Rubem Fonseca: Crimes of August

Ilídio desperately tried to remember the name of a black man to give Pádua, but in his panic he couldn’t recall even one, despite knowing many. When he took another traumatic punch to the mouth, he remembered a name. He nodded his head frantically.

Pádua took the bloody cloths from Ilídio’s mouth.

“What’s the name?”

It took Ilídio a moment to regain his breath. He first spat out the broken teeth. “Sebastião Mendes, nicknamed Feijoada Completa.”

“You know the guy, Murilo?”

“There’s a Feijoada Completa who works for the smugglers at the docks.”

“Is it him?”

Ilídio moaned that it was, while he spat blood.

“You could’ve given me the guy’s name right away. You didn’t need to cause us all that work. You’re a stubborn man, Ilídio. But your suffering is over.”

Pádua removed the revolver from its holster. He rested the barrel against the back of Ilídio’s neck. “You’re lucky, Our Lady of Good Death is protecting you.”

Ilídio shuddered, a brief convulsion, when Pádua’s weapon fired.

Pádua grabbed the body by the legs, Murilo by the arms, and they carried it to the Packard, placing it next to the other corpses.

“Isn’t it better to take off the cuffs?” Murilo asked.

“Leave the cuffs. So the son of a bitch’s friends’ll know it was a police job. To teach them they can’t kill a cop just like that.”

They went back to the Chevrolet. On the trip back Murilo asked when they would pick up Feijoada Completa.

“Day after tomorrow, Saturday. The day for feijoada .”

THE CITY EXPERIENCED A DAY OF CALM. Business was considered very good by the Federal District Shopkeepers Union. Government offices, banks, factories, and commercial offices also functioned normally. Movie theaters enjoyed a great influx of customers, more than usual for a Thursday.

The one thousand and seven hundred tourists who had disembarked from the ship Santa Maria visited the main touristic spots of the city and all enthusiastically agreed that Rio deserved its title of Wonderful City.

The fifth group of participants in the cultural excursion to Europe, organized by the Touring Club of Brazil, was preparing to embark the first days of September. The tourists would travel on the ship Augustus and visit the principal cities of France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Switzerland. Everyone was quite excited about the trip.

In the São José maternity hospital, in Rio de Janeiro — as well as in other maternity wards in the country and in residences attended by midwives — that day more girls than boys were born. The males received blue clothing and the females pink. The majority of the parents had already chosen names for the newborn. José was the name preferred for boys, Maria for girls.

It was a sunny, pleasant day. At night the temperature dropped slightly. The high was 87 degrees, the low 63. Moderate winds from the southeast.