From the little to the big world

-Marcelo Pereira Rodrigues

In 1984, in an inside city of Minas Gerais, there lived a poor 10 year-child who played football, he used to study and read classics of children’s literature as “The ugly little duck” and “The lead’s soldier”. His favorite place to watch television was at the bakery of the city, the place where he cried for Brazil´s World Cup loss in Mexico against France. To escape from his miserable life, he decided to dream; he borrowed a Geography book from the school’s library. He fell for the far places, countries and continents that he watched in it. Full of curiosity, he started reading and learning about the capitals of some countries: Brasilia is Brazil’s Capital; Buenos Aires is Argentina’s; Montevideo is Uruguay’s; Asuncion is Paraguay’s; Santiago de Chile is Chile’s; Lima is Peru’s; Bogota is Colombia’s, Quito is Ecuador’s; Caracas is Venezuela’s and La Paz is Bolivia’s.

Learning ten countries from South America was something easy, apparently. The child started traveling in his imagination, he went to some European countries, and he trained the memory and had himself as a little friendly dreamer spectator. He said: Italy’s Capital, Roma; Spain’s, Madrid; Portugal’s, Lisbon; France’s, Paris; East Germany’s, Bonn; West Germany’s, Berlin; Switzerland’s, Bern; Austria’s, Vienna; Luxembourg’s, Luxembourg; The Vatican’s, The Vatican; Soviet Union’s, Moscows; Hungary’s, Budapests; Romania’s, Bucharests; Yugoslavia’s, Belgrades; Czechoslovakia’s, Prague; Poland’s, Warsaw; Turkey’s, Ankara; Greece’s, Athens; Bulgaria’s, Sofias; Holland’s, The Hagues; Belgium’s, Brussels; England’s London; Scotland’s, Glasgow; Northern Ireland’s, Belfast; Southern Ireland’s, Dublin; Andorra’s, La Vieja; Norway’s, Oslo; Denmark’s, Copenhagen; Sweden’s Stockholm; Finland’s, Helsinki; Iceland’s, Reykjavik and some others.

He also knew the Capitals of all the African countries, as well as the countries in Oceania, Asia, North America and South America. The poor child did know everything. His little friend, who was as curious as him, tried to mess up the order of the countries but he always answered quickly: Algeria’s Capital is Algiers; Japan’s Capital is Tokyo; Tunis’s, Tunisia; Australia’s, Canberra; Egypt’s, Cairo; Syria’s, Damascus; Iraq’s, Baghdad; Canada’s, Ottawa…

In 2018, the poor child became a writer. He was in Bratislava, Slovakia´s Capital; he was on a tour of his incredible book, which was a novel. He arrived from Vienna and after leaving Bratislava, he would go to Prague. On his way to the hotel, inside the taxi, he travelled back in time, he was thinking that things fall apart sometimes, for example, after the fall of The Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), many countries asked for their independence. Latvia, Estonia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Moldova, Lithuania and the recent union of Germany after the falling of the Wall of Berlin were not an exception.

When he arrived to the hotel, he started writing his usual notes on his diary, the one in which he wrote notes about his visits to the countries: “the traffic in Rome is a mess”; “Portuguese people use too much oil when cooking fry potatoes “; “It has been a gift being able to see the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling paintings”; “I am looking forward to visit the Kafka Museum (Who would imagine that my autograph session would take place next to Kafka’s house, the author of “The process”?)”; “The wall’s marks are scars in Berlin”; “How exciting it was to see The Mona Lisa’s painting in the Louvre Museum” … A call interrupted him, it was his literary agent, the one who has taken care of his career. She said she would send the partner who would be with him in the hotel and she was confirming that she was coming to the launch too.

Long time after, the writer came back to America. He first attended some conferences in New York and Guadalajara, then, he travelled to Buenos Aires and Santiago, Chile. Back to Brazil, he took a taxi at the airport, he got home, arranged the luggage, took a shower and felt asleep on his bed in which he had not slept for a long time.

The following day, after drinking a cup of coffee, he stood up from his seating and walked straight to his childhood’s room. On the wall, in front of a rustic desk, he saw the world map properly framed. He happily took out some magnets from his pocket, he put them on each of the countries he just visited, and left just a few empty spaces in Europe. Thinking about his childhood, he travelled back in 1984 and asked himself: Funny, which is Moldova’s Capital?”

-Marcelo Pereira Rodrigues is a Brazilian writer. Co-author-Joselyn Méndez Villegas and Translator: Guillermo Márquez (in memory)

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