on/off
(Story)
Fátima
Queiroz
In
a great Institute of Researches of a great city, in the North of Brazil
(Manaus), there was a beloved monkey and feared by the employees, by virtue of
his constants pranks, that most of the time caused great damages. Chiquito (this
was his name), he had a look of sweetness and he seemed to be always smiling,
what captured the people that approached of friendly monkey, however behind that
his looks sweetness, underneath of that " lamb " skin, he hid a
terrible and turbulent personality, that flee to cause upset for the roundness
and for that, "the terror of the neighborhood " he was considered.
Chiquito had for habit, to flee to a garage (near to the Institute),
where from
a distance,
with a disguise manner,
he observed
the employees working and when they distract, he robbed the tools and go
running away quickly, hiding and it was very difficult to find him.
One day, Mr. Damião, (owner of the mechanics workshop), when opening the
establishment to begin a new work day, he listened a stranger noise and he
noticed that it came from below a
luxury car, that a customer had taken for adjustment of the brakes. Which was
not of Damião's surprise when he
saw the terrible Chiquito hammering furiously below of the car, after having
left completely kneaded the lateral part of the same. Mr. Damião, possessed of
rage, he threw himself against of the Chiquito, that he dribbled him, leaving
him to knocked down in the ground and the afraid monkey
fled without understanding that such great bad mood of the man, because
him (Chiquito), he was until doing him a great favor " repairing " the
car, because it was exactly the same thing that Chiquito saw, when the men
hammering daily below of the cars.
Really, Chiquito was a terror. Sometimes, the employees of the Institute
lost the patience and they punished him with a belt, but he very
smart, caught one of the little female monkeys, stayed
to his side, holding and put her to his front and, unhappy, was she who was hit.
One day, he appeared suddenly in a living room, in the middle of the
dance saloon and it was an agitation, because the people didn't get to catch him.
Suddenly, hanged himself in an immense lustre of crystal, that illuminated the
whole atmosphere and he began to balance as if he was hung in a jungle liana,
until that fell down with lustre and everything in the middle of the dance
saloon, causing terrible damage, that was reimbursed properly by the Institute,
as of general rule, it always happened. One thought even already in giving an
end in the poor fellow, because he only caused damages.
A couple, still in honeymoon, they had moved there is little time to a
beautiful house beside the Institute. Chiquito, then, he decided to do a visit
to the new neighbors. In a beautiful and warmed afternoon of summer, when the
couple had a good time with the " games of the love ", they heard a strange noise
coming from the bathroom - they thought soon about assault. The husband caught
the revolver and followed by an afraid wife, he opened the door of the bathroom
slowly and he and the wife saw an
indescribable and incredulous scene:
Chiquito seated in the cover of the garbage basket, beside the sanitary basin,
he browsed, with a lot of curiosity, the marriage album and when he afraided
with the suddenly appearance of the couple, he got scared and began to tear the
album throwing everything inside of the basin of the toilet. The woman screamed
hysterically and the man tried to catch the little monkey without success.
Chiquito passed quickly underneath
his legs, trying to escape for the door, that was violently closed before there
he arrived. He didn't have through where to flee, corned, seeing the armed man
coming in his direction, he
tried to move him with
affect, posting his "little
hands " as
that
imploring pardon, but the man hurried, trying to catch him and in this exact moment, was heard the
explosion of a shot and the poor Chiquito was
paralyzed with the hands on the wound in the chest, amid a great pool of blood.
It was a lamentable accident. The man just wanted to catch him,
but, unhappily, the weapon discharged and the fatal shot put an end to
the afflicted
life of
Chiquito.
Today, when we enter in the museum of the Institute of Researches, the
first figure that we can see, is the Chiquito embalmed, with his roguish
and frisky
manners, smiling
at the visitors.
(Story
published in the "Coletanea Eros and other themes" by the Artistic and
Literary Association the Word of
the Century XXI - ALPAS - 2003 - Cruz Alta - RS - Pages 160 and
161).
Note of author: I dedicated this story to Jeronilson Ferreira’s family, mainly in your father’s person, Jeronimo, that inspired and motivated me to write that literary work - Fátima Queiroz – August 2003.
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