Blood-drenched Beard

Jasmim is lying on her side under layers of blankets and quilts, knees pulled up to her chest, staring at the wall. She doesn’t want to eat. He gets under the blankets with her and tries to soothe her, caressing her body and hair that is now dry and braided. She doesn’t want to live in the cabin anymore. He says that she can stay with him for a while if she wants and asks if she’s thought about staying on in Garopaba in the future. There’s still some cheap land in Ambrósio, Pinguirito, Siriú. In two or three years everything’s going to double in price, but if we start looking now, we can find some good land and start building slowly.

Are you inviting me to live with you?

Yes. If you want to.

And what would our house be like? Do you think we could find some land on a hill? I like living on a hill. It doesn’t need to be very high up or anything.

They fantasize about the house for a while until her beautiful, monotonous voice grows rubbery and weak and then disappears completely. It is the first time she has fallen asleep next to him without the long preamble of kicking and muttering. He knows that she is mentally and physically exhausted but lets himself believe it is something else.

In the morning he sees her for the last time. He wakes up earlier than usual and shakes her lightly. He whispers in her ear that he needs to go home and asks her to call him as soon as she gets up. She grumbles and nods. He rides home. Beta has piddled on the bathroom floor. He gives her food and water, then takes her for a walk on the beach. He lets her go into the water by herself and keeps an eye on her. She is hardworking, and her swimming is incredibly efficient. She faces the backwash in the shallows bravely and allows the water to wash over her, shaking her head and blowing the water with her nose. After a few minutes she returns to the sand and comes trotting over with her limited movements, using her front paw for balance only when necessary. Since Jasmim hasn’t called by eleven, he tries to call her, but she doesn’t pick up. He comes to the conclusion that she must have left her cell phone on silent mode but keeps trying her every ten minutes until he starts getting a message saying that it is out of range or off. He realizes he is late for work. Throughout his entire afternoon shift at the pool, he tries to call her and even calls Bonobo to ask him to drive over to her place to see if everything is all right, but Bonobo is at the federal police in Florianópolis getting his passport renewed. At five o’clock he gets on his bike and pedals over to Ferrugem. The cabin is locked, and her motorbike is gone. He still can’t get through on her cell phone.

He drops by the cabin over the next couple of days and sees no sign of her. The neighbors haven’t seen her coming or going. On the third day, a new girl appears at the travel agency counter and says that no one there has the slightest idea what happened to Jasmim, but she didn’t come to work on the Tuesday, nor did she leave a message, which is pretty strange because she hasn’t collected last week’s pay. On the fourth day, he goes to the police to file a missing person report. The police officers say they are going to look into the case informally and initiate a search if she hasn’t reappeared within a week. He doesn’t know her full name, but he gives them the name of her father, who is a state deputy in Porto Alegre, and says that she did some research at the Center for Psychological and Social Assistance and in municipal health clinics in the region. He also tells them that an old Ferrugem resident by the name of Joaquim was prowling around her cabin recently, but he decides not to mention the legends and treasure for the time being.

On the fifth day, he and Bonobo prise open the shutters on one of the cabin’s windows. As far as he can tell with his problematic memory, the inside of the cabin is intact and things are in the same places as they were on the Monday morning when he left her sleeping there alone, the only difference being that the box containing the candlestick and the goblet is gone from the cupboard under the sink. On the sixth day, he stops by there again on his own and finds Joaquim and his grandson or great-grandson snooping around the back of the house. He asks if they know where she is.

I thought you’d know that, says Joaquim, and points at the window. Somebody broke in.

That was me. Get off this land, and don’t come back. If I catch either of you here again, things are going to get ugly.

You found it, didn’t you?

Out of here.

He takes Joaquim by the arm and leads him toward the gate for a few yards. The young man puts his cap on backward and glares at him as if reinforcing a curse before following the old man and disappearing up the driveway.

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