There wasn’t much money in the colony. Everyone knew that. Most of the time, payments were made through the exchange of goods. If a craftsman was dependent on making a lot of money to pay for something, it would take too long. Bento wasn’t willing to wait. And the priests didn’t have money to give him.
“We can give you two cows, or a cow and a mule. Maybe you can offer them in exchange for the slave?”
Bento scratched his head. Would Don Vasco be interested? Would it be enough? There was already a lot of livestock in Amarante.
“Or we can suggest that Don Vasco give you Rosa in exchange for the furniture.”
“I would need to make furniture for many years, for many more people.”
“But Dona Catarina would like a woman slave in exchange for the boy she has,” said Father Braz. “She says she has more need of a woman inside the house than a boy who spends his time loitering in the streets. Maybe Didi could go to Amarante and Rosa could come here.”
Bento hadn’t thought of that. But he remembered Manu telling him that the boy had spent a long time trying to get Beatriz and Felipa to convince the widow that he could earn her something if she negotiated with Don Vasco. It was his way of trying to get closer to his mother and sister. More than that, it was part of his secret dream that one day he would flee with them to a quilombo. But he hadn’t spoken about that with anyone except Manu and Caiubi.
In any case, it didn’t make much difference to Bento if Rosa were a slave of Don Vasco or Dona Catarina. She would still be a slave. And he wanted something quite different — for her to be free and to be his wife.
But the priests’ help was precious, and he knew it. And if they were going to give him two cows in payment, maybe he could trade them with Dona Caterina in exchange for Rosa. Or who knows? Maybe the deal would be complete with something else? A canoe, perhaps? That was something he could make himself. He’d choose a good tree in the woods and dig the trunk. Maybe the widow would be interested in having two cows in the yard, so that she could sell milk and make cheese. And a canoe that the fishermen could use and pay for with a fifth of what they earned, as was the custom. Maybe the priests could add some chickens to what they would pay Bento in exchange for the carved altar …
In other words, the young carpenter’s thoughts were far from the Christmas celebration and mass. He had his dreams and his secrets.
Beside him, Manuela had her own. She had already worked some things out with Caiubi, who had managed to bring them news of Guezo. They now knew which quilombo Didi’s father was in. So they already had a destination for the family for when they escaped. The plans were beginning to come together. But she suspected that Bento had some ideas of his own about Rosa. She would need to talk to him, so that one plan didn’t get in the way of the other.
Didi had also started to plan what he would do without being too sure of anything yet. As he listened to the choir sing, his thoughts wandered. The first thing to do was to keep going to the Amarante mill with Bento, so that one day he would have the chance to help his mother and sister escape. He realized he would need to convince Rosa, who resisted the idea of fleeing to the bush in the interior. He didn’t know why. Maybe she was afraid. The girl also talked a lot about wanting to come to town, to Dona Catarina’s house. The boy didn’t understand how anyone could accept working for others as a slave when there was a chance to escape to the forest. Was it fear of Indians and wild animals? Manu thought that Rosa wanted to stay close to Bento. Maybe that was it. Sometimes girls understood these things better. If so, Didi would let Rosa do what she wanted. He would trade places with his sister, then. Beatriz and Felipa had almost convinced the widow to propose the exchange to the owners of Amarante.
And if he went to the Amarante mill, he had everything well thought out and resolved. To begin with, one day he would help his mother escape. He would find a way to make it look as though she had fallen into the river. She would wait in hiding until Caiubi picked her up. Then, at the first opportunity, he would go to her. And with the help of the warriors in Caiubi’s tribe, they would run away together for the quilombo where Guezo was.
These were the dreams and secrets that the boy was thinking about as he stood near the door at the back of the church.
In the chorus, the voice of Antonio Caiubi mingled with the voices of other Indian boys and girls. He looked with pride at the nativity scene that his friend Manuela had taught the Indian women to make, and who in turn taught her to paint it with annatto and genipap. He was happy. He had good news to tell his friends when the mass was over. He had talked to his father when he was home. His father had agreed, when the time came, to go with a group of warriors to lead Didi and his family to Guezo’s quilombo. Gradually, the plan was taking shape. The Indian boy would miss his black friend a lot when he was gone. But he couldn’t help but feel happy for him. And he would always have his friendship with Manuela.
She was so pretty today, wearing a new Christmas dress, her hair braided and decorated with flowers. He was hoping she would like the gift he had made for her — a necklace of feathers and seeds, with all the colors of the forest. He wanted to take the girl to his village for a day. He was sure she’d love it. Maybe she could live there one season, sleeping in one of the hammocks that crisscrossed the hut and swimming in the river at dusk. If they got married one day, as he sometimes dreamed, would they live in Amparo or in the Indian village? It was still too early to know. But it was never too early to dream … until the day arrived.
Each one of them had their dreams and secrets tucked away. Some of these hidden thoughts may have gone up to heaven in the form of a prayer. Others may have glided up there with the sounds of the voices singing, so well rehearsed and so in harmony that they seemed like a heavenly choir. A chorus of angels with different features, just like the ones carved on the altar.
This Christmas Eve, it wasn’t yet possible to know if these dreams would come true.
It was enough to feel that they would. And that was very good.
Editorial Note
Manu and Bento’s story opens in Lisbon, Portugal, in the early 1600s, at a time when Portugal was ruled by Spain (1580–1640).
Across the ocean was the Portuguese colony of Brazil, where the Portuguese first arrived in 1500. In order to establish and settle themselves in the new land, the colonists were heavily dependent on slave labor — in the early years drawn from the indigenous population and, later, through the importation of African slaves. The numbers of African slaves brought to the colony began to swell in the 1580s with the growth of sugar cane plantations and the exportation of sugar to Europe.
In 1630, the Dutch, who were at war with Spain, invaded northeast Brazil, and stayed for almost thirty years. Following the invasion, the Portuguese army was focused more on fighting the Dutch than chasing runaway slaves, which enabled the existence and growth of quilombos — communities of fugitive slaves living in less accessible regions of the forest. Perhaps best known is the Palmares quilombo, which grew to a size of 20,000 inhabitants by the 1690s.
Slavery was finally abolished in Brazil in 1888.
Glossary
acacia A tree or shrub in the pea family, found in tropical climates, that is often thorny.
agouti A small rodent similar to a guinea pig but larger and with longer legs.
annatto A small evergreen tree or shrub. The red seeds are used to make body paint or dye.
Avanheém The language of the indigenous Tupi people, which was spoken as a common tongue in colonial Brazil; also known as Old Tupi.
baobab A long-lived tree, native to Africa, with a very thick trunk and edible fruit. It survives in drought by storing great quantities of water in its trunk.
brazilwood A heavy wood from tropical trees in the pea family that produces deep red dye.
cloister A covered, arched walkway, looking onto a courtyard on one side and having a wall on the other; usu
ally part of a monastery or church.
coati A member of the raccoon family.
cumbuca A Portuguese word of Tupi or indigenous origin for a gourd-shaped bottle made of clay.
cunhã A Portuguese word of Tupi or indigenous origin for girl.
curumim A Portuguese word of Tupi or indigenous origin for boy.
genipap A tree found in the American tropics that produces edible fruit, which is also used to make blue dye.
Hail Mary A traditional Christian prayer to Mary, the mother of Jesus, who is also known as the Holy Virgin.
Inquisition A religious court of the Roman Catholic Church that sought out and harshly punished non-believers. The Portuguese Inquisition, starting in 1536 and lasting until 1821, targeted converts from Judaism and Islam.
league A measure of distance by land, roughly equivalent to 3 miles (4.8 km).
mahogany A tree found in the American tropics that has hard, reddish-brown wood, often used in making furniture.
moringa A Portuguese word of African origin for a clay jar used to keep drinking water cool.
nave The main interior part of a Christian church, from the entrance to the altar.
petrel A seabird.
pulpit A raised area or platform where a priest or minister stands to give a sermon or lead the service.
quilombo A Portuguese word of African origin for a community or settlement of runaway slaves in remote areas of colonial Brazil.
quitungo A Portuguese word of African origin for an open-air straw hut used by fishermen.
refectory The dining room in a school or monastery.
sacristy A room in a church where the priest keeps robes and sacred vessels, and prepares for the service.
sexton A person who takes care of a church and its surroundings.
shrine Also known as an oratorio in Brazil — a small wooden structure, often in the shape of a miniature chapel, with doors that open to reveal the image of a saint or saints.
sibipuruna A Portuguese word of Tupi or indigenous origin for a large evergreen tree, native to Brazil.
tabatinga A Portuguese word of Tupi or indigenous origin for clay found on the riverbank in Brazil.
Copyright © 2013 by Ana Maria Machado
c/o Indent Literary Agency www.indentagency.com
First published in 2013 in Portuguese as Enquanto o dia não chega
by Editora Objetiva Ltda.
English translation copyright © 2014 by Jane Springer
First published in English in Canada and the USA in 2014 by Groundwood Books
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a license from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright license, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Machado, Ana Maria
[Enquanto o dia não chega. English]
Until the day arrives / written by Ana Maria Machado ; translated by Jane Springer.
Translation of: Enquanto o dia não chega.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-55498-455-8 (bound).—ISBN 978-1-55498-457-2 (html)
I. Springer, Jane, translator II. Title. III. Title: Enquanto o dia não chega. English.
PZ7.M1795Un 2014 j869.3’42 C2014-901609-3
C2014-901610-7
Cover illustration by Richard Rudnicki
Design by Michael Solomon
About the Publisher
Groundwood Books, established in 1978, is dedicated to the production of children's books for all ages, including fiction, picture books and non-fiction. We publish in Canada, the United States and Latin America. Our books aim to be of the highest possible quality in both language and illustration. Our primary focus has been on works by Canadians, though we sometimes also buy outstanding books from other countries.
Many of our books tell the stories of people whose voices are not always heard in this age of global publishing by media conglomerates. Books by the First Peoples of this hemisphere have always been a special interest, as have those of others who through circumstance have been marginalized and whose contribution to our society is not always visible. Since 1998 we have been publishing works by people of Latin American origin living in the Americas both in English and in Spanish under our Libros Tigrillo imprint.
We believe that by reflecting intensely individual experiences, our books are of universal interest. The fact that our authors are published around the world attests to this and to their quality. Even more important, our books are read and loved by children all over the globe.
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