"THE PAST AND THE PRESENT" "Don't you think of marrying again?" "Marry, we, again?" " So we divorce again?" " No way." "While we were married, we were only united, when we divorced, Fernando came to the conclusion that I liked him." "and I came to the conclusion that I liked him also." "Above all, you do well not caring about the criticism." "If we cared, we would be sad, the criticism has no strength." "No one prefers our irregular condition of lovers to one of spouses." "If they knew the criticism amuses us, they would be furious." "What beautiful flowers!" "They're from Ricardo." "The farther apart, the closer together." "Marriage is an obligation, and obligation is boring." "Boredom leads to strife, and strife leads to hell." " Hello, Mauricio." " How are you, Vanda?" " How are you, Noémia?" " How are you?" " Okay?" " Well, how are you?" " Honório and Angélica haven't arrived yet?" " They should be coming." "How dare you, how dare you wear black?" "How dare I?" "Am I not your husband?" "Are you not my wife?" "You're wearing black." "Spouses use to share the grief, don't they?" "You are insolent!" "It will cost you dearly this miserable attitude." "You will even attend the ceremony at the cemetery?" "This thing to me is sacred." " You don't want me to go to the cemetery?" " Get out my face!" "Well, I won't go to the cemetery." "Since you don't want me in black, I will wear other clothes." "How I hate him!" "How I hate him!" " Hello, Angélica." " Hello, Vanda." " Honório." " Hello, Vanda." " How are you, Noémia?" " Hello, Angélica." " How do you do?" " How do you do?" " How are you, Angélica?" " Well." "Now we need Daniel." "Daniel said he might take a while." " Madam, the nurse arrived." " Tell her to prepare the syringe." "I told her, ma'am, everything is ready." "Ok, I'm coming." "I'm having a headache that you can't imagine." "It is terrible, I need a shot." "It may take a little." "Sorry, but I have to rest after the injection." "It may startle, but then I feel better." "At least wait for Daniel." "Rest easy, do whatever it takes, no need for ceremony." "No need for ceremonies?" "That's better." "I've put a table in the garden, if you want to drink something." "Sorry." "No doubt." "It is a fact." "We came." "We're here." "Certainly, we're here." " But why?" " Why what?" " Why we came, why are we here?" " Because we agreed to meet here." "Of course we agreed to meet here today, it's the most natural thing in the world." "It's not that natural." "We agreed to meet here so we would go to watch the burial." "Yes, the burial." "The burial of Ricardo's remains, who was the first husband of the sad Vanda, at the fabulous tomb she had built." "And you think it's normal that a woman with a second husband stand in his presence with a reverence for the bones of the first!" " Does that surprise you?" " Of course it does not surprise me!" "She even wanted to return here to the same house!" "What is surprising is that we, who are not crazy, play the crazy game of Vanda." "Isn't a strange fact that we are here?" "Vanda has asked us to come, we are her friends, maybe her only friends." "Strictly she has not asked us, she warned us about the ceremony..." "If you accept her friendship, you should not judge." " You imply..." " Nothing, and I agree the motives are mixed." "But let's not discuss the reasons." "We came, we came." "It looks like you just said that Vanda is crazy." "Don't you think that Vanda is at least crazy enogh to care?" "In many cases she doesn't behave consistently, she's extravagant, but..." "It's a nice extravagance." "Only estravagance, and nice above all?" "I like the trend that Vanda has to love what is distant and unattainable." "You like it?" "'Cause I don't." "I don't like this trend that Vanda has to love the unattainable, whose inverse is contempt for the reachable." "In this regard, we agree." "Vanda snubbed the reachable." "While Ricardo was alive, Vanda didn't get on with him." "A year after his death, she married Firmino." "One might even say that there was intention of offending Ricardo's memory." "True, there was compensation." "And a year later, she fell in love with the former husband." "An unhealthy passion for the deceased husband, the same that bothered her in life, and, at the same time, what an anger for the poor Firmino!" "What an anger for Firmino!" "And Firmino!" "To me, it's another mystery." "He must love her insistently." "It's the only way to endure." "He endures is, but sometimes he provoques her." "And what can we say about those photos in the decoration?" " Those of Ricardo?" " Yes." "The Photographs of Ricardo." "This is another peculiarity." "She displays photos of the former husband through the house." "The most amazing thing, besides the portraits of Ricardo, that Vanda displays through the house, is the vivid portrayal of Ricardo, his brother Daniel." "I've never seen twins so much alike!" "Indistinguishable." "It must be awful for the poor Firmino!" "Vanda often receives the twin brother of her first husband." "When she first saw him, she must have had a shock." "Firmino knew Ricardo, but had never met Daniel, he saw him only recently." "Never?" "I didn't know." "Then the shock has lasted a few months." "Vanda and the twin hadn't seen each other for some time." "But now in compensation, they meet almost every day." "And the way the two get along is really amazing!" "Especially when the two collaborate on the humiliation of Firmino." "Are you well, Angélica?" "Well, Firmino, and you?" " How are you, Honório?" " Well, thank you." "Vanda told us to go to the garden." "But they don't want to." " Great idea." " I am going too." "Excuse me, but you may be getting into business that aren't yours." "Curious." "You're suddenly with a firmness that I didn't know." "In crises, sometimes one creates firmness." "At more appropriate times this firmness doesn't appear." "More appropriate in your opinion." "At least one cannot deny that you are a person that is consciously in the role of mocked husband." "I am indeed a mocked husband." "And you think this situation is tolerable?" "If I think that there are other husbands who are more mocked." "Indeed, your wife doesn't betray you with a real man, but with a ghost." "But the betrayal is so harsh, so blatantly." "But there's offense in who's not responsible?" "You defend her like that?" "Judging her insane?" "And you judge her normal?" "I don't understand this talk between my husband and Firmino." "You have a fine ear, and there is a breeze coming, but at this distance it's impossible to hear." "Do not play dumb." "What I don't understand is that it's a long conversation," " ...and my husband doesn't stand Firmino." " What if they're making amends?" "It's an absurd hypothesis." "Absurd?" "I even saw a certain harmony." "Revenge?" "How?" "Haven't you noticed how I encourage the friendship between them?" "Yes, but this is your revenge?" "Everyone knows that after Vanda marry me, she fell in love with her first husband." "Everybody knows." "Daniel looks like Ricardo as two drops of water." "Daniel looks a lot like the first husband." "It isn't possible that you can't see a risk in it..." " But that's exactly what I want." " How come?" "I wish that Vanda and Daniel became lovers!" " What?" " I wish!" " This is your revenge?" " Yes, and you know why?" "Because her love for the first husband is something sacred to Vanda." "She would be dead in her own eyes if she betrayed that love." "And yet with the ex-brother-in-law." "Maybe you're lying." " Why would I be lying?" " Because if that was your intention," "You wouldn't have told me." "I can warn her." "You're approaching one of my favorite situations." " Which one?" " A situation that amuses me." "What situation?" "And why does it amuse you?" "Is it an effort on your part to somehow change everything?" "Do not be angry, it's not worth it." "Do not worry, I don't get angry for so little." "But I want to give you some advice." "A man so ridiculous as yourself shouldn't allow himself to be more a laughingstock to others." "I sincerely hope that it will never happen to you to be so ridiculous..." " ..." "Or more than me." " Don't, there's no need." "No need, of course, it's obvious." "I'm sure, thank God, that your sign is not mine." " Sign?" " Yes, sign." "For certain things, I believe we are born, or not, under a certain sign." "Born or not born under a certain sign..." "Me too, I also believe it." " Angélica!" " Yes?" "I read a novel in which the husband is more intrusive in the Creation." "Mauricio, you're terrible!" " Angélica!" " Yes?" "Tell me..." "Tell me one thing:" "Angélica, you haven't noticed my love yet?" "Mauricio!" "Angélica, tell me." "Maybe." "Catty!" "Why only now you encourage me?" "You needed my encouragement?" "I'm more daring and intimidating when I really love." "Men don't like cakewalks, so they despise me." "Me, despise you?" "Never!" "I will always love you, Angélica." "Always?" "Always!" "Always!" "How I've never loved anyone before." " Angélica!" " Mauricio, no!" "Someone may enter." "Nobody will come." "Angélica!" "No, Mauricio!" "How are you, Mr. Daniel?" " Hello, how are you?" " Well, thank you." "You can sit down, I'll tell the madam." "I was in my room and I was told of your arrival." " Hello, Daniel." " Hello, Vanda." " Am I late?" " No." "But I'm not also the first?" "The others arrived just a moment ago." " All five are in the garden?" " The five, yes." " We are all here then." " All of us." "Everyone who wants to watch the procession." "From the marriage-bed to the deathbed." "Do you exist, Destiny?" "Do you exist as the day exists, the light... the night..." "I should know." "In the grave, under the shade of a cypress, at the foot of the cross." "He will always live in his wife's memory." "My dear, dear Ricardo!" "Ricardo!" "How dare you, how dare you wear mourning?" "You are an insolent!" "It will cost you dearly this miserable attitude." "Get out of my face!" "This thing to me is sacred." "It has been over one year since the graveyard scene." "What good has done my volunteer humiliation?" "You continue to despise me." "No, I can't stand your insults anymore." "There is no life without you." "You kill me, Vanda." "Goodbye." "I forgive you for all the wrong you did to me." "Goodbye." "The poor man!" "He fell from that height and didn't die immediately." "Vanda, don't talk like that." "You hated Firmino, and he's dying." "It was what he wanted when he jumped out of the window." "Anyone else would have died." "Death hesitates to take him." "What a sarcasm!" "Aren't you afraid?" "Afraid to be honest and say what I feel?" "To feel what you say, if it's true." "You're nervous, Vanda, or you wouldn't talk like that." "Nervous?" "Perhaps from the joy of him dying." "Death will take him, perhaps reluctantly, but there's no alternative." "My only regret is not pushing him." " Vanda!" " I swear I would have liked." "Be careful what you say." "See what I do with this letter?" "What?" "I tear it." "Firmino has left a letter?" "Yes, and I made it in pieces." "What did the letter say?" "He says goodbye and announces his suicide." "He forgives me for the harm I've donne to him, the harm that I did!" "Isn't an insult to forgive someone who did not ask to be forgiven?" "A poor idiot posing as magnanimous!" "I'm beside myself." "If he didn't die, I could have revenge." "Vanda, don't be nervous!" "You're delusional." "Maybe I'm wrong, but I think she's full of remorse for what she did to poor Firmino." "Do you think she talks like someone who has remorse?" "She displays a cruel face and seems to relish." "That's why I suspect she feels remorse." "How much longer?" "A few more hours." "After a fall like this, the trauma, shock... multiple fractures on the base of the skull." "A few more hours..." "he won't make it until tomorrow." "Since today we expect him to die." "I must say, though it's not good, that he doesn't make it until tomorrow." "In medicine there are no certainties." "Although he should die before tomorrow." "Is there a possibility that he lives?" "It is impossible." "Although there are no certainties in medicine." "However, if he lives..." "I would say it's a miracle!" "Nobody jumps into the air without damage." "At least if I died on the spot!" "He must be suffering a lot." "I don't think he suffers greatly, he is sedated with morphine." " If I may..." " Can you come back later?" "I think not, I can do no more." "The nurses can take care of everything." " With your permission." " Goodbye." " Goodbye, madam." " Goodbye, Doctor." "I'll see you to the door." " I can't stay inside." " Nor me, I get impressed." "His face scares me." "The doctor sedated him with morphine, but his face expresses pain." "Attention!" "No, the other way." "Why the coffin, if he is still alive?" "But he's more dead than alive." "No way!" "Note for the lady." "We didn't hurry... beauty!" "It's amazing they have already ordered the coffin!" "Only Vanda could do it as fast." "There is not a nice gesture." "I don't think it was Vanda's initiative, but the undertakers'." "It seemm like they know when there's a dying man in the house." "They think of everything:" "best quality, lowest prices!" "Simply call when someone is about to die." "And even if the person survives, you cannot go back." "Maybe I'm wrong, but I think it was Vanda who made the request." "No, no..." "I'm sure." "We all must die, but suicide... never!" "For me, no one knows how one's going to die." "I'm not saying I know how I'll die:" "perhaps an incident of ulcer or another of the many ways there are to die." "But one thing I know for sure:" "if death was waiting for me to commit suicide" "I would live forever." "To die willingly?" "No!" "It's enough to die." "No one commits suicide for pleasure." "No one kills himself voluntarily." "The circumstances determine the end." "Firmino's case is impressive." "Do you believes he committed this act spontaneously?" "He did it for Vanda." "You can go." "I said to go." "There is little to Firmino, he begins to breathe with difficulty." " The poor man!" " It is a shame." "He was a good soul." "He was weak, but he had a good heart." "To stand Vanda, one needs the patience of a saint." "That's why he didn't make the extreme act before." "It always happens that way." "When he was healthy, we all despised him... and now that he is dying, we all praise him." "I, also, who always boasted scorn, now feel inclined to benevolence." "I see no benevolence in talking about the dead." "In your words benevolence shines little, in fact, almost nothing." "I would be surprised if I had not contradicted myself by now." "Why?" "Clearly, you tease me for days, anything I say or do." " You think?" " Don't you think?" "Don't scream, my dear." "Don't be upset." "After accumulating the rage, one finally gets annoyed." "Do you want me to prove what I said?" "That your words don't show benevolence towards Firmino?" "I don't care for your objective analysis, or explanations." "Did I do something to justify this attitude?" "No, I did nothing." " And did my wife do anything?" " No." "So why do you provoke her?" "Out of spite for the family?" "Provoke your wife?" "I only said that your words don't show benevolence towards Firmino." "It isn't a provocation to you or your wife." "The nurse reports that Mr. Firmino is about to expire." "Let us go then?" "Let's?" " You want to go?" " Yes." "Then go." "As we are not Siamese twins, you don't need to ask me." "How lovely you are!" "I am not and I don't try to be." " Are you tired of me?" " Yes I am." "Me too, if you want to know." "It's better to end it now, forever." "I agree, once and for all!" "Congratulations to both." "It ends a pain that had lasted for months." "And yet, in this house, you swore me eternal love." "I vowed eternal love, and I think I fulfilled that promise for very long." "It seems to me that our relationship has lasted for two or three eternities." "You're very funny." "You mean you're tired of me, don't think it offends me." "I'm also tired of you, to the tip of the hair." "How many times!" "How many times have you vowed me eternal love?" "Too late I understand your cynicism." "I Betrayed the good man, my husband, for someone like you." "If you knew how I despise you, you wouldn't be so witty." "To feel despised not always paralyzes the spirit." "Sometimes, it even amuses and excites." " Bastard!" " Return to your husband's house." "He didn't ever imagine you would be unfaithful." "You will have no difficulty to show regret and be at peace with your conscience." "What more do you want?" "This adultery will make you appreciate more the virtues of fidelity." "Just as a trip abroad reveals the sweetness of the homeland." "The nurse was wrong." "He's not worse than three days ago." "Vado." "Listen, Mauricio, I'm sorry." " Why?" " For awhile ago." "I offended you and you apologize?" " You have not offended me." " Haven't I?" "Then you complained that the implied..." "Because to imply is not the same as to offend." "And then maybe I have complained too much without reason." "Above all it was absurd to talk about that story of you spoking aloud with Angélica, in front of Fernando and Noémia, about something that did not concern you." "I complained without reason." "Look, I don't accept your apology." "You don't?" "Are you really angry with me?" "To be frank, I think we have nothing more to say to each other." "It means that we will no longer talk about it?" "Yes, that's right." "Well, if you like, we cut off relations." "But actually, I see no reason..." "no plausible reason." "Why will you tease me?" "Have I donne something unkind to you?" "Maybe I said some wrong word?" "Or was it Angélica..." "or was it my wife?" "It was not your wife nor was it you." "It was I who decided to cut ties with you and your wife." "You also cut permanent relations with my wife?" "Yes, even with your wife." "So it was her." "Now, be frank." "If it was Angélica, surely she apologizes, if she's guilt." "No." "I don't want ties with you or your wife for one reason:" "because I simply don't want to." "And I don't want it because I don't." "You don't want it because you don't?" "Goodbye!" " Is he dead?" " Not yet." " Tell me something, Noémia..." " It's you, Mauricio." " Do you think Firmino's going to die?" " I think so, why don't you think?" "Yes, I think so too." " But what about you?" " I told you." "No, it's not that." "It's if Noémia thinks, if she thinks she'll also die..." "If I'm going to die too?" "I figured you'd be delighted." " Do I look like a dying woman?" " On the contrary!" "And yet, you'll also die." "Don't you believe me?" "Perhaps only many years from now, but you will die." "After many years!" "I thought it was now." "No." "But what happens is the following." "There's no difference between two years from now and two minutes." "If we compare two minutes to eternity..." "What are 2 minutes?" "Zero." "And if we compare many years with the same eternity..." "What are the years?" "The same zero." "Why do you make that speech now?" "To disturb her, to shake the futility, the futility of women." "That's why I speak of death." "Not the abstract death, distant, the death of others..." "I speak of your own death." "And if that this doesn't tease me, will you stop insisting in this?" "On the contrary, I will insist." "But you may bore me." " Noémia, you are futile." " You said that already." "But on the surface." "Deep down you aren't." "Now you flatter me?" "I believe it's true." "I see a strength in you that is able to overcome the futility." "I believe that man is capable of solving real problems like death, the fate of us all." "Mauricio, why don't you write a book?" " A book?" " Yes, a book." "You could freely express your thoughts about death, with an advantage:" "he who wanted would read it." "But where are you going?" "Get some fresh air." " Let me tell you..." " What?" " You think I never thought of that?" " What?" "The book." "Not to brag, but sometimes I meditate on death, original and profound things." "Perhaps they deserve to be published." "It is a subject I feel deeply, this subject of death." "So deeply, that it's a very dear subject to me, along with another, of course." "Another subject that is also in my blood." "I feel deeply also." "You feel two subjects together?" "Yes, two." " One is death." " And the other?" " It's love." " Love!" "That is also the brother of death." "Didn't you ever thought about a deep relationship that exists between the two?" "I've heard in poetry." "The poets almost never speak of love without speaking of death, and vice versa." "This doesn't obliges you to imitate them." " If you don't want me to continue..." " Don't be offended." "I didn't exactly told you to shut up." "In this case, I'll speak of love, really of love." "If love really leads to death, to the sensation, the experience of death." "Moreover, the same love also saves us from death." " Really?" " Yes." "I could make you feel that." " Make me feel it?" " Yes." " If you want..." " And if you can." "I can only, of course, if you want." "I don't understand." "If you wanted," "I could talk to you, instead of abstract love," " ..." "About my love." " No, not that." " Why?" " I refuse to be your confidant." "Also, talking with others as well, you betray the object of your love." "And talk to the person you love is also betraing?" "Rather, it's loyalty." "Then talk to the woman you love, but to her, not me." "Don't you understand yet?" " Understood what?" " What?" "!" "The way, for example, I look at you." "Look at whom?" "Look at you, Noémia, you." "Because I love you like I've nobody loved anyone." "What a nonsense, Mauricio!" "It's crazy, yes, but I love you." "It's not madness, it's an absurd." "Noémia, don't be cruel." "And you don't be insane." "But I love you." " Don't you know I'm not married?" " Yes." " And you also know that I was married once?" " Yes." " And also that I got divorced?" " That too." "And don't you know that currently I live with my ex-husband, that now is not my husband, but only the man I live with?" "I also know that." "And do you think I live with him because I have to?" "I don't have any obligation." "If I live with him is because I want to." "It can only be so, because I like him." "If I like him, I cannot like you." "It's the end, but Vanda doesn't want to see him, she says he should have died already." "No, Daniel." "Tell me what you have to say." "I'll say it later." "Why not now?" "It's not the right time." "Not the right time?" "So when will be the right time?" "Allow Firmino to die at least." "What if Firmino by chance doesn't die?" "I also would say." "I wouldn't be able to be quiet longer." " Then say it." " If you knew what I have to say!" " Well, say it." " Don't tempt me." "I won't, speak." "Sure, but it's an incredible thing." "I don't know how to tell you." "For you, it will be an extraordinary revelation, one of those impossible things, but that are real." "What is it?" " Prepare yourself for the shock." " Talk fast." "No, not fast." "Slowly, to lessen the shock." " Start then!" " I will." "I start saying it's about Ricardo, her first husband and my brother." " What about Ricardo?" " About his death, the way it happened." " What could I not know?" " Something." "In fact, I haven't seen Ricardo's death, Daniel did." " He omitted something?" " Something important." "Important?" "What?" "Slowly, Vanda, slowly." "does Vanda know how your husband died?" "In an accident, wasn't it?" "An accident, sure, an accident." "We were walking, the two of us." " I know." " Sure, but you don't know..." "What?" "I awoke early that morning, and I read the newspaper." "I picked up a copy at the hotel." "So I called Ricardo, so he would pick me up at the hotel." "We had to deal with urgent matters." "I took with me only a white suit, since I would be in Lisbon for a short time." "A suit of course, yes, I remember." "But so what?" "What's this?" "Because of the mother's death, Vanda and Ricardo were mourning." " Yes, but I don't understand..." " Wait, let me continue." " You don't understand because you don't know." " I don't know what?" "We were at the hotel the day of tragedy." "Come in." "Is that you, Ricardo." "How are you, Daniel?" "Sit down and read the newspaper." "I'll be at ease." "Your friend Adalberto is dead!" "What did you say?" "It's not possible." "It was in a sudden, a syncope." "The funeral is today at 10 a.m., we don't have much time." "It was late." "I needed other clothes, so we exchanged suits." "We wore the same size." "So we crossed the lobby, we left and later, after the funeral, we met again." "We walked for 10 minutes." "Then, crossing the street, the accident happened." "Yes, when we crossed." "I hesitated, then stopped." "I saw a bus approaching, and Ricardo was already on the street." "He believed he had time to cross before the bus would pass." "But there was a car coming, and he was killed almost instantly." "I accompanied him to the hospital, but before arriving was already dead." "Only then I noticed that the clothes were exchanged." "We forgot to exchange the documents and wallets." "Then I had a terrible temptation." "What if I switched identity?" "And I decided to do it." "I removed the ring and put it in the hands of Daniel, who was unmarried." "And said that I was Daniel." "I don't believe it." "I'm sorry to say I don't believe." "How is it possible?" "What proof do you have?" "What proof do I have?" "Yes, what proof do you have?" "Two seconds of reflection, Vanda, only two seconds of quiet and reflection and you'll see that there's proof of who I am." "There is even an objective proof, easy... a proof, how can I say..." " ...particular." " A particular proof?" "There are intimate things that reveal that I am Ricardo." "Something that can prove that we are husband and wife." "And at least to her, my wife, I can prove." "Ricardo!" "Vanda, your husband is dead." "CANDIDO PINTO LAWYER" "Hello?" "Yes, how are you, Mrs. Noémia?" "I think so." "One moment, I'll tell her." "Mrs. Noémia on the phone." "Hello, Noémia?" "So, how is your marriage to Ricardo?" "It's a very complicated marriage..." "Something that seemed so simple." "So far the judge has not decided yet." "What a nuisance!" "They like to complicate things." "We solve our things naturally." "Speaking of marriage, I have news." "Rachel is getting married." "One moment, please." "One moment, please." "As you know, he was convicted." "And the rest could not be different;" "but the court was lenient and suspended the sentence... for reasons which I need not repeat." "It's expected that the defendant corresponds to the indulgence now that he will resume his married life with the woman who never stopped being his wife." "Ma'am?" "Mrs. Noémia on the phone." "Tell her I'm comming." "Tell the driver I no longer need the car." "If he wants to leave, he can leave." "Yes, ma'am." "Take that picture there." "It has been over one year since the graveyard scene." "What good has done my volunteer humiliation?" "You continue to despise me." "No, I can't stand your insults anymore." "There is no life without you." "You kill me, Vanda." "Goodbye." "I forgive you for all the wrong you did to me." "Goodbye." "Mauricio?" " Do you like me?" " What?" " Do you like me?" " If I like you?" "Do you doubt it?" " I remembered..." " What?" "to ask it." " So you can also remember the answer." " I know you love me." "See how you know the answer..." "I know you like me for six months." "Don't say that, Angélica." "Don't be bad." "It's the truth." "From the beginning, two or three years ago, we loved each other for six months and fought for another six." "And I'm to blame alone for our fights?" "No, of course not." "I also am guilty." "At the end we always agree:" "we both get tired..." "And then we take a vacation from each other." "You don't know what impression it gives me now." " It gives an impression now?" " Just now... that I love you, and, when I love, it's forever, even if from past experience" "I know that in six months we will fight again." "No, Angélica, you don't know that." "Because the past doesn't prove the future." "But to change it..." "I don't know if we understand it." "I doubt that I love you, and I have no doubt that I love you." "Shouldn't true love be constant and eternal?" "Angélica, don't go thinking." " I'm being spontaneous." " Don't think, just feel." "Don't you feel now a great love for me?" "And don't you feel this love is real and won't end?" "Weren't you already tired of me, and wasn't I tired of you already... and we have renewed forever this time." "That's what we always say:" "that it's forever this time." "I love you this time like I never did." "I also seem to love you more." "Seem?" "You say that it seems?" "I'm sure... but I'm not sure of that certainty." "The certainty of certainty..." " Sorry!" "Hello, Angélica." " Hello, Noémia." " And Ricardo and Vanda?" " They'll come." " They aren't at home?" " They are." " And Honório?" " He's in a meeting at the bank." "I was already leaving when Angélica asked me to stay." "Ricardo said they would come, then we should wait." "Do you think I'm like Firmino, your second husband?" " An idiot?" "!" " I wish you were like him!" "You think I could handle better, but you're wrong!" "I make you walk on the line." " You don't play with me." " Asshole!" " Idiot!" " You whore!" " Do you think that scares me?" " You want more?" "Go on, hit me!" "I'll put Firmino's pictures wherever I want." "Put down the vase!" "Idiot!" " Idiot!" " You want more?" "Mrs. Angélica and Mr. Mauricio are waiting." "It's time for the ceremony, and no Vanda and Ricardo." "We'll be late, it's time to go." " It never starts on time." " It's best to arrive early than late." " Normally there're not punctual." " But today they must be." "I want to honor this marriage with punctuality." "It's curious this concern of yours of honoring a marriage." "What?" "It's curious this concern of yours of honoring a marriage." "It can be easily explained." "I was invited." "We were all invited." "But not all for the same reasons." "We had no reason not to be invited." "Being a couple like us in such an uncertain social situation... to receive an invitation like this, for a Catholic marriage..." "For you it's a social triumph." "It's as if we were given the category of a couple..." ""honoris causa"." "Sorry for the delay, but it's not my fault." " How is Angélica?" " Well, how are you?" " Hello, Noémia." " Hello." " Hello, Mauricio." " Hello, Ricardo." "You're the closest friends of the house, so you were invited." "It will soon be known, but I want you to be the first." " What happened?" " Something terrible?" " Vanda fell in love." " Vanda in love?" "With whom?" " Firmino." " Firmino who died?" " Yes, Firmino, who died." " This is the ultimate limit!" "When did she fall in love?" "I don't know that, but yesterday she told me clearly." " She said it clearly?" " Crystal clear." " Vanda is extraordinary." " Extraordinary?" "Crazy is what she is!" "I wonder: wouldn't she have said it jokingly just to tease you?" "It was serious, very serious, what she said." "It was more than just say, it was also what she did." "What did she do?" "She had an attack of madness, assaulted herself." "She martyred Firmino, so now she wants to martyr herself not only morally, but physically, for what she said and did." "She's certainly with the body full of bruises, she gave herself punches, threw herself against the furniture." "Perhaps it's a case of hospitalization." " I want her to go to an institution." " Why?" " I do." " Did she make any threats?" "Yes." "She made some threats." " What threats?" " She swore to kill me." " Kill you?" " Kill me, yes, and I confess to be afraid..." "Idiot!" "Idiot and liar!" "I have a body full of bruises, but it's not my doing." "I haven't had an attack of madness." "It was he who hit me." "You thought he wasn't capable?" "He locked me up, but I jumped out of the window." " You're delusional." " You know I'm not delusional." "I will not argue, go back to your room." " Go, go back!" " No, I won't." "In this case, I will." "I already told what I had to tell, I'll see you later." "Idiot!" "Lets go or we'll be late for Rachel's wedding." " We'll see you there?" " Maybe, if I'm up to it." " Let's go." " Come on." "See you soon." " So I'm crazy?" " As you have always been." "A little, a few grains of madness, but I'll put you in a mental institution as if you were completely crazy." " I can do worse." " You can't, you'll never get out." "Do you think I can't do the same to you?" "You want to put me at an institution?" "I'm warning you." " You deceased husbands lover!" " You think so?" " Don't you remember your precedents?" " My precedents?" "Haven't you been declared crazy once?" "There weren't doctors who said that you had an attack of madness?" "You have that weapon against me," " ...but I'll get many against you." " Let's see." "Yes, let's see." "That's it, we'll see." "And the Lord God said:" ""It's not good that man should be alone;" "I'll give him a helper fit for him."" "And after the Lord has made the animals of the fields and birds of the sky," "He took them to the man to know how he would call them." "And every name that the man put in live animals that is their real name." "The man put names to all animals," "To all the birds of the sky and to every animal of the field." "But there was no proper helper fit for him." "Then the Lord God caused a deep sleep in man and while he slept, He took out one of his ribs and closed up flesh in its place." "And from the rib he had taken from man, the Lord God made woman, and took her to the man." "Here is now the bone of your bone, flesh of your flesh." "She shall be called Woman, because she was taken from man."" "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and unite to his wife and the two shall become one flesh." "Won't you get ready to attend the wedding?" "And do you know where to go?" "Do you know at least what you want?" "I know, I know what I want." "Give the hand to one another." "In the presence of God, the source of your love that always accompany you, and before all of us gathered here, you utter surrender to each other." "Raquel Menezes Fernandes Queirós, do you want to be my wife?" "I want to." "And do you, Belarmino Meireles de Sousa e Castro, want to be my husband?" "I want to." "I receive you as my wife and I give myself to you to love in good times and bad, throughout our lives." "I also receive you to be my husband, to love faithfully in good times and bad, for my entire life." "This mutual giving that you made before the Church," "God confirms it with His love and increases with His blessing." "What He has united, man can not separate." "May the Lord bless these rings, they will use in token of their love and fidelity." "THE END"