Sapphire Moonlight

Chapter 31

Chapter 31

In the evening Joao Caio arrived at his parents's house.  

It was a large house in a residential area in the quarter of Sendas in Sao Joao D'Acre high above the city level.  

Joao Caio had been brought up there from the age of nine. When they referred to the house as it was in those times, before it had been rebuilt and extended, they called it 'the old house' although it was not old.  

It had a big unpaved backyard and when he was a boy, he played in the backyard.  

Apart from many other things, he played with toy soldiers. There was the infantry, composed of soldiers carrying rifles, machine guns, bazookas, hand grenades, and there were the motorized units with tanks, anti-aircraft guns mounted on trucks, ambulance trucks, search lights mounted on trucks, parachute units with soldiers equipped with home-made parachutes of blue plastic bought in the stationer's, tied with strings. The soldiers were thrown up into the air and the chutes would open. The chutes had a hole in the centre. Joao Caio had read something about World War II, Rommel's campaigns in the desert, Guderian's accounts, also about the American, British and Japanese generals's campaigns, Napoleon's campaigns too, ancient military history including some Xenophon's and Herodotus's accounts, the battle of Zama, amongst others. He tapped into this information when planning strategies he would employ with his toy soldiers.  

He also played prospecting petrol, building roads, building mines.  

He and his brother and a friend played cowboys and indians. They also played football on another part of the house behind the garage. That part was cemented and it stood on a gentle slope. They also used to ride down the slope on carts made on a wooden framework mounted on wooden axles, one at the front, movable so that the cart could be steered, another at the back, fixed, with ball bearings fitted at the ends of both axles. A rubber friction brake that could be pulled by a lever was attached to one of the bearings at the back.  

A number of books were in the house as his father, before getting married, used to be a great reader. His father valued books greatly. After getting married his father's responsibilities increased, he began to work much harder and didn't have time to read, but he continued buying books all the same.  

Books fired Joao Caio's imagination when he was a boy. He dreamed of building petrol engines, steam engines, aircraft turbines, jet planes, rockets that were powered by solid or liquid fuel, artificial satellites, computers, all of them homemade. He was always searching for information about these items in the books at home. He wanted to make a camera and then shoot films and to make cartoons and project them in the backyard with a homemade projector. Although he never realized any of these dreams, or rather manufactured them, it was the dreams themselves that counted. He also liked drawing and he used to draw comics and he used to paint in watercolour or gouache and also he started to write a pirate story. All boyish stuff as he had no training. He was interested in ships and aircrafts and maps. And there was history. He enjoyed reading about the ancient Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, Babylons, Hittites, Phoenicians, Romans, about Carthage, in teenager's or children's books. Also about the middle ages and about the modern ages.  

Flying kites was another passion - it felt as if one was indeed up there together with it, flying.  

He also did physical exercises and training.  

It had been a magic childhood. 

His father was called Joao Caio Diocleciano. Joao Caio was called Joao Caio Diocleciano Jr. Joao Caio's father had begun life as a primary teacher and so had Joao Caio's mother. His mother was called Luciana Paula Diocleciano. She was a teacher in charge of the first years. Students liked her very much, and this was because besides being competent, she, also, liked them very much. His father used to work for the public school in the mornings and in the afternoons for private schools. He then passed an exam and became headmaster. He was thoroughly dedicated to his job and with time he was promoted to supervisor, in charge of a group of schools in a certain region. Highly competent, he became a delegate, after a period of time, responsible for a large group of schools in a bigger area, and in charge of a group of supervisors. Four years later he became an assessor in the high office for education in the state of Sao Joao D'Acre. He had made a big career. He was still working, and so was Joao Caio's mother. 

Joao Caio told his parents about his trip to Providencia and to Santa Clara. He gave them an account of his first visit to Providencia do Rio Turvo. They were happy to know he had gone there because it was a town they adored. He told them he had gone to Providencia again last weekend. He had found a girlfriend there and her name was Juliana Dantas. His parents were happy about it and they knew Juliana's relatives. 

Joao Caio told his parents how he had met Juliana. 

His father told him how he had met Joao Caio's mother, a story which Joao Caio had heard many times. His father was walking in the square near the club - in those times people kept walking there on Saturday evenings - and he saw Joao Caio's mother. In fact they had seen each other once before. But it was on this occasion that everything happened indeed. They looked at each other that night and something really passed between them. Joao Caio Diocleciano father invited Luciana to come to the cinema with him and she accepted. 

They talked more about the time when Joao Caio's parents were students. 

'You could well spend the night here tonight,' Joao Caio's father asked him. 'Stay here, so we can talk more.' 

'Yes, father, I'll spend the night here. I've brought a change of clothes, it's in the car. So tomorrow I can leave for the office from here.' 

Joao Caio told his parents he would be flying tomorrow at five in the afternoon and would be back Thursday afternoon. He would go to Providencia next weekend to see his girlfriend. His parents told him that they would be going to Ernestino Dias next weekend to see Joao Caio's aunts and uncles.