Alzirão!

On a busy street I crossed paths with a girl yesterday. She was wearing a yellow t-shirt, a yellow and green football jersey to be precise. Same as me. And she was smiling while talking on the phone, walking with a discreet urgency. She had a small parrot on her right shoulder. I swear I thought he was smiling too.

Earlier I had met a bronze man, of perhaps 70 years, wearing a small speedo and tasteless sunglasses. He seemed to have spent two lifetimes in the sun without having sweated for an hour. The ocean and fine sand behind him, he was heading for his chair and umbrella. Where others were sipping Coco water, a bottle of Scotch was waiting him. First thing in front of the bronze man was a TV.

And later on there was a motley crew of kids, boys or girls I could not tell. They were taking turns diving into an orange bin and breaking into laughs every time someone fell off. They were wearing odd sized t-shirts of indistinct colours and a big number 10 on their back. Later I saw them running and blowing broken horns, with silly headgear and wigs on.

I was on my way to Tijuca and the day was full of faces, smiling and passionate ones. At the end of the game, the local winning song of this year's Carnaval was blasting out.