Alentejo Blue
“COMING outside in the tired morning light to relieve his bladder, blessing as always the old Judas tree, João turned his head and saw the dark shape in the woods. It took some time to zip his trousers. His fingers were like enemy agents. They pretended to be his instruments but secretly worked against him.
João walked out beneath the moss-skinned branches thinking only this: eighty-four years upon the earth is an eternity.
He touched Rui’s boots. They almost reached the ground. ‘My frie...nd,’ he said, ‘let me help you.’ He waited for the courage to look up and see his face. When it came he whispered in his lacerated old man’s voice. ‘Querido,’ he said, ‘Ruizinho.’ Standing on the log that Rui had kicked away, João took his penknife and began to cut the rope. He put his free arm across Rui’s chest and up beneath his armpit, felt the weight begin to shift as the fibres sprang apart beneath the blade.
The almond blossom was early this year.MoreLess
João walked out beneath the moss-skinned branches thinking only this: eighty-four years upon the earth is an eternity.
He touched Rui’s boots. They almost reached the ground. ‘My frie...nd,’ he said, ‘let me help you.’ He waited for the courage to look up and see his face. When it came he whispered in his lacerated old man’s voice. ‘Querido,’ he said, ‘Ruizinho.’ Standing on the log that Rui had kicked away, João took his penknife and began to cut the rope. He put his free arm across Rui’s chest and up beneath his armpit, felt the weight begin to shift as the fibres sprang apart beneath the blade.
The almond blossom was early this year.MoreLess
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