Sapphire Moonlight

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

There were four of them. One was Alfredo, a well-to-do lawyer who lived and worked in Sao Joao D'Acre but was often there in Providencia. A man sitting beside him was a merchant called Norberto. A third man, Armando, was a farmer, and the fourth of them, was Julius, Joao Caio's friend. When Alfredo happened to be in town, the first three men met there at The Seagull, usually at around six or seven o'clock, at the end of the day's work, invariably at the same front table, and stayed there talking about business, politics, and life, or simply observing what was going on around them. The Seagull, with its front that resembled a ship deck, had an appeal for them. They used to remain there for one hour or so before going home, and it looked as if they were on a cruise on the Maditerranean. On some special occasions they stayed there for two hours or even more. It was a sort of sporadic but sure reunion. Julius, if he chanced to be in Providencia, as was the case that night, also joined them. They had all grown up together there in town, had all been born there, had gone to the same primary and secondary school before going separate ways, to different universities. The love of working was something they all shared. That night they had prolonged their stay more than usual, it being a Friday, and it being summer. And because Justus happened to be there.  

The mayor from time to time went to those bars. He stayed for a short while, talked a little to a few friends, greeted people, and then left. This was a habit of his, something he had always done ever since his teenage years. Eventually it also produced an effect of canvassing, although this was not his primary intention. All the same, it was now January, and the elections would be held in November. He would run for re-election, which in his case, was a foregone conclusion. The people in town liked their mayor very much. He had started a new kind of administration in the town in all senses. And made a point of being always present. Joao Santos behaved like a mayor of a big city. Also, and this was another quite important ingredient in politics, he was reliable.  

He saw his daughter and the other three girls and Joaquim, waved his hand, and gave them a friendly and attentive smile.  

'There's your dad,' Joaquim said to Denise. He and the girls returned the smile and the wave. Then he and Thais stood up, said goodbye to the girls and left.  

'Oh, don't they form a perfect match,' said Elaine after they had left.  

'They do,' said Juliana. 

'No better match could be found. Did you know something about it?' said Denise to the other two girls.  

'I knew nothing,' Elaine said, delighted.  

'Well, I did,' said Juliana. 'He didn't tell me anything, but she rang me yesterday and talked to me about it.' 

'Well,' said Denise, 'that's it.'  

A stout man, about one metre seventy centimetres, one of the friends following the mayor, stood a little aside and one step behind him. He was a farmer in the region. He was a councelor in the town hall, and a member of the mayor's party, a cabinet man in the administration of the town. In virtually all public official appearances made by the mayor this man was always at his side. The vice-mayor was at the other side, as it happened now. This sort of scene composed by them had become a trademark in their public appearances.  

Without saying anything, Joao Santos looked at Julius somewhat ernestly, and the look in his eyes conveyed a rather pressing message which was immediately understood by the other. 

'They will send a supervisor to see you and discuss the whole matter over,' said Julius with a boyish smile, in answer to the mayor's interrogative look. 'And to arrange everything,' he continued. 

'Yes, but what are the chances that they'll open an office right here?' asked Joao Santos. 

'A hundred per cent chance.' He had given up his boyish smile, now, and looked at the mayor straight and calmly. His expression was honest and clear, his eyes friendly and serious. Julius was a man who came to be entirely relaxed most of the time, and always gave the impression that he wouldn't be shaken by any mortal soul or anything.