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A Chapter by Bob

John’s Portuguese was fluent; you’d swear it was his mother language. The first few weeks they walked around, explored every crevice of the mountainside village. They learnt the local games, which were simple enough, and on cool evenings, they’d play cards with the old timers. Their bodies had adjusted to the daily swimming, at first they’d surf for a couple hours and when evening came they’d be in pain. Now it was different they surfed and played all day it was all good when it was time to turn in. This was very important as they later started to help in the fields, Jim would drive the crops and any other things up and down the village only helping with the manual labour some days but John dug in. John worked with them every day but eventually he cooled down and only put in a few shifts. The start to his happiest period in the village came when the school faculty noticed his storytelling and relationship with the children. He’d sat in on some lessons, which consisted of some math, language, a tiny bit of literature. The school had a limited number of books that was a donation from a mobile library group and since the school’s inception they were used so they were not in a good state. They dusted off some older English children’s books and brought John in to teach the kids a new language. He was nervous when the other teacher sat in on his class the first day but these kids were the same one’s he played with and told stories to so he quickly settled into the job. Jim helped on some days as some older children and adults came back early from the field to learn a little bit of English. The young men and women were very eager to learn as they may have seen themselves leaving this place and having the English language under your belt would come in handy. The adults only learned so they could practice with their kids or because nothing new had happened in their lives in such a long time that they couldn’t help but want to learn. The young adults and some of the children finished the books they had and read the books John had brought with him, they wrote some stories but it wasn’t encouraged. The limited paper and pencils was to be used for maths but they had quickly made immense improvement and it brought both great joy and awe to John. He was barely teaching anymore but only advising or assisting them.

If the two travellers had kept on driving, leaving the village in their rear view mirror they would have come to a forked road. One road carrying on at the heel of the mountain the other going in the exact opposite direction, you could say the other road headed to civilization. Past the hidden village was farm central, to be more precise it was a farm archipelago to be even more precise it was a series of farms stretched across a very long road. This part was an entire different district so they had everything a normal town would have but just scattered. First, to get from the village to the first farm was long enough then you had to drive probably about another hour to get to the next. Further on the stretched out road the scarcity in houses, farms, occupied land become fewer and more building could be seen. John saw the largest school ever when they drove further and not much longer, they came to their destination. A building that looked almost exactly like the rec centre in the village the only difference was that this one looked like it actually passed structural regulations. Inside was wide-open space probably reserved for events like AA meetings, slave master conventions and other similar things judging from the vibe of this whole place. To the left was a door that led to a small office, the elder went in with his muscular sidekick and John, Jim and one other younger boy waited outside. Ten minutes later, the elder came out and gestured the two inside. Jameson was a large white male, John was big for his age but this man towered over him like a bear to an ant, “Mathius told me a lot about you son, you’ve been doing good but don’t think you can come in here and mess with the order of things. Especially since it’s been working so good for all of us.” The man was intimidating and although John may have been wavered, the sub sure as hell wasn’t going to be scared by anyone other than God himself, “With all due respect sir you’ve been profiting not them, we aren’t asking for much here. We need teaching equipment and these kids need books, paper and stationary, things you probably have too much of,” that annoyed Jameson; it was all over his face. “They have been supplying you with labour and raw materials and all you give them in return is access to some of your facilities. I get that here’s not much of a democracy or equality but come on man you cannot be serious with this.” Jameson swallowed obvious anger and answered John directly, “Well what if I give you all that you ask for then what? then I just keep supplying your little village with things and soon teaching equipment turns into farming equipment and before long I’m dividing all our towns things in two huh ?. John was about to have a screaming match with this man and that was not what they needed right now, especially with his aptitude for humiliating older think-they-know-better-than-everyone-else men. Jim quickly interjected, “We’re not trying to step on anyone’s toes here but it’s clear to me that you need us as much as we need you. And another thing that’s clear is that you want us to sweeten the pot. So you see that dashing young man outside.” Jameson looked out at the younger boy that drove along, “Well what would you say if I told you he’s only 14 and judging by the big field at the school and the rugby post I’d say that you could use some big boys.” “Look at the shmuck’s eyes Johnny, we’ve got him.” Jameson surely had been persuaded and his angry scowl turned into a menacing grin but still he couldn’t give in that easily and that’s what John quickly realized. So to help him save face and before he could say anything John proposed, “Also all the field’s maintenance will be taken care of by us. You obviously need it to host games right?” Jameson stuck out his hand, “You’ve got yourself a deal, I’ll personally drive up tomorrow and bring everything you asked for.” “Aint that nice of him Johnny to drive up himself and if he happens to run across some young physically gifted youngsters then it can all just be summed up to a happy coincidence.” John laughed with himself and with that, they made their way back home or at least home for the meantime. The elder was happy with their performance but was not entirely convinced, “What if we lose all our young to them?.” He clearly was not used to change and the new ideas frightened him a little. John consoled him, as he needed it, “it’s not that bad. You and everyone else will get used to it. Look at everything we get out of it, finally we can have a proper school and a few boys will have to go into town three or four times a week. These are good children, they won’t change.” He trusted John and knew that what he said was true but there would always be a bit of hesitation or fear in his heart. For his comfort Jim added, “Besides they will probably get the best education from Jameson, Those associations usually have academic requirements of their players.” John turned to his friend, “You’ve been getting a lot of props for your performance back their Jim, you really good at negotiating.” “Oh Johnny you’re too kind.” “I never said they were from me.”

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