Colossal Youth Page #6

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I found out a few days ago

that I'm a grandfather.

Come on, sweetie.

Be careful.

Careful with your jacket.

You little monkey!

Are you in pain, Ventura?

Let me by.

Let me by, Ventura.

Is it that rat again?

The floor's shaking.

We gotta get

some bricks and cement.

Have you eaten?

Tonight we'll sleep

warm and cozy.

You're barefoot?

Don't you want

the letter anymore?

I can't learn it. I can't write,

and you won't write it out.

I'm gonna get

some electricity in here.

Electricity?

Monday I have to go

to Social Security.

I have to go early

to get a number

and wait in line.

I have to go to the cemetery

to clean my mother's and Zita's graves.

I haven't had the courage

to do Zita's.

Tomorrow I stop mourning.

Enough is enough.

It's like I'm in mourning

for myself.

Papa, your socks don't match.

No more?

I took some grilled chicken

to the hospital for your mother

the day you were born.

I was working construction

on a bank in Rossio.

My brother came to tell me

you'd been born.

How did you win

my mother's heart?

It was at the guas Podres River,

in Assomada.

She was scooping up

water in a can.

I was riding my donkey,

Fogo-Serra.

It took three years

to win her over.

At first, she wouldn't even

look at me.

On July 5,

the Independence Day holiday,

she was there

among the violins, flags,

accordions and drums...

and she started to sing.

Fifth of July

Raise your arms and shout "Freedom!"

Shout "Cabral!"

Peoples of liberated Guinea

and Cape Verde

Shout "Cabral!"

Raise your arms

and shout "Freedom!"

But she didn't know how to sing.

I started to tease her.

"You sorry-Iooking

little country hick!"

She whacked me with the flagpole,

but she took a liking to me.

Was she pretty?

Yes, she was.

And am I pretty or ugly?

Pretty.

It's a wonderful story

to tell your children and grandchildren.

Good thing you told me.

They say you jumped

out the window.

They say you jumped

out the window

with your wife

and your four kids

and landed on a car

like minced meat.

They say you screamed a lot.

I screamed my head off

for my mother, my father,

the fire department,

St. Barbara the Generous.

I even yelled your name.

Then everything went black.

See my hands?

All burnt.

They were stuck to the wall.

It was 1,000 degrees in there.

I cried when I heard the news.

You cried for me?

I cried a lot for you once.

You remember?

Was that you I heard crying?

I was afraid you'd die.

I was afraid you'd drowned

in the pond at the park.

We were so afraid

of death back then.

This was the kids' room.

We holed up in here.

Nobody came.

We broke the window.

But...

neither the cops,

nor the revolutionary militia,

nor the gypsies,

nor the whites succeeded

in burning down our shack.

I set fire to the mattress.

- Why?

- Because of all our problems.

- And now?

- Now?

- What will you do?

- Do?

We'll live here.

I'll be your neighbor.

I'm just across the way.

Second floor, to the right.

We lived even closer

to each other once.

- Come live with me. I have lots of rooms.

- What about your kids?

Is that them I see

at the window?

Is that Clotilde

I see at the window?

Quit joking.

There's no one there.

You got everything in the end.

Water, electricity,

gas, an ID card.

You worked day and night.

I sleep alone.

"I wish I could offer you

a dozen fancy new dresses,

a car,

the little lava house

you always dreamed of,

and a 40-cent bouquet.

But most of all...

drink a bottle of good wine

and think of me."

This is Arcangela's

and my bedroom.

This is where it all began.

See ya, Lento.

See ya, Ventura.

Good timing, Papa.

I'm gonna go clean

at a woman's house.

Stay with my daughter, okay?

Okay.

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