The Dreamseller_ The Calling - Augusto Cury [66]
While we were joking, a beautiful white limousine pulled up in front of us, almost running over Bartholomew’s foot. An impeccably dressed chauffeur said, “Sorry, ma’am. It took me a long time because there was traffic.”
Our jaws dropped. And I’m sure we all, conveniently, had the same thought: “What a great new disciple!”
The Butterflies and the Cocoon
JUREMA WAS THE WIDOW OF A MILLIONAIRE. BUT SHE never felt a need to flaunt her wealth. Sometimes she bypassed cars, chauffeurs, designer clothes and other benefits that her fortune might have afforded her. She lived modestly. We had never been in such a luxurious vehicle. We were smitten, but the dreamseller, someone who seemed never to have driven a car, remained indifferent. He asked Jurema for the address and said he would walk. He needed to think.
He met us at her house two hours later. The millionaire widow had made a quick stop at a store and bought clothes for all of us. We looked civilized again. We had already taken a bath and were nibbling on delicious cheese and cold cuts. It was all so delicious that it made us remember there are some wonderful things about the system. Honeymouth was so hungry that he used his hands to grab the snacks instead of the metal toothpicks. Solomon didn’t talk, making time only to eat. Funny, but I noticed that his tics and quirks had diminished considerably with a filling belly. I didn’t know whether it was hunger or a lasting improvement.
Dimas stuffed his mouth with cheese, like a rat, and stared at all the expensive objects on top of a china cabinet and the beautiful paintings hanging on the walls. I think that if he hadn’t been called by the dreamseller, he might have returned to clean the place out. Monica ate discreetly. She was so happy about being part of the group that nothing distracted her. I never imagined that such a good-looking person could live such a nightmare.
The dreamseller was led into the main area of the house, which comprised over 5,000 square feet of space, divided into five rooms. Jurema’s luxurious mansion barely fazed him and that seemed to make her happy. She was tired of people who fawned over her house but had nothing to say to her. He then went to bathe and was given new clothes.
As all of us were beginning to enjoy a delightful dinner, the dreamseller had a request for her: “Tell us about your husband.”
She was surprised, for people seldom asked about the dead, not wanting to cause any awkwardness. But she loved to talk about him and had always admired him. She told us about the time when they were young, their courtship, the marriage. Then she spoke of his tenderness, boldness and intellect. Twice, the dreamseller said, “What a great man. He was also a dreamseller.”
She mentioned that her husband had been CEO of one of the most important companies of the Megasoft Group, which was made up of more than thirty firms. We thought the business world would be of no interest to the dreamseller, but he unexpectedly asked, “How did he become wealthy?”
To tell the story of her husband’s rise, she first had to give us some background on the Megasoft Group’s president. She said that the owner of an important firm had died and left a fortune to his twenty-five-year-old son. The young man had an exceptional mind and was endowed with unusual enterprise and leadership ability. He far surpassed his father. He took the company public and, with the money from his booming shares, expanded the business and invested in the most diverse activities in the corporate world. He invested in oil, clothing store chains, communications, computers, electronics and hotels. Within fifteen years he had put together the Megasoft Group, which became one of the ten largest corporations in the world.
She told us that when the company went public, the young president gave all the employees the chance to buy stock, and her husband became a minority stockholder in the company. With the