Brazil 1971 part
3
by Jilliana
Ranicar-Breese
I was meeting
the Ceramist Francisco Brennan when a friend of
his from Recife turned up. We were introduced and
I thought nothing of our meeting.
However, on returning to my hotel I found a
handwritten note that he wanted to see me again.
Antero I don’t think had ever met a
foreigner.
We had lunch and he invited me to the carnival in
Recife.
Antero was probably about 50, married and owned a
factory that made window frames for schools and
wooden school desks.
He sent the ticket to travel to Recife and had
arranged accommodation. He raced round to see me
enthusiastically and take me to the vibrant
carnival which had just begun. I only stayed for
about 3 days and left. Antero sadly took me to
the airport and, while waiting for the flight,
grabbed my bag and stuffed it with cash. I said
‘thank you’ but all he had was my name
and no address or phone number. On the plane back
I counted the money
Back in Graca I met the singer Caetano Veloso in
his home in Graca and took his photograph with a
portrait of his sister Maria Betania hanging
behind him.
No one knew where I was staying so I was amazed
when a car drove up one morning and asked for me
to come to a hotel where Antero was waiting for
me.
I don’t know how much he paid him to find an
English teacher in a city of one million people
but he did! Antero knew that I knew Genaro and so
the driver went to Genaro’s house to learn
he had gone to his country home for the weekend.
So the driver went to his country house and got
my address in Graca. Antero certainly knew what
he wanted. Me!!
It was early Saturday morning and Anterio was in
his brown dressing gown. He was pleased to see me
and asked if I wanted to sleep with him! To which
I replied I didn’t think of him that way.
With that he went into bathroom and got dressed!
We went downstairs for breakfast as I’d had
nothing to eat. It was there that he noticed I
was very upset. In fact I was nearly crying. I
explained as there was a major postal strike in
early 1971 and my bank BOLSA couldn’t send
me my monthly money because there were no
telegrams either. Also I had not spoken to my
parents for months as in those days you had to go
to the central office to call abroad and it was
very expensive.
No problem for Antero. Before I knew it I was
speaking to my father. I shall never forget what
he said. ‘Who’s paying for the call?’
Because I hadn’t reversed the charges! We
had a nice day together and he bought me lots of
ceramics from the Saturday market which I had
shipped back to England. I recall they mainly
arrived broken! I still didn’t give him my
phone number but of course he had my address.
I never heard from Antero again!
Written
6/12/24 at Nightingale.
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