The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao by Eric M. B. Becker

Author:Eric M. B. Becker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction;Women;Sisters;Rio;Brazil;Funny;Comic;Dark comedy;Rebellion;Enchanting;Ambition;Sacrifice;Independence
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Published: 2017-07-03T16:03:34+00:00

Guida knew that Marcos was leaving when he got up that night. She was awake, and lay there quietly, eyes half-open. There was no sense in holding Marcos back. She’d lost him months ago; the end had begun with the constant material decline in their married life. Let it be, she thought. Everything that goes away one day comes back. I give him less than two weeks before he’s back here on his knees, swearing to God and to me that all this will never happen again, begging to be taken back into this house full of pests but without any of those ghosts from that old world in Botafogo.

When two weeks had passed and Marcos hadn’t come back, Guida began to think she didn’t know as much as she thought she did. What she did know, however, was that she was pregnant. The young woman spent days feeling nauseous, feeding herself corncakes with malagueta peppers and thinking that she needed to tell Marcos that he was going to be a father. As soon as she felt a bit better, she went to look for him at his practice.

She left the house in high heels and a bordered dress. A flower on her lapel and red lipstick to draw attention to her mouth when she said Come back home with us, Marcos. She walked into the building in the Bandeira Square and asked for Dr Marcos Godoy.

‘He no longer works here,’ the doorman replied.

‘That can’t be, senhor. He’s a tall man, with a white lab coat. A doctor. Light eyes.’

‘The very same, senhora. Every now and then people come looking for him. The other day it was a lawyer, and then a woman who was absolutely outraged, with a daughter wearing an eye-patch.’

Guida felt her heart race. She jumped on the trolley to Botafogo, only to be told at the mansion gate that Marcos had not turned up there. She went to the city hall and asked after Marcos at the mayor’s office. She waited two hours, only to receive the news from a secretary that Senhor Godoy had no idea as to his son’s whereabouts.

It was already getting dark when she took the trolley back to Piedade. She counted the money they had put away inside a flour jar for emergencies and calculated that it would be enough for two months. She looked around at the items inside the house, considering what she could sell. Marcos’s wedding ring would be the first to be pawned. He had also left some very nice shoes and pants, which must be worth something. Finishing her calculations, she was overcome with an urge to wax the floor and clean the bathroom. She passed wood oil over the furniture and used a broom to sweep the cobwebs from the living-room corners. She shook out the rug and wiped the windows with some old newspaper. She changed the bedspread, washed the sheets, and hung them out to dry. She soaked the dishrags and brushed the aluminum pans.

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