Rhodia River - In the stream of love

Chapter 21 Carlos Inquires (1)

PRAÇA DA GRANJA - DAY

Ed is riding his bike when he came across Miriam sitting on the same bench, now without the book. She is meditative and worried. He stops the bike beside her and she realizes, waking up from a trance.

"How are you, Miriam?"

"Hi, Ed, it looks like you were right. They are attacking my almost-boyfriend."

"'Are they' in the plural?"

"There are more girls who like Chief Roldão. I'm not the only one. And now I'm here thinking about how I'm going to do it in front of them."

Ed says poetically, "In love or war anything goes, right?"

Miriam smiles, "I, at least, intend to play fair."

"That's the way it’s said. Huh, Cassio scolded me early in the morning, fearing you would get crazy."

"I talked to Sandra earlier. It's okay."

"I’ll go on to pedal, burn the calories I acquired in those cheese pastries."

"Cheese pas—"

Miriam doesn’t finish, Ed straightens up on his bike and rides again.

STREET

Carlos goes this time in uniform and with the police car to the same house where the clandestine connection was made. However, when he approaches...

...He sees Escelsa's car doing the right repair. Carlos reacts surprised and curious. He parks the car, turns off the engine, and leaves. He gets closer.

Anestor, the neighbor, is talking to one of the employees, he is scratching his head. When Carlos gets closer, the conversation becomes audible.

"You must understand that I didn't mean to harm anyone."

The Escelsa’s worker explains seriously to him: "I got it, Seu Anestor, but you have the option of talking to Customer Service so that we can help you in the best possible way. However, this clandestine connection, in addition to being a crime, caused an inconvenience in all your neighbors who are interconnected on the same network."

"Good morning, gentlemen!" Carlos says, "I'm sorry I heard part of the conversation, but I came here to check this situation out."

Anestor turns paled., "It’s not necessary, 'you cop'; they have already restored the original connection."

The worker reports, "Several complaints to our complaints department. This morning we did a check."

"Well, the technical part you already took care of, now the penal part is missing. Come talk to me at the police station, please, sir..."

"A-A-Anestor..." He stutters in fear.

Carlos is smiling, but still expressing authority. And Anestor got without escape.

MALTHUS SNACK BAR

Annie and Jonas finish their lunch; the other friends have already left. Aurélio counts the day's earnings.

"Annie, I'm going to pay the bill."

"I’ll wait for you."

Jonas goes to the counter. Aurélio keeps counting.

On purpose, Jonas disturbs him by asking suddenly, "How much is it?!"

Aurélio gets scared, smiles slightly, and puts his hand over his heart. Then he looks at the table where Annie is.

"What are you looking at, man?" Jonas asks angrily.

"What she did eat? Do you remember?"

Jonas is very annoyed, "Ah, you know what? Everything here is R$ 10.00!"

Jonas takes out his wallet and takes out another ten reais bill, throws it on the counter, and doesn't expect change. He turns to Annie. Different tone, more gentle and romantic, "I’ll accompany you home, sweetheart."

"So let's go."

Jonas extends his hand and Annie stands up like a princess. The two of them smile at each other and leave in a romantic mood. Aurélio recounts the earnings of the day.

"These young people today..."

POLICE STATION

Smooth activity. Carlos and Anestor are at the desk, the latter sweating profusely. The officer is calm.

"Let's be straightforward, Anestor. I can't believe you dared to do it there alone. It’s never done unless the person is already an expert on the matter. Someone helped you."

"Chief, you put me in a tight skirt."

Debauchery is not enough for Carlos, "No way, you don't look good in a skirt, I wouldn't do that. You seem like a good citizen who just gave way to madness."

"It turns out that I was probably the only one in the neighborhood to do that. If I open my mouth and tell you who did it, he'll go after me!"

Carlos smiles victoriously, "We already made progress, you said 'he', so it’s a guy."

Anestor in a panic attack covers his mouth with his hands.

"And is he that dangerous?" Carlos insists with a feline smile.

"I-I don't know... he doesn't look like a soap star."

Carlos throws the bait, "Looks like a vodka fan?"

And Anestor takes the bait, "Yes, yes!"

After a great fail, Anestor notices the second slip and slaps the same hand on the forehead.

Carlos chuckles, "Anestor, by God, it's not like that. I'm looking to help you."

"Putting me behind bars?" Anestor sneers at him.

"Everybody who makes 'cats' is not arrested every day. But, yes, there is a penalty of one to four years in prison and a fine, because what you did was characterized as theft: Article 155, paragraph 3 of the penal code."

"It's awesome..." Anestor says it dumbfounded.

"However, you can get out of prison by paying in advance the amount corresponding to the energy you stole." Carlos explains patiently, "And what did your ‘cat’ last for? Two days? It's a piece of cake, my friend!"

Anestor gets offended, "If it were a piece of cake I wouldn't have made the ‘cat’!"

Carlos turns tough, "Borrow money from a friend or neighbor."

Did Anestor understand the emphasis? Carlos goes on, "Take advantage

of that Escelsa hasn't made a formal report yet. And we are just a neighborhood police station. At most, what I can do is prevent this from happening again."

"Okay, sir, I'll see what I can do."

Carlos smirks, "I know you will. You don't want to go to the National City prison."

Anestor gets up, trying to gather dignity. "I just wish that my family didn't stay in the dark and that our food didn't rot in the refrigerator. Excuse me, officer, good night!"

Anestor, in a rare moment of daring, leaves without being released by Carlos. But, the officer lets the poor guy go.

"Take it easy, Anestor. You didn't mean it. You shouldn't even know about this law. Now, this Ricardo... Good to keep an eye on him. Something tells me he didn't do this job for free."

Carlos keeps sitting and thinks.