If I Close My Eyes Now by Edney Silvestre Read Free Book Online Page B

say?’
    ‘No, it’s all in black and white. But in my house, we don’t—’
    ‘Your Tele-Vision isn’t in Technicolor?’
    ‘There is only black and white TV. And the image comes and goes. As if it were waves, if you follow me?’
    ‘Fluctuating?’
    ‘That’s right, fluctuating! The people on it look twisted. It has a small screen, inside a box. The box contains lots of wires and valves, which are like lamps, d’you understand? Only different.’
    ‘Your family must be well off. A Tele-Vision set costs a lot.’
    ‘We’re not at all rich. And we don’t have—’
    ‘Eduardo’s father is a mechanic on the Brazilian Central Railway,’ explained Paulo.
    ‘I watched television at my uncle’s house.’
    ‘In Rio de Janeiro,’ Paulo added.
    ‘Your uncle must be a man of means.’
    ‘I think so. Yes, he is.’
    ‘His uncle lives in a district called Tijuca. Everybody there has a car.’
    ‘My uncle has a Willys Aero, do you know them? It’s a big car: it can fit six people.’
    ‘His uncle is an aeronautical engineer.’
    ‘He works for Brazilian Panair.’
    ‘His uncle has been to Europe and the United States.’
    ‘Brazilian Panair is an airline. One of the biggest in the world. He’s my uncle because he’s married to my aunt. My mother’s sister.’
    ‘His uncle has been to Europe twice.’
    ‘And once to the United States. They both went. Him and my aunt. She says they’re going again, next year.’
    ‘That’s the uncle who has television at home. In Tijuca.’
    ‘My father said he’s going to buy one. As soon as he has the money.’
    ‘And when they’ve put up a mast here, for the reception.’
    ‘For the reception of the images. They’re transmitted through the air, just like radio.’
    ‘They don’t let us listen to the radio in here. It’s forbidden. The nuns don’t like it.’
    ‘They don’t like music?’
    ‘They don’t like noise. Loud music. A lot of the old men here are deaf, and can only hear the radio when it’s turned up loud. That’s why the nuns forbade it. But they don’t like anything. They even banned the news. We can’t even listen to the Repórter Esso programme. All the magazines here are out of date, the newspapers are from days ago. We’re isolated: we don’t know what is going on in the world. Is that my rope?’
    Startled, Paulo didn’t know what to reply.
    ‘That rope round your shoulder, boy: is it mine?’ persisted the white-haired, slightly wall-eyed old man. His voice had a soft north-eastern twang.
    ‘What d’you mean, yours?’
    ‘Mine. Bought with my money. It was tied to the ladder.’
    ‘Ladder?’
    ‘What ladder?’ echoed Paulo.
    ‘The wooden ladder that was over there, leaning against the wall.’
    ‘I don’t know anything about a ladder.’
    ‘Yes, you do. Both of you do. That’s why you came here.’
    ‘I came to deliver an order from my father’s butcher’s shop.’
    ‘That’s a lie. You and your friend were nosing around the yard.’
    ‘His father sent him to deliver a package of meat, and I came with him.’
    ‘You didn’t have any package with you when you came in.’
    ‘I handed it in at the door.’
    ‘Give me that rope. It’s mine.’
    ‘It’s ours,’ Paulo insisted.
    ‘You were the ones who followed me.’
    ‘Us?’ Eduardo’s surprise was genuine.
    ‘You two. I saw you.’
    ‘You saw?’
    ‘No way. We never …’
    ‘You broke into the dentist’s house. Then you followed me here.’
    ‘We … did what?’ Eduardo tried to sound offended.
    ‘You followed me and took my rope.’
    ‘I didn’t leave home last night. And Paulo isn’t allowed out.’
    ‘If I went out at night, my father would kill me.’
    ‘My mother has a heart murmur. I can’t be roaming the streets in the early hours.’
    ‘You broke into a house that had been sealed by the police. You disturbed a crime scene.’
    ‘No we didn’t!’ protested Eduardo, without conviction.
    ‘We only looked from