I awake to another partly cloudy morning. Alicia wants me to run to the drugstore to pick her up something to take because she doesn't feel well. She writes it down, and after a shower, I am off.
After returning, she is perplexed that I got the generic brand of the drug she wanted. I try to tell her it's the same damn thing, but this is a name-brand girl apparently.
Next she gets into whiney mode and says that she wants me to pay for her school. She says that I wouldn't be paying her for fucky-fucky though and that her tuition for the next semester is due soon. She tells me about so-and-so paying for her to do this and that. I just look at her and ask her if she thinks I am stupido. I have a new attitude this trip and I’m not going to be used.
She becomes irritated and tells me that she isn't going to see me anymore if I won't give her something for staying out of work. I call her bluff and tell her that is ok and to leave now. (I am not having anymore Taiza events like last trip.) One of the Portuguese phrases that I made sure to memorize was "go away now". (it would become a running joke between the two of us) When she sees I am serious, she lets it go.
Around noon, I finally get her up and we head back to the drug store so she can swap what I got her. On the way, she also wants a couple of items from another store, and what a combination it was.
I can't ever say that I have ever bought KY Jelly and Listerine at the same time in my life.
We finally make it to our favorite kilo restaurant on Copacabana Ave once again. She still isn't feeling well so I tell her that she shouldn't "work" today. She asks me if I am going to pay her not to work and I tell her NO! She says if I give her R$700, she won't go to work for the next 3 days and she will stay with me. What a fucking deal! Knowing that she is probably going to do that whether I pay her or not, I pass. First of all, I don't want her with me for the next three days, and second, I wouldn't pay her that anyway.
After lunch, we head back to her apartment. She wants me to help her with some of her school workbooks. In one portion of her workbook, there is a section where she has to listen to a CD and write down what they say. She wants me to do this part on several of the lessons, which will be checked by her instructor. Apparently she doesn't understand the concept of handwriting differences, but I do it anyway.
Afterwards, I lie there for a while watching her in silence as she gets ready for "work". There is not a lot to say at this point. I'm not paying her to stay out of “work”, and I suppose she needs the money. It's just a sad silence in the room. I have a certain amount of respect for the girls in these poor countries that resort to this life to escape poverty. It's definitely not the choice I would want for a daughter, but I try to understand without judging. However, considering 99% of the young women in Brazil don't choose this route, I admit that I struggle with it at times. I will not judge though because I have never walked in their shoes. I only know one thing for certain. It is a mentally destructive lifestyle for them.
She nestles up to me one last time with her head on my chest for a few minutes. She asks me if I am coming to Terma X later and I tell her that I don't know. Since it is Sunday though, it's about the only game in town. We go downstairs and I put her in a taxi and head back to my apartment. The maid came while I was gone and the place is clean again.
On the way to Terma X, I try to call Iris. She answers and I say "Oi Iris", and that is about all I know to say. I can also tell her that I want something to eat and drink, but that isn't appropriate right now. She asks who it is and I say Aldaron, to which she replies, "Oh Aldaron". She asks me if I am going to Helpie tonight and without thinking, I say "Yes". The conversation drags on for another minute or so. At one point, she was so funny... she says, "Eu nao falla Ingles..... Voce nao falla Portuguese.... Problemo." I laugh and tell her I will call her later.
After the call, I realize that after being in there Friday night, I wasn't interested in going back until some of these fucking Americans in town for the weekend leave.
Once inside Terma X, I begin to realize that Labor Day weekend is a big sausage fest in Rio for Americans. I walk in around 5:00 and it is like a sword fight in there. There is nothing but white robes.
I immediately see Alicia and she smiles across the room. Priscilla approaches and I give her the evil eye. She starts babbling something about how she forgot my apartment number the other night, but I quickly correct her and tell her I said Terraco, and walk away from her.
I find an empty spot at the far end of the room on the couch, content to just take in the craziness for a while. At this point I'm not even sure I will do any of the girls. There are more guys in here than girls and the pickings are slim.
After 30 minutes and a couple of beers, I spot Sweetmesquite in his Moses robe and head over to talk to him. He says he just shot one off and he is done. We head to the back room. It is about the only free spot in the place. After a couple of minutes of talking, Sweet begins to fade out, and along comes Alicia and drapes herself all over me.
At this time, she wants me to go to a cabina with her. What a waste, but then again, I haven't given her any money since I have been here, so I tell her I will a little later.
As we are talking, I hear something that sounds like a loud roar. I look over at Sweet and he is passed out sawing logs.... really loud. He isn't just sawing logs, he's sawing the whole God Damn forest down. She and I would try to say something to each other and about that time, another loud roar would emerge and we would both lose our concentration and laugh.
Karl has entered now and he tries to wake him up, but within 30 seconds, he's out again and sawing some more. This went on for a good 20 minutes before he finally shakes himself out of his stupor.
However, she is getting a little belligerent with me now. At one point she takes out one of my condoms and hands it to another guy walking by. He seems flattered and begins to talk to her, but I nix that and motion for him to give it back to me. He gets chatty and asks me something about why I bring my own, and I tell him that the Brasilian ones aren't worth a shit. Now this guy wants to have a debate or something about it and suggests that maybe I'm not putting it on correctly. I blow him off at that point and focus my attention where it needs to be. I'm not listening to condom advice from his ugly ass. If he ever tries to fuck a girl in the ass with one of those he will see what I mean.
Finally I relent and go back with Alicia. She wants an hour of course, but I insist on 40 minutes. She says she is going to get an hour and I give her a stern warning. I sort of got ripped anyway though because the place was so crowded, we got a cabina in the back with nothing but a mat on the floor. When she opened the door, she was already laughing. I just looked at her and asked "what the fuck is this shit?" There isn't even a chair.... just a mat. I feel like I am about to fuck at Bennihannas.
Afterwards, I tell her that if she wants to come to my apartment tonight, she can. She says she will be there at 12:15, and off I go. It looks like I won't be going to Help after all tonight.
I get a call from Don around 11:30 and he has some merchandise for me to pick-up. I head to Alcazar to meet him and we talk for a while. After a few minutes, he gets a call and it is Sweetmesquite apparently looking for me. Don hands the phone to me and Sweet tells me that he is with Iris in Help and she wants to know where I am, so he tells her that he will try to find me. I had already told him that I was going to be with Alicia again tonight before I left Terma X. I tell him to tell her that he can't find me, to which he repeats, "tell her I couldn't find you". At this point I pull the phone away from my ear. He is fucking me so bad right now. He appears to be violating Rule #85 of the Man Code:
Rule #85 - When queried by a buddy’s wife, girlfriend, mother, father, priest, shrink, dentist, accountant, or dog walker, you need not and should not provide any useful information whatsoever as to his whereabouts. You are even permitted to deny his very existence.
However, he swears the next day that he wasn’t standing next to her when he called me so I forgive him.
I say good-bye to Don and head to my apartment around 12:00, and there I find Alicia standing by the gate. She says she is hungry so we walk down to Bob's and get some take-out back to the apartment. It is another semi-chilly night and we settle in once again. I know I am getting into dangerous territory here with this one, but this train has already left the station with an unknown destination in the days to come.