C12 Long life to Aurélio!

MONICA’S LIVING ROOM

Monica is attentive to the computer, feverishly typing her second book. It hasn't even received a response from the first publisher. She stops for a while, checks her notes and drafts, and then types again. She starts speaking what she's typing.

“She shivered at the light touch of his fingers on her pink and pure face. He, however, an accomplished gentleman, knows that she is innocent and does not advance like a truck driver/ ", she cuts herself off," What a horror, Monica, don't offend Sula Miranda fans!"

Monica checks her draft again.

"I'm glad we now have a computer, if it were a typewriter, I was f/"

Annie's voice interrupts Monica right in the "word".

"Monica!"

Monica suddenly gets up and goes to the door, opens it. She smiles when Annie passes inside, and immediately makes a look of one who chewed drooling okra at the sight of Jonas entering with her.

"Good night, Monica." Jonas greets her coldly.

"Monica," Annie says, "we need to talk to all three."

"Sit down, please." Monica welcomes them.

"Aren't we getting in the way of your work?"

Jonas is ironic to himself. "Job..."

Annie didn't hear it, but Monica did, and she gives him a cold look. "I was offending a working-class, I need to revise this. But it can wait when I have a friend who needs to talk."

Everyone sits down. Annie starts: "Monica, my friend... I just came here to say that you don't have to worry anymore. Jonas and I are fine. No more fighting. When I asked you not to meddle, it was serious."

"Annie, I didn't want to go over your decision just to hurt you. I needed to check if the reconciliation had been legitimate."

Jonas reacts indignantly. "Sorry, Monica, but who are you to define what is legitimate or not?"

Monica opens and closes her hands. "For the years of friendship I have and I owe Annie even before she met you, I think I can express my opinion. You, Jonas, have been very stressed with your father's bakery, and have adopted an implication with the Malthus cafeteria. If it were just a matter of competition, there is no need to involve my friend in this. Now, unless there is another reason..."

Jonas widens his eyes.

Annie intervenes: "There is no reason beyond that, Monica. Jonas just misses his beloved, since he is always in the bakery."

Jonas excuses himself: "As long as she comes to see me, I don't care if she later goes to Malthus or any corner bar."

Monica goes well on the point: "She doesn't go ‘to Malthus’, she goes to the Malthus snack bar."

Jonas and Monica just machine-gun themselves with their eyes; an innocent Annie doesn't notice.

"Are we understanding then, Mo? I don't want to be in a fight. As Seu Aurélio said, a friendship like ours can't die like that."

"I think he told me the same thing!"

Monica and Annie get up and hug, in a touching moment of reconciliation. But, for Jonas, now it is he who looks like someone who ate aloe vera.

He thinks: “Seu Aurélio, Seu Aurélio, Seu Aurélio... Everything is him! Don't these girls realize the danger that this bastard is?”

No one notices Jonas's bitter look.

MALTHUS SNACK BAR - DAY

Friday. Monica, Annie, Célio, and Cássio are happy and gathered at the counter, to celebrate the reconciliation of their friends. Aurélio is vibrant with happiness for participating in this.

Cassio begins: "Come on, I didn't even know you girls were fighting."

"Good thing," Monica says, "so the gossip boy doesn't spread out over Royal Hill."

"I think someone is calling me a gossip."

Célio scoffs: "Do you think?"

General laughter.

"People", shouts Aurélio, "Enjoy that there is no one yet, savory on the house today!"

Monica, Célio, and Cássio vibrate, but Annie, showing concern for Aurélio's release, turns to her purse and starts looking for the credit card.

"And what do you want, Annie?"

Annie answers simply. "Pizza pastry, Seu Aurélio."

Aurélio will get it for her. In the background, Carina and Rosa enter, join the group.

"Good morning everyone!", Says Rosa.

General compliance.

"Wow, Aurélio, you could start selling coffee for us to take like in American films."

"At Cascais Bakery, there are several types of coffee, Rosa." Annie advertises the bakery.

"The bakery is after the stationery shop, here is closer to me. Mango juice, so", to Carina, "Take it and tell them, my friend."

General attention from everyone, even Aurélio. Monica asks: "Did something happen, Carina?"

"Guys, we were so excited about the posters to help the police station that I didn't pay attention to an important detail... I talked about the correct paper for printing... But the printer is missing."

General surprise reaction. Rose completes dismayed: "And in my stationery, I don't have it, just an ordinary printer and copies."

Célio complains. “Awful! Why is it so difficult to do work for the good of others?"

Aurélio gets closer. "My youth, the elderly here are having a hard time understanding."

General laughter. Carina explains: "That’s it, Mr. Malthus: you can't print posters on coated paper on a regular, ribbon printer. It has to be a specialized printer, and it only exists in printers. Too expensive for ordinary people to buy."

"So the problem is to order the service for a printing company, like the ones you only have from Whitehouse onwards?"

"I believe that in São Marcos John we can find someplace that makes cheap," explains Rosa, "But that's it."

Suspense for a moment, everyone wants to know where Aurélio wants to go. He is thinking, and then deciding. "OK."

"OK, what?" Célio asks him.

"OK, I'll pay, uh. How much should it cost?"

General conflict reaction, everyone is surprised. They want the money, but not Aurélio's. Monica gets revolted.

"Hell no, Seu Aurélio! You don't have to make such a great sacrifice for/"

"For the safety of our neighborhood? For your safety? Is that what I'm hearing?"

Women are already touched; men, always rational.

"Seu Aurélio," Célio says, "You have to see if you are not going to be short in money. We worry about it, we are not insensitive kids."

"Yes," Cássio adds, "Let's wait and find out first, then you put your hand in your pocket."

It is Aurélio's turn to be touched. "Boys, you can count on me for whatever. I was your age, I know how it is. Leaving home, your parents' wing, your first electric bill, your first job... Dreams, hopes, the will to change the world... That's why I understand. Okay, see how much it will cost and let me know, in the meantime, I will separate the checks."

General vibration, noise, everyone shouting “Long life to Seu Aurélio!!” The girls start to cry, including Annie and Carina. Everyone goes to the other side of the counter and hugs him collectively. Touching moment, friendship, togetherness.

POLICE STATION

Carlos is at his desk, struggling with the monitor to keep it on. He doesn't realize that Ricardo is approaching, the same petulant face he does. He sits down without being asked.

"They don't make computers anymore like they used to, right? This one seems to be from the time of the MS-DOS."

Carlos tries to decipher what Ricardo hides, a mysterious little guy. "MS-DOS is still used for some things, Mr. Oliveira. I thought you knew."

"Of course I know. Just like Sandra Bullock’s movie."

Carlos smiles, knows which film is. "I just wonder if you would be Sandra or the villains who set up all the counterfeiting via the net to blame her."

"No, I don't know if it would come to that."

"What do you mean, you don't know? These things are not defined like that."

Cleverly at the crucial moment, Ricardo diverts the subject and leaves Carlos in the air. "Chief, I came here to tell you that my neighbor Anestor has already contacted Escelsa to pay off what he stole today."

Carlos stretches out in the chair, looking incredulous. "And did you become his representative, Mr. Oliveira?"

"Let's say he asked me for money and I borrowed it. While he settles down, I came here to see if you were not already issuing an arrest warrant."

Carlos frowns, hand on his chin. He is not in front of someone stupid like Anestor. "I told him yesterday that he could do this to escape from prison."

Ricardo is always mysterious. "Article 155 is pretty serious, right?"

"One to four years in prison."

"But the worst would be the 171, swindler. One more year of in prison."

Carlos gets up, it's too much for him. "Do you want to join us, Mr. Oliveira? You understand a lot of things."

Ricardo gets up laughing with confidence and cynicism that makes Carlos “feel things”.

"No, sir, thank you. I just don't want to be bothered by anonymous complaints anymore. You can write my contribution to the case there in your report. That is if your monitor lasts itself so much. A good day!"

Ricardo leaves, as unashamed as he entered. Carlos remains serious, very suspicious.

NEWSSTAND

Fábia Peres stops at the stand. Other people are around choosing what to read, among newspapers and magazines. Fábia begins to select fashion magazines, celebrity gossip, and soap opera summaries. Her eyes focus on the publications closely, going down to romantic books with content that Carina and Annie would object to.

One of them, the cover of a muscular shirtless man holding a woman in low-cut clothes, typical of these newsstand novels. Fábia Peres is dying to buy, more for the cover than for the interest in reading. So, we heard the voices of Monica as a reminder of Fábia.

"Have you ever asked your boyfriend if he threw his girlie mags away?"

Fábia gets revolted by the questioning. She talks to herself. "I threw mine and tore it up in front of him, but I didn't see him doing the same with his, he just told me!"

Fábia bends over and picks up the book.

"What if the irritant is right? What if he's lying? Do I have to throw away what I like to read while he keeps ‘women’ magazines?"

Decided, Fábia delivers everything to the newsboy. As he sums the price of her purchases, Sandra approaches her.

"Hi, Fabia! Doing some shopping? I didn't know you were reading."

"There's a lot of me that you don't know, asshole."

The newsboy receives Fábia's credit card and extends the purchases to her. Fábia Peres is vexed, while Sandra smiles wryly.

"Ah, but, logically, you would not read Machado de Assis or José de Alencar, right? Does your boyfriend know about these readings?"

"I was wondering if he still keeps reading the female version. Because, with me, I had to throw away my collection."

Sandra again is wanting to confuse. "There is a way to know that, my dear."

Fábia Peres gets attentive. "How?"

The schemer Sandra answers her: "Now, with this kind of magazine, there is nothing like another man to start the subject, right? And I know someone who can ask Fábio without his being suspicious."

Fábia Peres reacts very gratefully.

GRANJA SQUARE

Sandra and Cássio are in a talk already initiated, he is afraid and she is confident.

"I don't know, Sandra, my mother raised me a gentleman. I never went to these magazines; I only care about science fiction and space travel."

"I know, my love, but we are doing Fábia a favor. Why did she have to throw away theirs, which I make very clear that I also don't like, and he is immune?"

Cassio agrees. "Yes, this is very slutty."

Not far away, Ed is cycling again. And again he approaches Cássio and Sandra and listens to the conversation in progress.

Sandra coaxes Cássio: "So you understand? Go to Fábio Dance's house today and ask if he has any of these naked women magazines to lend you."

Ed almost falls off his bike but manages to maintain his posture without catching their eyes. He is intrigued and will stay and listen to more.