It is very true that while one may know some things, one cannot know everything, and Faustina Mau-Tempo’s friend knows where to get off the train in Caxias but not where the prison is, however, she doesn’t want to admit that she doesn’t know and sets off in one direction, saying, It must be down here. It’s August, and it’s baking hot at this hour, which is fast approaching the hour so laboriously communicated and memorized, the hour of the visit, in the end, they had to ask a passerby, realized they had gone entirely the wrong way and turned back, already weary with all the toing and froing, and Faustina Mau-Tempo took off her tight shoes, to which her feet were unaccustomed, and was left in her stocking feet, this, however, was a big mistake, and only someone with no heart could laugh, this is the kind of humiliation that burns itself into the memory for the rest of one’s life, the tarmac had half melted in the heat, and her stockings stuck fast as soon as she planted her feet on it, and the more she pulled, the more the stockings stretched, it was like a circus act, the funniest of the season, enough, enough, the clown’s mother has just died, and everyone is crying, the clown isn’t funny, he’s frightened, and that is how we feel about Faustina Mau-Tempo, and we form a screen so that her friend can help her off with her stockings, modestly, for women who have only ever known one man are incurably shy, and now she’s barefoot, and we can go home, and if any of us do smile, it’s out of tenderness. But when Faustina Mau-Tempo arrives at the fort, her feet are in a terrible state, made worse by wearing shoes without stockings, they are black with tarmac and bleeding from where the skin has been rubbed raw, what a hard life the poor have.
The visitors have left, the hour has passed, and no one came to see João Mau-Tempo, his companions tease him in that stupid, joshing, manly way, She’s forgotten all about you, You certainly weren’t expecting to be stood up, while at the entrance, poor Faustina Mau-Tempo is demanding to be allowed in, Is this where my husband is, she asks, his name’s João Mau-Tempo, and the man at the door responds jokingly, No, there’s no one here by that name, and the other says mockingly, Do you mean your husband’s in prison, this is their way of passing the time, for they lead very dull lives, they don’t even get to beat up the prisoners, other men do that, but Faustina Mau-Tempo can’t tell the difference, Yes, he is, and you’re the ones who brought him, so he must be here, but her anger was like the fury of a sparrow, the rage of a chicken, the wrath of a lamb, finally, though, the man leafed through a book and said, Yes, you’re right, he is here, in room six, but you can’t visit him now, visiting time is over. Faustina Mau-Tempo is perfectly within her rights to burst into tears. She is a pillar crumbling, we can see the cracks appear and bits break off, and this pillar of the latifundio has painful feet too, she can cry about that now as well, and for everything else she has suffered and will suffer in her life, now is the moment to cry out your tears, pull out all the stops, Faustina Mau-Tempo, dissolve into tears, perhaps you’ll manage to touch the hearts of these two iron dragons, or, if they have no heart, they might at least prefer not to be embarrassed, and since you’re just a poor woman, they’re not going to throw you out bodily, so weep, demand to see your husband, All right, all right, woman, I’ll go and see if they’ll let you in on a special dispensation, but this is an expression Faustina Mau-Tempo doesn’t understand, what is a dispensation, let alone a special one, and how will they let her in on one, will it help her to see her husband. Those who travel by crooked paths also arrive, and though the visit will last no more than five minutes, that’s long enough for two people who haven’t seen each other for far too long, João Mau-Tempo is there, full of hope, his comrades tell him, It must be your wife, and it is, Faustina, João, and they embrace, and both shed copious tears, and he wants to know about the children and she wants to know how he is, and three minutes have gone, and are you well, and how have you been, have you had work, and Gracinda, and Amélia, and António, they’re all fine, but you’re a lot thinner, be sure not to get ill, five minutes, goodbye, goodbye, send them my love, ah, so much love, come back soon, I will, I know where it is now and I won’t get lost, and I won’t either, goodbye.
There will be other visits, different, less rushed, his daughters will come, his brother Anselmo will come, and António Mau-Tempo will come, only to leave feeling angry, no one made him angry, but that is
