The Madwoman of Serrano by Dina Salústio

Author:Dina Salústio [Soutar, Jethro]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781912868315
Publisher: Dedalus Ebooks
Published: 2019-09-02T16:00:00+00:00

Every local remedy was tried when Filipa fell sick, followed by those recommended by the pedlars who roamed the rural areas offering scientific knowledge for a low price: board and lodgings or other favours that even the Madwoman of Serrano was reluctant to elaborate on. All the usual prayers were said for Filipa, as well as some rarer ones, but colour and strength seemed to have deserted her. Until that point the adults of Serrano had shown no interest in her, not even in why she’d finally started talking after so long, but as soon as she was struck down with a severe illness, they began to pity the poor little mute girl. The Serranoans were strange people, they seemed to need a scene of terrible suffering to unlock their affections. It was as if unhappiness alone was worthy of their attention.

Nevertheless, when it became clear that Filipa was not responding to treatment and was merely awaiting her death, they returned to type and ferociously opposed her going to the capital for assistance, arguing that no one had ever had to leave the village to restore their health before. Loja, the self-declared sociologist, said that deep down the Serranoans were wary of their weaknesses being exposed, or perhaps they were just worried about missing out on a burial. The matter was of course brought to the midwife’s attention, the possible death of the first half-native, half-foreigner in the village being a serious matter.

Jerónimo resolved to take Filipa to the capital and, after much insistence, he gained the approval of the older villagers who saved face for Serrano by saying the girl had deep roots in the city, so perhaps the cure really did lie there and not in the valley where her mother had appeared out of the blue one day or night, it had never properly been explained. There had been no contact from Filipa’s mother in the seven years and three days that she’d been gone. She hadn’t sent any word or any person, a relative for example, to come and get or even meet her abandoned daughter.

On their fishing trips, the men, pretending to be masters of their own destiny, would say how they did right not to open themselves up to city folk. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the valley, the women would huddle around a camp fire and ask themselves if it really made sense to live so far removed from places that seemed to hold the keys to happiness. They repeated what the pedlars said, doubtless in part to boost their professional worth, that of all the settlements they visited, Serrano was the furthest behind the rest of the world.

During one of these discussions, a spark leapt from the flames into Maninha’s lap and she cupped her hands over it and made a wish. She asked for an opportunity to run away to the capital and forget about her husband and everyone else who had chosen the foreigner over her, a hale and hearty attractive woman.

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