Ok, isso já estava muito além dos meus limites. Fiz o possível para parecer natural o bastante durante as horas que se seguiram na varanda até nos retirarmos. Antes de me deitar sempre tenho o costume de tomar leite quente, então, quando estava na cozinha, Helen, já de pijamas, sentou-se ao meu lado e disse: "Grandma, tell me the story of that song dad'd put on to play a few hours earlier." E eu disse: "Oh, dear, it's too long, and too old, do you really want to listen to this dusty episode of my life?" Ela então respondeu: "You know me quite well, grandma, of course I do." Então fomos para o quarto dela. "Let me do it as the way I used to when you were a little girl." Ela se deitou na cama, eu a cobri com seus cobertores e me sentei ao lado de sua cabeça, afagando-a levemente. Há muito que não relembrava aquele momento, precisava organizar as informações. Respirei fundo e comecei:

"I was about to be sixteen and I had a boyfriend, No, he wasn't your grandpapa. He was another guy who I had been friends with since childhood. I was about to be sixteen, as I said before and he was trying to make me a surprise. I had no idea of. One day, I was listening to this song when he came in and, after kissing me, he asked what the song said and I translated it to him, the same way your father did to your mom earlier. He said: 'It's a masterpiece! I wish I could speak Portuguese and sing it to you!' Well, the rest you can imagine... On my bitrthday, when I woke up, he was standing beside my bed with his friend, one of his best friends, who was carrying a guitar. As fast as I opened my eyes, he started singing that song to me, in Portuguese!"

"How could he do that, grand? It's hard, no? I understood almost nothing, only when daddy translated!" Helen disse com uma cara engraçada. E eu continuei:

"Well, dear, when you love someone, you're capable of great things just to make him smile! But it was quite funny, for his Portuguese was lousy! Oh my God! The only thing he could pronounce perfectly was 'no way'. But I loved that! That was one of the most beautiful things anyone has ever done to me. On that day I knew that was true love and that song became ours, but he got tired of trying to say all the things in its original form, so he created an alternative version in English."

"You really loved him, uh, gram?" Helen perguntou sorrindo. " I can see it in your eyes. What was his name?"

"I'd rather not say, dear... But I can tell you that I am the beggining and he is the end." Disse lembrando de nosso símbolo que ele incrustara num tronco de árvore próximo à praça: o símbolo do infinito com nossas iniciais dentro, o meu A e o Z dele.

A e Z, começo e fim.

Dei um beijo de boa noite em Helen e apaguei a luz de seu quarto.

"Grandma?" Helen chamou-me.

"Yes, dear?"

"Is he still alive? Don't you know his whereabouts?"

"I don't know, dear, it has been a long, long time.... Now, you have to sleep, it's late, uh, you naughty girl!" Disse com um sorriso meio forçado.

No caminho de volta ao meu quarto, me atrevi a cantar o trechinho em inglês que ele criara: "If it's not me, who's gonna be in your happy endings?" Um trovão ribombou lá fora, uma tempestade se aproxima, melhor me preparar.