Backwards
The kids are fine. In a way, I think time went by at a different pace for me and them. For me, it seems that I have been away for almost a lifetime. Travelling has this wonderfully healing quality. Every little daily problem which would require immediate solution is forcefully delayed. For a while, I had the chance to deal with issues not harder than deciding where to go to dinner, how to spend time in a more fun way, and remembering to use sunscreen religiously. For them, I have been away for just little more than a week. They missed me, all right. But the routine remained the same: go to school, study, watch TV, talk to their friends on the phone.
I have seen my trio. As I didn't have the chance to unpack in the morning, I could only rescue Belle's gifts tonight, which is okay, since she will be in school tomorrow morning, when I finish fishing stuff in my bulging suitcases. Belle was delighted with the plush Duchess I got for her at the Magic Kingdom and with the Tinkerbell earrings with her birthstone in it. For a while, she tried to convince Pluft that the toy kitten was real, a girl companion. I don't think he was much convinced but Belle squeaked with glee as she made cat sounds to attract his attention. The boys have already discovered chocolate I brought. I raided the Duty Free shop for dark chocolate. I confess, I went a bit over the board with my chocolate shopping, which was improved by a large bag of dark chocolate M&Ms bought at Target yesterday, just as I was leaving to the airport.
I decided to write a report, but I am doing it upside down. I am starting with the ending. I get home and Luiz hurries to tell me the news. "Do you know what happened with our new apartment?". I froze. "No". "It was flooded, the whole unit was underwater, they might even have to break walls again". Good grief. Is that a wow of a welcome or not? As is, things don't look as bleak as he made them sound. The flooding was contained and it just afflicted the kitchen. No breaking of the walls, no wading necessary in the bedrooms. Someone I know has told me that I should employ hyperbole more liberally in my writing to get a better effect. Well, hyperbole is something that my son Luiz seems to know how to use quite naturally. I should pay more attention to this from now on.
My flight was eventless and packed. I slept under the effect of drugs that help keep my anxiety under control. The really thrilling part happened at landing. My bigger suitcase was collected by customs before it ever reached baggage claim. I was sent to an official who asked me harshly what kind of stuff I was bringing into the country. "Just a DVD recorder", I told him. "It is not what we see in X-ray". He ordered me to open it. I had left right on the top of the layers my nightgown. He seemed embarrassed. I looked at him sheepshly, and asked if he wanted me to take everything out of the suitcase. "Uh... What is that box you are carrying?". I digged for the DVD recorder box and showed him the receipts that proved that it was cheaper than my allowance. He made me take lots of things out -- mainly dirty clothes -- and finally seemed satisfied. I was allowed to go, after a mere one hour delay at customs.
As the driver took me back home, I kept gazing at the familiar landscape. After one week in Florida, everything seems so unreal: the wooden shacks of a favela, by the highway that leaves the airport, the cheap looking billboards advertising an all you can eat barbecue, the scantily dressed passerbys who seem to ignore that we are in winter and go about their businesses in tank tops, shorts and flip flops. I was tired, but I knew that I would only have time for a quick shower and go to work. It seemed almost absurd to think that one day earlier I had been walking up Main Street at exactly the same time, but the story of my last and fun day with my friends in Florida will come on my next entry.
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