Sapphire Moonlight

Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Joaquim and Thais were sitting on the yard wall beyond the hedge and the lawn across the track from the house in the Santa Ines farm. They were near the entrance to the big yard, on the left of the entrance.  

It was three o'clock in the afternoon on Thursday. This trip to the farm had not been planned. In the morning Joaquim's father had asked him to go to the farm to get information on certain matters. Joaquim invited Thais to come with him and they left Providencia at half past ten.  

They had lunch at the farm at twelve.  

It was good to have lunch in the house at the farm only the two of them. It was good to be together. It was in fact the best thing in the world. We are not meant to be alone, Joaquim thought. No, we are not. He looked at Thais and felt warm inside himself. She also looked at him and felt the same. It looked as though they were married. 

Later they walked down the track that ran in front of the house, to the right, towards the quarter where part of the workers in the farm lived. The other part lived in a quarter that was located beyond the hills in the distance, after the cowshed and to the left. After that they got the pickup truck and went on a tour of the closest parts of the farm and then to one of the coffee plantations further away. Joaquim talked to the manager and got all the information he was looking for.  

When they returned, Thais wanted to go to the orchard at the back of the house. They strolled to the left-hand corner at the bottom, where the mango trees were. There Thais chose some juicy ripe mangoes that were red, yellow and greenish orange in colour outside, medium-sized fruits which were sweet and tasteful.  

'Look at that!' she said pointing to a mango high on a branch. 'And that!' she pointed to another. 'Oh, Joaquim, look!' she said pointing to a third one. 'It's a pity they're so high. Oh, I wonder...' 

Joaquim looked at Thais and moved closer to the mango tree. He had decided to climb it to get the mangoes for her.  

'Be careful,' she said, worried. 'Won't you fall?' 

'No, this is an easy task.'  

She kept observing him, anxious at the start then calmer as she saw the easiness with which he was performing the task. Unwound, she pointed him happily where the best mangoes were. 'Look, Joaquim, that one! And that other one! No, that one close to the other branch. It's a pity to leave it there to overripen. There, that's it!' 

He kept picking the mangoes and throwing them to her. She put them on the ground. 

'Watch out,' she said again. 'Be careful.' 

'Won't you hitch your skirt up,' Joaquim said in a low voice, 'to collect the mangoes in there, in the skirt? You know. Better than holding them in the hands.' 

'I might.' 

'No,' he said. 

'No?' she smiled. 

'No,' he said. 'I was kidding.'  

'I thought you were serious.' 

'Someone could appear and see it. Don't even start it. I didn't mean it. I wasn't talking seriously.' 

She kept looking at him, restraining a laugh. 

'Well, but I thought you said -,' she said smiling. 

'No,' he asked. 'I don't want anybody to see it.' 

'No, I won't,' she said. 

'You won't what?' 

'Hitch my skirt.' 

'And why not?' 

'Because you don't want anybody to see it.'