Raised from the Ground

months, and where he was beaten and made to play the statue for seventy-two hours, they wouldn’t believe that such things could happen in our lovely country, such stories are doubtless greatly exaggerated. What will João Mau-Tempo do in a city he doesn’t know, there is no door he can knock on, Comrades, give me shelter for the night, I’ve just got out of prison, that would be an unusual conversation, and he has no idea whose houses these are, he was arrested in Monte Lavre by the guard José Calmedo, and that is where he must return, not now, because it’s dark, but tomorrow, with the money given him by men who needed it themselves, he knows he has comrades there, but he can hardly go to Caxias now, knock on the door of room six, assuming he would be allowed back into the prison, and, when they opened, say, Comrades, give me shelter for the night, he is clearly mad, or perhaps he fell asleep despite the cold, yes, he must have fallen asleep, for he’s no longer standing up as he thought, but sitting on his suitcase, and now it occurs to him, well, it had occurred to him before but now it occurs to him again, to go and knock on the door of the house where his sister works as a maid and say, Maria da Conceição, do you think your employers would let me sleep here tonight, but he won’t do this, although in other circumstances he might have, they would have told Maria da Conceição to put a mattress down in the kitchen, you can’t leave a fellow Christian to sleep out in the street like a stray dog, but given that he has just come out of prison, out of that prison and for those particular reasons, even if they agreed, they might view his sister differently afterward, poor thing, she never married and has always worked for the same boss, it’s as if that’s what she was born for, who knows what they will have told her already, it’s not hard to imagine, The ungrateful wretches, they would starve to death if it wasn’t for us, your brother will pay dearly for those ideas of his, they’re against us, you see, they’re all against us, but we’re your friends and we won’t punish you for his crazy ideas, but from now on, it would be best if he didn’t come to the house, so you be careful now, you’ve been warned.

This is the domestic litany repeated by the mistress of the house, the master of the house is more categorical and more to the point, He’s never to set foot in this house again, and I’m going to tell our estates in Monte Lavre that he is to be given no more work, let him go to Moscow. It seems that João Mau-Tempo went back to sleep, he must be very tired indeed to be able to sleep in this bitter cold, he stamps his feet on the ground, and the noise echoes and re-echoes in the icy air, a policeman might come along and arrest him for disturbing the peace, then João Mau-Tempo picks up his bag and his suitcase and heads back down the road, he can barely walk, he’s limping, he seems to recall that the station is off to the left, but he’s afraid he might get lost, that’s why he asks a passerby, who tells him, Yes, you’re going in the right direction, and adds a few more details, João Mau-Tempo, holding his suitcase and his bag in numb hands, is about to carry on, but the passerby asks, Do you want some help, here we all tremble, what if this man is a thief and has decided to rob this poor farm laborer, what could be easier, even in the dark it’s clear he can barely walk, No, sir, thank you, says João Mau-Tempo politely, and the man does not insist, he isn’t a ruffian after all, he says only, You look like you’ve been in prison, and we, who know João Mau-Tempo and how sensitive he is to kind words, can hear him telling his whole story, how he was in Caxias for six months and has just arrived in Lisbon, how they dumped him there, and how he has to get back to his village, to Monte Lavre, in the parish of Montemor, yes, I’m from the Alentejo, he doesn’t know if there’s a boat at this hour or a train, I’m going to the station to see, no, he has nowhere to sleep, although a sister of his works as a housemaid, But I don’t want to bother her, her employers might not like it, and the other man asks, he’s a very inquisitive fellow, And what if there isn’t a boat and a train, and João Mau-Tempo says simply, Then I’ll spend the night in the station, there’s sure to be a bench there, it’s a shame it’s so cold, but I’m used to that, thanks very much for your help, and having said this, he moves off, but the other man says, I’ll come with you, let me carry that bag for you, and João Mau-Tempo hesitates, but having spent six months with humane and generous men, who looked after him, taught him, gave him tobacco and money for the journey, it seems churlish to distrust this man, so he hands him the bag, the city can be full of surprises, and off they go, down the remaining streets, as far as the big square, under the arcade and into the station, João Mau-Tempo has difficulty reading the timetable, all those tiny figures, and the man helps him, running his finger down the columns, No, there’s no train, the earliest one is tomorrow morning, and when he hears this, João Mau-Tempo immediately starts looking for a place where he can curl up, but the man says, You’re tired, and you’re