Old Sinházinha did not like
anyone, but now and again she had a temporary affection for someone or other
and she would be kind to them for a while, giving them presents, doing them
little kindnesses. She only did this to annoy people. Once they were annoyed it
was back to normal. That was how she lived, never being liked by anyone and never
liking anyone. If possible she never came near me. And if I saw her I would run
away. For no reason at all she would create conflict. She would lock away all
the fruit in the stores and walk around with the keys dangling from her waist
belt, just to stop us kids from feasting on the fruit and to annoy the
grown-ups. Aunt Maria would rob mangoes and berries for us that the old lady
had left on the heap to rot.
Every day I hated her more. One day I was playing with a spinning top
and the top ended up on her toe as she sat in her chair. She got up and went
straight for me in a furious rage and began to thrash me with her slipper. She
beat me like a dog, grinding her teeth in anger. If Aunt Maria hadn't come to
my aid she would have torn me apart. I'd never been beaten before. My mother,
when she had wished to chastise me for some naughty behaviour, would make me
stand or sit in a particular place. This was the first beating I had suffered
in my whole life. I cried my heart out all afternoon, more from shame than the
blows. No amount of comforting would quieten me. And when the maid Luisa said
in passing, "She only does it to you because you haven't got a
mother" my misery was complete and I cried all the more.
At dinner time I didn't want to go to the table. I heard Aunt Maria say
indignantly
"You don't hit a boy like that. It's utterly stupid."
Old Sinházinha pointed out that it was for want of a good thrashing that
my cousins ran wild, that nobody could stand them because they had never been
disciplined.
"Boys are like plants. If you want them to grow up straight they
need a stick."
I went to bed dreaming of all sorts of revenge against the old devil. I
wanted to see her torn apart between two horses. Or cut into little pieces at
the saw mill. The brutal injustice that I had suffered awakened in that little
boy's pure heart the most cruel and vengeful impulses.
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