THE CITY OF THE LONER - Chapter 16

THE
NINTH DAY

It’s almost ten o’clock.
I woke up a few minutes ago and am still sleepy. The torture of silence of the Maximum Security Prison has already begun in this useless institution. At this moment, my body and soul ache recalling the contrast between last night’s riotous noise and this morning’s terrible calm.

I have to write.
I need to kill time.
There are still three days — three centuries — until I will be released.
The first thing I’m going to do when I get out of here is to pass by the Town Square to relieve my curiosity. I will look at the Loner’s Trophy that now reflects Champion’s features.

On the way there, I’ll stop for a protective dip in the waters of the manmade lake, The Lake of the City. Then I’ll pick up my mother and father and together we’ll go to the CSC to see the Gallery of Heroes for the first time. It will be moving to see the four of us lined up in a row of portraits: Teto, the hero of the Waters; Silvio, the hero of track and field; and my own face along side Pilungo’s as the heroes of the stadium. I know my heart will fill with pride. And as my family and I look up, from above, watching over us all for all posterity we will see the City’s greatest hero of all: Champion.

THE END



THE AUTHOR
Luiz Gonzaga Lopes, was born under the sign of Taurus, on May 18, in the city of Campina Grande, in the state of Paraiba, Brazil. In the Borborema foothills, was born his passion for learning that would lead him to a doctorate in Economics. Since what seems forever to him, he worked for the Bank of Brazil as well as doing consulting work for private enterprises.

Working not only as full professor in the College of Economic Science and the School of Engineering, at the Federal University of Campina Grande, he also lectured in the College of Social Services at Paraiba State University.

In Recife, the capital of the state of Pernambuco, he met his wife, Silvia and the Limongi Lopes clan came into being with the birth of their three sons: Tercio, Marcio, and Silvio Luiz. He doesn’t know exactly what prompted him to try his hand at writing. It's a mistery.

Yet, he enjoys vivid memories of the publishing of his first novel, A Imagem Refletida (The Reflected Image), followed by Entre Aspas (Quote, End Quote), Presença Poética (Poetic Presence), Página Rasgada de um Diário (Torn from a Diary), A Competição (The Contest) and Somos Iguais (Equals).

THE TRANSLATOR

Martha Luhrs Viegas, was born on July 17, 1951 in Toledo, Ohio. Her love of reading was nurtured by her parents who were avid readers and by the Homeville Circle Toledo Public Library.

When Sputnik frightened Americans into the need to know foreign languages, she began a long, unsuccessful struggle to learn French in elementary school. Sadly, even after receiving Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Miami University, she was dismally deficient in language learning.

Upon meeting Brazilian exchange students at Miami U, however, the seed for wanting to master a language was planted and resulted in her seeking a Peace Corps assignment in Brazil, where she would acquire the language through living.

Thirty some years later, Mrs. Viegas, still has an atrocious accent in Portuguese, due to daily English teaching at the American School of Recife. Her love of Portuguese language and the Brazilian people have brought with it insights into the culture that made it possible for her to translate more than words. Mrs. Viegas takes readers into the magic reality of Luiz Gonzaga Lopes in The City of the Loner.