Sapphire Moonlight

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Joaquim walked with Thais to her gate. After leaving Convent Square, they had walked to the place where Joaquim had parked his car and he had driven her home. 

She smiled up at him. 

'Well,' he said. 'And so.' 

'I liked it.' 

He had a look around, which covered the garden, the veranda, and then the garage, and the tiled floor. The house was silent. All the lights were off, apart from a dimout lamp in the porch. There was the light from the lamp-post. The place and the surroundings had acquired a new significance for him. 

'I see you tomorrow at Denise's party?' she said. 

'Sure,' he said and paused. 'Are you going to do anything tomorrow afternoon?' 

'I haven't got anything planned. Have you?' 

'No, I haven't. But if there's something,' he said, 'I'll give you a call, is that OK?' 

'Yes, that's OK.' 

'Then if you can make it... Otherwise we meet at the party.' 

'OK, that's a deal.' 

'Yes, that's a deal,' he said.  

He felt very light, as if he could fly like a glider model plane that flies as long as it takes, looking as if it will never stop.  

He liked the idea that he now had a girlfriend and would go home thinking about it. They kissed. 

She had a look around and then back at him again. 

'Would you please say goodnight to Juliana from me? When you arrive home? If she's still awake.' 

'I'll tell her you said goodnight to her.' 

'Goodnight,' she said softly. 

'Goodnight,' he said in a tone of voice adequate to the silent house and to the illumination from the lamp-post and to that time of the night and to his talking to his new girlfriend who had said goodnight to him softly. 

He waited for her to walk the way through the garden and up the stairs to the porch. She opened the front door and waved him goodbye before entering the house.

In his room on the third floor of the hotel, Joao Caio went to the window and kept watching the view in front of him.  

His room overlooked the avenue and it was possible to see a considerable part of the town wich comprehended part of the centre and the area near the river. Stretching far away beyond the town were endless fields and hills, which he could not see now as it was night. He kept observing the scene for a while. Sometimes never being alone felt so like being together. He thought of The Iliad where the goddesses suddenly appeared from somewhere. Then he went to bed.  

He lay on his back and kept thinking.  

The girl he had seen at the corner of Desembargador Alcindo Oscar Bueno Amancio Street had put a different perspective on everything.  

The questions he had asked himself when he arrived, why had he come, why hadn't he gone to a different place, and so on, had lost their relevance.  

After he had seen the girl, he had gone away and driven about town and then taken the internal road to Ernestino Dias. Arriving there he turned round and came back to Providencia.  

He took every care not to drive near that region of bars where he thought she would be. The point was he didn't want to rush things and spoil everything.  

Usually, when Joao Caio saw a woman that interested him, he took a chance and went to talk to her if he sensed the odds were favourable. Sometimes he won, sometimes he lost. He took it as it would come. He thought this was part of the game, as the clich\u00e9 goes. He thought other opportunities would occur.  

'Imagine if she was the only woman in the planet,' he had remarked to Miguel Bueno and to another friend on one occasion when they had gone to a night club and a woman had turned him down. 

But when the woman had something special about her, something that put her into the category of dream girlfriend, then things changed altogether. And the man who made his living and his success out of the stock exchange, the man who in the stock market was so daring, who acted quickly, became careful in excess. This led to the loss of great opportunities. 

He thought she must live in Providencia. Unless she was there on holidays. Anyway he would have the whole summer holidays period to plan his campaign slowly. Joao Caio's process of approaching was complex, if not intricate. It usually took several stages and several days and even weeks. 

He thought she was too beautiful for him to take any chances. This he thought without words.  

He lay in bed thinking a little more about the girl he had met. He thought about his good luck. There was something to dream about.  

The next day would be Saturday and he would try to find her in one of those bars.  

Then he fell asleep.