Dance Lest We All Fall Down - Margaret Willson [80]
“Yes, well, we can’t do anything about that. How was your family, Eduardo?”
“Good. Everything is fine with my family.” I waited. “Margareth... Claudia told me that she is ‘dating with responsibility.’”
“Claudia is dating?”
“Well, her mother doesn’t set the best example. I think her mother is encouraging her to date. Claudia also said that she ‘knows everything about abortion.’”
“Great. Abortion is illegal in Brazil.”
“Yes. I presumed that she meant she knows how to do it herself. I told her that the best thing would be to avoid getting pregnant in the first place so she wouldn’t have to worry about it. I pointed out that an abortion was very dangerous for a girl her age. She said, ‘I know that. My neighbor, she was thirteen. She gave herself an abortion and she died.’”
“Fantastic.”
“Rita can’t handle all this, Margareth. I was wrong to suggest Madalena. Madalena doesn’t like Rita, I think. And Mary, that new volunteer, don’t take me wrong, but she’s too American. She’s going to take over. I’m afraid Rita won’t stand up to her; she’ll just let her do it. But Mary can’t do Bahia Street. It’ll fall apart.”
I stood up and walked around the room. The floor felt spongy under my feet. I hope this floor is solid, I thought. The last thing I could afford was rebuilding the foundation. “I wish I could call her,” I said. “Give her some support.”
“If she had a phone. She stopped her cell phone, you know. She needs you, Margareth.” He watched me for a moment. “My wife’s pregnant,” he said.
“But you just got married, didn’t you?”
He grinned. “Not long.”
“Well...congratulations.” I hoped my voice didn’t reveal my true thoughts. How was Eduardo going to support a baby? He’d only been in the States about two years, and he was planning to make a living by being a musician. Most native-born Americans couldn’t do that. Now he’d have a baby to support.
He got up. The exhaustion had ebbed from his face. “Yeah,” he said. “It’s wonderful. We’re excited.”
I laughed and gave him a hug. “Did you tell your parents?”
“Not yet. I think we’ll wait a few months. Things can always happen… .”
“Of course. Congratulations again.”
“Thanks.” Eduardo picked up his jacket from the mattress. “You have to go, Margareth. Soon. I know I’m Brazilian, but I think Rita needs you. I don’t know if even you can do it, but I do know that if you don’t go, Rita’s going to quit.” He paused at the door. “And Margareth?”
“Yeah?”
“I won’t be able to go so much after this, you know. When the baby comes.”
“I know that.”
“Oh, I almost forgot.” He handed me a packet of letters. “The girls wrote these letters. You’ll like them.”
I shut the door behind him. I returned to the mattress in the living room and leafed through the lined sheets, each letter written in a careful cursive hand. I thought of Andrea’s history paper. “CLAUDIA” was printed at the top of the first sheet.
“Thanks to Bahia Street for keeping Madalena teaching for a second year,” Claudia had written. “Madalena is a wonderful teacher and I have never met a teacher like Madalena. I used to hate math, but now I love math because Bahia Street made me learn. I promise to miss no more days of the tutoring program and want to be like Juliana who never misses a day at school or tutoring.”
I smoothed the sheet and laid it aside before picking up the next one. “JULIANA,” I read.
“Bahia Street is better than last year. I feel you are all closer lately and we know more about Bahia Street. We would like to be included in meetings between parents, teachers, and Bahia Street directors because we want to talk too.
“We need more classes and tutoring. How about arts, music and dancing?
“São Bento is much better than Dois de Julho. They know our needs and I am happy the kids do not know I am from a charity project. This way everyone treats me the same way as they do the other kids.
“In my opinion, it is much better if Bahia Street gets girls who are attending the first grade because, in my experience, I think it is much