Words Found By a Gypsy

by Roberta Nunes (Brazil)

I didn't expect to find Brazil

The gypsy Riovana looked at me and, while holding massive, brightly colored crystals, she spread several tarot cards on an improvised rug. I had never done anything like that, and I never thought I would, but she inspired me a confidence that I hadn't had in a long time. I ended up missing important things. Some words, people and even memories just disappeared with time. Definitely the art of forgetting is painful and it cost me a lot: I was constantly traveling, from one side to the other, meeting people who marked me, trying to tell a new story; I felt the flavors of a life far from the madness I had faced. But nothing satisfied me. This was yet another attempt, and this time, against my will. My mother insisted that this trip happen. She packed my suitcases, packed sweets and spices for my cousin, Morgana, who was going to welcome me on this new journey and told me that everything had a reason: “If I can't find what we want so much, nothing prevents you from doing it for both of us . ” Leaving was not an option. I had to. There was me, disoriented, away from my parents and heading to the capital: Brasília! I arrived in silence, in the grayest dawn that would later give way to an emotional and blue sky. Morgana said she expected me to bring the rain with me, but she was very grateful for another beautiful sunny day. In her small, cozy house in the center, my cousin, now my guardian, kept part of my childhood memories and songs that I analyzed together with her three black cats hidden under the brown sofa. She tried to grab them while I reveled in their cleverness. In the middle of the confusion she looked at her watch and was surprised by the hours. It was time to leave. She took me to a street full of people bumping into each other, walking almost collapsing with each other and then asked me to wait a few moments and admire what the city offered. In fact, it was very beautiful, so detailed and discreet that it revealed itself to me little by little: in every salesman who smiled, in each modernist building beside big trees that lifted the concrete off the sidewalks with their thick roots and threw flowers at people. Everything was designed to be exact, precise, perfect. And suddenly I feel hands on my back that call to me and when I turned around, it was immediate: the lost words came back. My eyes filled with tears when I saw that majestic gypsy, as beautiful as a sapphire, that invited me to know my destiny. For a long time I felt the need for answers and she, better than anyone, was willing to give me all of them, but as soon as night came. She confronted me countless times, as she took more letters and let me take a breath for the next question. To my broken heart, she gave me no hope ... Just move on. For my insecurities ... She hugged me and gave me comfort. My future ... she guaranteed that it was beyond my city, beyond my fears, just waiting for me. "How did you become a gypsy?" I asked admiringly. "I've always been. But I had to flee to finally find myself. ” She replied without taking his eyes off the letters and after shuffling them all again and putting them away, she continued: "And that's what I hope that one day you will achieve too ...". Hurriedly, she says goodbye with a hug and when she released me I asked the last question to the gypsy: "And when will my sister be back?" She closed her eyes, smiled quickly, gave me her red cloth and spoke to me, in the ear: “I dreamed of that day. Just wait. be patient ... I'll be back faster than you think! ” And just as she came, she left. But with the promise of returning ... One day Soon Perhaps Who knows After all I do not foresee the future.