Sapphire Moonlight

Chapter 43

Chapter 43

'Here, follow me,' Juliana said excitedly. 'I want to show you something. Here! Come! Come!' She gave him a pretty smile. She put her arms around him. She held him tight. Then he followed her.  

They walked to the right side of the yard and looked over the short wall - there was a short wall all around the yard - as she pointed to the shed where the tractors and the truck and the van were kept, across the road from the yard. This side of the road, alongside the yard and projecting from it, was a lengthy roof underneath which the carts that were pulled by tractors were kept. Deep silence prevailed in this area, the shed, the road and the roof, as it was Saturday afternoon. It wasn't melancholy, though. The sun was shining brightly. But even at seven with the sun going down and at quarter to eight at the start of dusk, it certainly wouldn't be melancholy, as it was Saturday and not Sunday, Joao Caio had learned that. So it wasn't a question of whether the sun was shining or not.  

'Isn't it a pretty view?' she said. 

'Very pretty.' 

'I've always liked it.' 

'What's that house over there?' he pointed to a house to the right. 

'That's the bookkeeper's house,' she said. 'And that's his office,' she said pointing to another house that stood across the road from the bookkeeper's house, the road that passed in front of the house where they were and went down a slope to one of the quarters where the employees lived. 

'This is such a big farm,' Joao Caio said after a moment. 'You cannot see its limits. Looks as if they're far beyond what you imagine.' 

'It's a very big farm,' she said. 'I would like to ask Joaquim to teach me something about farming. To be prepared to look after it if it's needed in the future. But to tell you the truth I'm not the manager type of woman, I'm not highly practical. I prefer reading and writing.' 

'You have only to learn how many sacks of coffee you produce every year, how much money you earn from it, how much money you spend on what - just the key items -, what are the other chief crops you have. And the cattle. You see? Only the main important points. You keep a record of them yearly. A simple glance at a paper sheet will tell you the whole situation. Then when there's something wrong you'll be able to detect it, it will show up. Don't lose yourself in details. Gradually you will learn the most relevant details if you want to.' 

'Is it possible to run the farm knowing only these main important points?' 

'It is. Then later you can learn what other crops you can grow. If it is worth while to diversify from what you do now. You can become aware of the trends in the market. If production of a certain crop will be sustainable and for how long. This is to have a bird's view of the things, from above, flying high.' 

'It's much easier than I thought and more fascinating, the way you put it.' 

'Yes. But it's the fundamental thing. Otherwise you get lost in a jungle of details. Getting lost like this may lead one to lose a farm.' 

They returned to the middle of the yard and then proceeded towards the shed on the left of the yard where were located the concrete water tanks and the equipment to process the coffee beans by using the wet method by which the cherry pulp was removed. They sat down on one of the walls that faced the centre of the yard. 

Joao Caio watched Juliana. She was left-handed just as he was. This brought her closer to him and he liked her even more, because she was so. It put her in a category together with him in which they both belonged. It made her even more attractive to him. He held her left hand. 

She looked at his face and then something caught her attention.  

'A blackhead,' she said. 'Yes, it is a blackhead. I'm sure it is. Right here, near your nose.' She pointed with her index finger. He waited as she did a closer examination of the blackhead.  

'Let me pinch it, Joao?' 

'Pinch it?' 

'Yes. Lie down on my lap. Put your head here,' she motioned him. 'It won't hurt. Don't be afraid.'  

Joao Caio lay back on the wall and laid his head on her lap. He felt the contact of her jeans on her lap against the back of his head and it was soft and warm and cosy and there was the scent of denim from her jeans and of cotton from her shirt and there was the contact of her hands and fingers against his face and one of her hands was on his nose pressing. He could see her face from underneath. She smiled at him. 'It won't hurt,' she said professionally, and she started to pinch the blackhead with the nails of both thumbs. Although she had said it wouldn't hurt, it hurt.  

'Ouch!' he groaned. 

'There!' she said pleasantly, and smiled at him. 'It's out.' She glanced at the tips of both her thumb nails. She cleaned one of them with the tip of her index finger and rubbed it on her jeans on the thigh. She leaned forwards and kissed him on the mouth long. 

'Is it comfortable?' she asked him. 

'Here?' he asked. 

'Yes,' she smiled. 

'Very comfortable.' 

'Stay,' she suggested. 'Stay there.' 

Later, when it was almost half past five, they got down from the wall and went towards the cowshed. They kept there a while and then came back to the house and Juliana invited Joao Caio to come to the orchard. Afterwards they came back to the house. 

They sat in the veranda alongside the house with a view to the bell and the wild garden and the small house some yards away imagining what the dance in the evening would be like. Then they decided it was time to go. The sun had already set. They went to the kitchen and said goodbye to the maids, Alberta and Jerusa.  

'Don't forget to take the bread to your mother,' Jerusa told her. She turned to Alberta and said, 'The bowl, Alberta, where is it?'  

'Here,' Alberta said, 'let me take it to the car, Juliana,' she said, holding the bowl with its content of bread inside, as they walked over to the place where Joao Caio had parked his car.