TETHER DREAMS
IN
THE SHADOW GAME
By Claude L. Arango
CHAPTER ONE
BLAME IT ON RIO
Beyond the rain soaked shores of Copacabana, high above the mountains that surround Guanabara Bay, scattered rain clouds roam the sky above Rio de Janeiro, like marauders looking for easy prey.
Five clicks south of Rio’s busy harbor, rain blustered clouds descended on Sugar Loaf Mountain, releasing a rolling mist that spilled down it’s perilous slopes, and floated out among the screaming gulls, that follow the fishing boats to port, loaded with the day’s catch of sharks, skates, and rays.
At the far end of Copacabana Beach, two weary fishermen, with failing stamina but practiced resolve, pulled their boat ashore, and delivered their catch onto the beach. They had transported a stranger, from a schooner anchored a mile off shore. He had stood silently in the bow of the boat for the entire trip. But the moment they reached shore the stranger leaped from the boat, with a burlap bag slung over his shoulder, and a white Fedora hat in his hand. He immediately fell to his knees in the retreating surf, and made an emblematic sign in the sand, while the two fishermen looked on in utter bewilderment, but they remained silent.
The stranger strode up the beach for a short distance, his foot prints and the fishermen, trailing behind him, while his white pants and dress shirt were now soaking wet, and covered with sand. He soon found a suitable spot to set his bag down, and he opened it. He took out a roll of Brazilian money, with a red rubber band wrapped around it. He peeled off two hundred reais and gave it to the fishermen, who lowered their eyes, and whispered, Macumba, and then they quickly ran back to their boat and pushed it back into the sea.
Further north, across the Bay of Guanabara, dark rain clouds had gathered high above Mt. Corcovado, while down upon the mountain top, the monolithic, white stone figure, of Christ the Redeemer, stood majestically with open arms outstretched, dispensing hope to the masses far beyond its exalted perch. With the promise of redemption from on high, the faithful bowed their heads and prayed in the rain, but far below down beyond the inlet sea, redemption was not promised, as white cap waves slipped pass shifting swells to crashed against the shore, delivering a promise of a different sort with the advent of the storm.
The beach lay deserted, even the surfers had abandoned the tumultuous sea. Self-preservation had a way of cutting to the quick, yet there stood the stranger at the water’s edge, chanting words from the mystic. A large flat rock laid half buried in the sand, and he covered it with a red silk cloth, upon which he placed the jaw bone of a Boto Porpoise, a few strands of human hair, entangled in a wooden comb. A few trinkets lay to the side, and next to them laid a mirror, and four white candles, whose flame flickered wildly in the wind. At the bottom of the rock alter, laid a small wooden figure, whittle from a Capaiferra tree branch, and charred black by flames.
The Stranger stood in silence, like a man in a trance. He was completely mesmerized by the pounding surf. Wave after wave raced up the beach to greet him, drawing closer and stronger with each passing surge. The surf raced all of the way up the shore line until a large wave forced his retreat. Then it quickly drained back to the sea, leaving driftwood, coconuts, and twisted palm branches scattered across the sand, and the rock altar lay in shambles, with one candle still burning, miraculously.
With two fingers, he snuffed out the flame, and put the remaining objects back into his bag. Then he withdrew dark clothing from the bag and changed into them right there. Afterwards, he took one last look at the churning sea, and then turned and headed for higher ground and the rain swept streets of Copacabana.
Five minutes from the beach, as the Tucano birds fly, tall shade trees line the streets, offering temporary shelter from the rain. A dubious proposition at best, he soon discovered, while wiping rain water from his eyes, but then he saw something off in the distance, which prompted his departure from the porous sanctuary of the trees.
The streets were nearly empty now, except for a few dogged souls, and one young boy who had braved the storm to sell umbrellas in the rain. The stranger had witnessed the boy's grit and determination, from the sanctuary of the trees, and this pleased him. And when he came upon the boy he gave him a few coins, but he refused to accept the umbrella that the boy offered, and then he continued on his way.
He walked with hunched shoulders against the wind that blew off of the Inlet Sea. With his eyes to the ground, and head held down, he ignored the tumultuous sea that exploded on one side of the street, and Copacabana’s high-rise apartment buildings, with million dollar views, on the other, but that day the view wasn't worth a dime.
The stranger passed by open air bistros, that usually stayed empty until late afternoon, with garcons dressed in pressed black pants and white serving jackets, all huddled under plastic canopies outside in the rain. They spoke softly among themselves, as they anxiously waited for the deluge to subside, which had reduced the tourist flow to nothing, and their gainful expectations to nothing more than wishful thinking.
Then suddenly, as if someone had flipped a torrential switch, the rain stopped. People suddenly began to materialize in the streets as if from thin air. Within minutes the bistros began to fill with people taking full advantage of the lull in the storm, and soon it was as if there had been no storm at all.
The sudden transition presented an amicable picture of tranquility among the prosperous Brasileiros, who now filled the bistros to overflow, which was a far cry from the plight of the poor Brasileiros, who lived in the favelas, just a few blocks away. Already, TV Network News camera crews had begun filming the mudslides that came with the torrential rain. Which, inevitably lead to several makeshift homes tumbling down the mountain side, no longer capable of standing or remaining stacked upon one another, like colorful game board pieces, in the crowed hills above Rio de Janeiro.
Copacabana appealed to the stranger, more so than Ipanema’s young yuppie facade, and as he walked through the neighborhood, he came upon a traveling band that roamed the streets entertaining strangers. With song and dance, and strumming guitars they beat on Macaco skin drums, while Capoeira fighting dancers did their thing.
The stranger moved about like an erratic breeze, neither confined nor hindered by venders selling cheap wares in front of expensive stores. Their makeshift stands further narrowed the passable walkway. Then, suddenly, the storm once again made its presence known, and with the first crack of thunder, the crowds dispersed, leaving the stranger all alone.
It was his nature to be observant, and he knew that the people in Rio doing all of the heavy lifting were black Brasileiros. He had seen this before, but he was a pragmatic man who dealt with the world as it was, and not the way one thought it should be. Although he moved easily between both worlds of the rich and the poor, his sense of value was never filtered through the prism of ignorance; he knew that things happened for a reason.
The ditch diggers, bus drivers, and baggage handlers, bore their Afro- Brazilian heritage, reluctantly, upon their backs, albeit unwittingly they accepted their station in life. While the shop owners, were well educated, and prosperous, with their Portuguese, Italian, and German heritage intact, promulgating a way of life that was handed down from generation to generation, with its most consistent aberration intact. The white Brazilians assumed the caretaker role, which assured complete domination of the most vital aspects important to building a meaningful material life, in the form of complete ownership of everything in the country worth owning, except for a man’s soul, and in that realm of spiritual mysticism the former Africans slaves held sway.
One shopkeeper called out to the stranger in the street and invited him inside. He was somewhat amused that he had been so readily accepted, by the shopkeeper, as being a tourist. Nothing could have been further from the truth, but his projected personification was working, and he was an inquisitive man, who was ahead of schedule, so, he complied. It wasn’t a racist thing, the shopkeeper said, when he fielded the unexpected question of inequity posed to him by the stranger. Ostensibly, he said it to see if anything had changed, but of course it was about the money, which the shopkeeper readily admitted, sighting the realities of life. The stranger understood the shopkeeper’s tacit acceptance of the gross imbalance between the rich and the poor, but he wasn’t passing judgment, but simply passing time, his mind was elsewhere, as he looked at his watch, then he thanked the shop keeper, and walked out the door, right on time.
He was back on tract, navigating the busy streets of Copa, and occasionally dodging pedestrians who suddenly crossed his path. He narrowly avoiding mishaps time and again, as the pedestrians attempted to pass him along the narrow sidewalk. It seems to be a Brazilian thing, for they possess no inkling of the presumed pedestrian sensibility to veer to the right, while walking. It was the small things that let him know that he was in Rio.
He observed other Cariocas, as the residents of Rio de Janeiro call themselves, going about their daily lives, oblivious to the inundated conditions that winter brings to Rio. It was a welcome change of season for them, tossing off summer’s sodden heat, and the bustling streets stood in stark contrast, to the recently deserted beaches, abandon by tourist and hucksters alike, and now only capable of attracting the occasional sea turtle, tossed ashore by the wind whipped sea.
The evening downpour turned into a steady drizzle, as the stranger side stepped small puddles of water that had gathered on the sidewalk, and when he reached the corner of Rua Bolivar, he turned left, and then proceeded to thread his way through the rest of the neighborhood that made up the core of Copacabana.
Soon he arrived at his destination, an old office building located on the corner of Rua Aires Saldanha and Miguel Lemos, one street away from the beach. On the front door of an apartment rental office, a travel poster extolled the reader to simply “Blame it on Rio”. He kept that in mind as he quickly scanned the street, then opened the door and stepped inside. The fat man seated behind the desk looked up, and quickly made an effort to stand. But he was stopped in his tracts by the sight of a gun, held firmly in the grip of the Stranger. The surprised look on the fat man’s face belied the fact that he wasn’t surprised at all, he knew that this day was coming; sooner or later, someday, one day … today.
With a wave of the gun, the stranger motioned for the fat man to sit. With a visible sigh of relief the fat man sat back down, and then the stranger shot him between the eyes. The fat man collapsed onto the desk, lifeless eyes still harboring surprise, as a ribbon of smoke slowly rose from the hole that now lay drilled between them. A trickle of blood ran down his face, as a key was snatched from around his neck. Then a wood carving was placed in his lap, before the front door closed without a sound, and the Stranger melted back into the crowd, as effortless as the rain.
