1353 and 1335 B.C., created the first master-planned capital out of nothing, just like Brasília, and it was called Akhetaten.

  Lucrécia’s ideas aren’t unfounded, thought Dad, someone had told him that JK had visited Egypt in 1930 and mentioned to some friends that the admiration he felt for Akhenaten in his childhood could have nurtured his ideal of building Brasília.

  The wooden house, painted black, occupied half of a big, fenced-in lot on what would come to be Block 309 South. The doorman checked credentials through a hole in the gate and only allowed entry to those on his list.

  As they went through the front door, Dad and Lucrécia saw people dancing to the sound of raucous music, as well as a dinner table overflowing with food and a chef in a tall, white hat. Roberto hadn’t arrived yet, and Dad asked an engineer if he knew if JK was coming, If he shows up it won’t be before one in the morning.

  Lucrécia didn’t want to stay, I’ve had enough, she said, I don’t want to meet the president, That’s not what you said a little while ago, I changed my mind, am I not allowed to change my mind? But after such a long trip out here . . .

  On the way back, Dad put his hands on Lucrécias smooth thighs, which were smoother than anything he’d ever felt. All of her skin was just as smooth, he noted, and he had the urge to run his hands over other parts of that body. No, said Lucrécia, forcefully, and then started to cry, What is it, Lucrécia? Why does every man who lays eyes on me immediately think I’m a whore?

  They were silent for the rest of the trip, with Dad not knowing how to act, until Lucrécia stopped crying. When they got close to the Free City, Lucrécia kissed Dad’s face and then lowered her right hand down between his legs like a professional.

  It was already past eleven when they arrived at the Brasília Hotel in the Free City. She said, Brasília will only be built once the spirits of the past decide to take part in it: Pedro Álvares Cabral, Dom Pedro I, Dom Pedro II, Epitácio Pessoa . . . All the spirits of every place and time can assemble here, did you know that? Zumbi of Palmares, Tiradentes, Getúlio Vargas, Machado de Assis, Tarsila do Amaral, Camões, the Marquis of Pombal, Fernando Pessoa, Freud, Marx, Nietzsche, Alain Kardec . . . but there must be criteria for choosing who should and who shouldn’t come down here, the soul becomes adapted to the necessities of the times, and it’s essential that there be a host who is already dead, someone the other souls can trust.

  And who would be this host?, asked Dad jokingly, Dom Pedro II, she replied, seriously and categorically, all these spirits can come down here during a séance to guide our future.

  Dad took her up to a room, and she didn’t offer any resistance, just took off her clothes, without Dad even asking, and lay down on the bed, I told you, I brought you a surprise, And what is it? Not yet, come over here. She cried out in pleasure throughout the whole time they screwed. Then she cried, sobbing loudly. Again, Lucrécia?, what is it? Then she began to laugh, then laughed louder, bursting with laughter, That’s just the way I am. She pulled Dad toward her, got him aroused again and opened herself to him. While Dad bent his body over hers, slowly penetrating her, she cried out, unrestrained, Give me more, give me more, Quiet, Lucrécia, don’t yell so loud, In the commune I’m going to establish, there will be a new commandment: make love, as long as it doesn’t cause anyone harm, said Lucrécia, instead of Mass, we should have purification festivals, like a fertility cult, don’t you think?, the way the Bantu people do, You’re thinking about creating a commune? I’ve already been a part of one, but it was strictly Christian, its members weren’t willing to explore Spiritism, that’s why I left; one thing’s for certain, the visible world is part of a spiritual universe.

  After a moment of silence, during which barking dogs could be heard, Lucrécia, still naked on the bed, resumed the conversation, Do you know what the great snake is? Dad tried to pull one of Lucrécia’s hands onto his penis, This here? She pulled away, giving Dad’s hand a delicate little slap, No, it’s a snake with magical powers, silly, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Colonel Fawcett, the man who killed the great snake and founded a community that accepts all religions, near the City of Z, between Araguaia and Xingu, the capital of civilization in Amazônia, one of the most ancient cities in the world, over seven thousand years old, a city with plaz
as, canals, highways, bridges, and even an astronomical observatory, did you know that Amazônia was the first region in the Americas to produce ceramics?; I’ve spoken with Colonel Fawcett, By telegraph or by phone? Dad asked mockingly, The colonel dematerialized at the age of ninety, Lucrécia replied sorrowfully, it would be best to attract the survivors of his community to Brasília, because Brasília is special, do you know that on the route of the extraterrestrials, Brasília Station is the seventh stop? The day you come across an extraterrestrial, introduce me to it, said Dad, still poking fun. I came here because I have been called, this is going to be the capital of the third millennium and the Aquarian civilization, Where did you learn these things?, asked Dad, who was starting to lose desire for Lucrécia, even while whetting his curiosity about her. Lucrécia merely replied, I bet you don’t know that the solar system was already turned inside out when it was formed more than four and a half billion years ago, there was a movement of matter from the inside out, to a frozen region out past the orbit of Pluto, and more than a tenth of the matter that comets are made of comes from this inner region of the solar system, where the Earth is located. Lucrécia covered herself with the bed sheet, Today is special, she said, and then asked Dad to leave the room, to wait at the door until she called for him.

  When he came back in, she was still lying on the bed, covered by the sheet, Come here, uncover me. As he pulled back the sheet, Dad saw Lucrécia’s body, and there were large white flowers on her mons pubis, What is that?, said Dad, laughing, They’re angel trumpets, datura suaveolens, they’re the surprise I was telling you about.

  She grabbed Dad’s head, pulled it toward her, and put his mouth near her pubis, I just rubbed it with the nectar of joy, she said. Then she completely lowered Dad’s head between her legs, and Dad just lay there, inert and intoxicated, enjoying the touch of Lucrécia’s pubic hair and the wetness of her pubis, That nectar is a balm made from a mixture of herbs and angel trumpets, boiled in oil; those flowers, when they’re hanging from branches, look like miniature chandeliers, but be careful, they can kill you; I’m going to teach you to lick them and they’ll bring you wisdom, a different way of seeing things and a knowledge of the sacred, because you still need to learn that we must worship all the gods, as well as the Earth, other heavenly bodies, time, the planets, and animals.

  Dad felt uncomfortable, he couldn’t screw while thinking about sacred things, screwing had to be dirty, it was filthy, and didn’t have anything to do with the worship of gods or heavenly bodies, but the flowers must have had some effect on him, for he began to feel, as he entered Lucrécia, a pleasure unlike any he’d ever known.

  Then a profound fear came upon him, he felt chills and considered bolting from the room, as if he were escaping a prison, How much do I owe you?, he asked Lucrécia, You’re a sensitive man, I don’t want your money right now, I’ll need you in another cycle of the cosmos, I want to count on you for that, do you promise? Depends, what is it about? No, it doesn’t depend on anything, promise me or you’ll never see me again, I promise, but what if I’m unable to pay? You’ll be able to, you just have to want to, so tell me that you want to. Dad said yes, knowing that he wasn’t taking on any obligation and had nothing to lose.

  For the hasty blog-reader who would like to skip ahead in the story, I must clearly state that it isn’t yet time to rush that far ahead, for now we’ll just move along to the next day, when Lucrécia crossed paths with Dad on Second Avenue in the Free City. She pretended that she didn’t know him, which he thought proper, he didn’t want to be familiar with her in public right there where everyone knew him.

  Dad walked past banks, the offices of airlines, stores that sold wooden wardrobes, ones that sold new furniture and others that were packed with second-hand furniture, pension houses, dormitories, hotels, bars, restaurants, and small shops with window displays filled with shirts, pants, blouses, dresses, and pink and blue panties, he heard a phonograph from inside a shop that was blasting a well-known English-language song, he looked at the houses of every size, color, and shape, buildings placed snug one beside the next, right at the edge of the wide avenue, he stared at the plastic belts, bags, buckets, and washbasins hanging in front of another store, and felt that the world was going to be made of plastic, but also that wealth was definitively arriving in the Free City. He didn’t have anything to lose by becoming partners with Paulão, Dad concluded, he just didn’t want to have anything to do with the business of brothels and prostitutes.

  Fifth Night: Building the Mystery

  On the fifth night, enclosed within four dingy white walls, Dad was inspired, and we almost didn’t sleep at all. Neither the disgust I felt from being in that fetid place, nor the awful smells that invaded my nostrils hindered me from remembering many things from the year of 1958, which he reminisced about with intense emotion. Back then, the Free City and I were both growing bigger, and I’d go on walks with Typhoon throughout the entire area delimited by Vicente Pires Creek to the east and Deep Creek to the south, by the three rows of four long rectangular blocks of houses, which were separated by the avenues, and by the three blocks to the south, which formed a curve around the plaza of the Don Bosco church.

  Dad was becoming wealthy through his partnership with Paulão and, in proportion to how much wealth he accrued, he was able to become wealthier still. He went on business trips to Rio, Belo Horizonte, and São Paulo, shopped in sophisticated stores, brought presents back for me, Aunt Francisca, and Aunt Matilde, and gave money to Aunt Francisca so she could replace the baubles on the tables in the living room with something nicer. On the other hand, wealth brought him more worries and responsibilities, and he became circumspect, perhaps because he couldn’t fail in his objective to make profits, which demanded concentration, I only had one hundred and twenty thousand cruzeiros in the bank, he told me, shut in between four walls, that’s what I started with, I figured out how to quickly multiply that money through work, through imagination . . . Think about that: your house and all that you’ll inherit, Francisca as well, came from that first hundred and twenty thousand cruzeiros.

  I didn’t yet know that I would also inherit his enormous debt, nor that one day I would lose the house where I’m currently writing, before I was ready to move. I even started to believe that money, which shapes behavior, and the social status Dad was able to attain before the disaster that confined him within those four walls had added some sweetness to his character. I didn’t want to start another fight with Dad, to remind him that perhaps imagination—not just his, but also, and above all, Paulão’s—more than work, was what made him rich, If I could have seen the future, of course, there are things I wouldn’t have done.

  I didn’t sense any repentance or preoccupations of a moral order in this observation, Dad was merely lamenting the fact that he had lost a part of the money he’d earned as a result of the manner in which he’d earned it, But one thing is certain: I knew where I wanted to get and I worked hard to get there, overcoming all obstacles in my way; the trick is to start earning decent money, after that everything falls into place, he continued, you can take risks, the bank will give you a loan, people trust you, you establish a name for yourself, you start to get commissions, you’re praised for being a bold entrepreneur, politicians come calling, if there’s a lot of money no one is going to notice your mistakes, and, when they do, you can neutralize it with charitable works; I was very successful, and what eventually happened to me was the dirty work of one of my enemies.

  Everything began with his partnership with Paulão, I thought, just as his relationship with Lucrécia had started with Paulão. He would get together with her every so often and had begun to develop feelings for her. One day, he had the crazy idea that he should set her up in her own house and make her into his exclusive lover. I needed a stable relationship, Dad told me between four walls, I wanted to get married, it was a notion that suddenly occurred to me, I felt alone, but there was a lack of women. One woman I dated seemed too nutty—althoug
h she was a young lady from a good family—and less trustworthy than Lucrécia, I even started to think that she might be a streetwalker herself. Another was too modern, part of the subversive youth culture of that era. There was Mr. Ferreira’s daughter, always admired as she walked into church in her flashy dresses, but her eyes were too big, she always looked as if she was frightened, and she was kind of a dummy. There were others who were even respectable, but they were all plain, poorly dressed, or just downright ugly.

  There was only one who was, perhaps, worth it: Aunt Francisca herself, but she would never accept a proposal from Dad; no, Dad had already blown that chance. He tried to imagine a woman who would give him pleasure, who was good company, who could lift him out of his melancholic daily grind, and surprise him with interesting stories. The only one left was Lucrécia, whom it was inadvisable to marry. He carried out his plan by building, on the other side of the city, a second house. He’d go over there every once in a while, dreaming his dreams of grandeur, and then he also started to take Lucrécia there. The first time, he asked her to bring her tarot cards and read his palm, You’ll go far in life, very far, said Lucrécia, And in love?, he asked, There’s a woman who is waiting for you, Couldn’t it be you, wouldn’t you like to come out here, settle down here, so we can meet up every day, without anybody bothering us? Lucrécia didn’t respond. He didn’t want to let go of her, he liked Lucrécia’s soft skin, Lucrécia’s smell, Lucrécia’s wackiness, which drew him out of his seriousness and the world around him, and sometimes he desired her so intensely in the middle of the night that he could no longer stand to be apart.