A tropical Western
(1)
He was fearless, the so-called João of Holy Christ.
That's how everyone used to mention him by the time he
had lost his soul.
Soon he would leave behind the boredom of a life in the
country side,
So that he could give vent to his hate towards Jesus for
his own existence.
(2)
When he was small, all he dreamt of was to be a criminal,
Specially when his father got killed by the bullet from a
soldier's gun.
He was the horror of the vicinity where he lived.
Even the teacher in his school learned with him how it
was done.
(3)
He came to masses just to steal the money
That old ladies deposited in a donation box at the altar.
He felt that he was really different from everyone there.
It was like that place was not the right one for him.
(4)
He wanted to leave and see the sea for the first time,
To know many other things he had seen only on television.
He saved some money to afford a trip.
Loneliness was his way of life, by own choice.
(5)
He screwed around with every girl in town.
The long practice on the-doctor-and-the-patient game made him
the master on sex at his early twelve.
At fifteen he was sent to a reform school.
The though living in there only nurtured the hate in him
even more.
(6)
In no way, he could understand what life was about,
Let alone the discrimination for his social background
and his color.
Not finding an answer to all this, he finally gave it up.
He bought a bus ticket and headed to Salvador.
(7)
As he arrived there, in a break for a coffee,
He met a humble cowboy, to whom he walked over for a
talk.
The cowboy held a ticket to somewhere and was about to
miss the trip.
But João came to him like a salvation.
(8)
The cowboy said "I'm leaving to Brasilia",
"No place in this country can be better",
"I need to go and see my daughter there",
"I can stay here and you go there for me",
(9)
And João agreed with the man's deal.
Sitting in the seat of a bus, he met the Brazilian capital
for the first time.
He was dumbfounded at the splendor of that city.
Leaving the station, he could see Christmas's lights all
along the way.
(10)
"Lord, what a beautiful city".
"I've got to start working by the New Year's ".
"Working with wood, assistant in carpentry or whatever".
He was earning few hundred bucks per month in Taguatinga.
(11)
On Fridays he headed to the red-light district in the
city,
So he could spend all the money from his honest hard
labor.
He got acquainted with lots of interesting people.
He even met a bastard grandson of his great-grandfather.
(12)
He also met a Peruvian guy that had lived in Bolivia,
and used to bring many bootleg goods from there.
His name was Pablo, and he always said
He soon would be starting a new clean business.
(13)
João of Saint Christ went on working hard to his last
breath,
But the money could not even afford his daily meals.
At seven in the night he always heard the news in the
radio,
Telling that the ministers were planing some new way to
improve poverty.
(14)
But he did not want more promises and illusions.
He decided that, following Pablo's steps, he was gonna
find a way out .
Then, he thought up his most brilliant plan,
And without any sign of guilty, he started a plantation
of junk.
(15)
It didn't take too long before the junkies in town heard
of the news.
"He's selling very good stuff there".
And João of Holy Christ enriched,
and blew away all the peddlers in the neighbourhood.
(16)
He made lots of friends and was often seen in the night
scene in Asa Norte.
He went to rock and roll gigs to relieve his mind.
But all of a sudden,
Negatively influenced by the company of rich boys of the
place,
He started his business on robbery.
(17)
During his début, he lost his soul for good,
Committing his very first mortal sin.
On his account, there were violence and rape.
"Listen to me, I'm gonna kill you all"
(18)
Now Holy Christ was a bandit,
A fearless and frightening tough guy in Distrito Federal.
He did not fear the police at all,
Nor any captain, drug dealer, playboy or general
(19)()
On a fine day, he met a girl.
That fact made him regret for each one of his sins.
Maria Lucia was a lovely girl.
And Holy Christ vowed his heart to her only.
(20)
He said he wanted to marry her.
He took back the old carpentry business again.
"Maria Lucia, I will always love you".
"I want to have a baby with you".
(21)
Time passed until one day a man of distinguished class
Came to his door with an unscrupulous proposition
and a cash-in-hand reward for it.
He said he would be waiting for João's answer soon.
(22)
"Listen, I would never plant bombs on news stands".
"Or in any school where children attend, I would never do
such a thing".
"I would never agree with dirty plots of any high rank
captain".
"who spends his days sitting in an office and fears to
his very core to be caught in the act.
(23)
"You better leave my home right now".
"Don't you ever play the smart with a man of Pisces,
ascendant in Scorpio".
But before leaving, the old man said, his eyes filled
with hate:
(24)
"You're a dead man, brother".
"You're a dead man, brother".
And Holy Christ thought "These words will take over my
head".
"I shall pay the consequences of it like a street dog".
(25)
It was not that Holy Christ was totally right.
His future seemed not clear, and he, then, took a day off
work.
He got drunk to the uttermost and among the celebration
He was told that his bosses had already hired another for
his place.
(26)
Later, he told Pablo that he was looking for a business
partner,
And that he had some money available and wanted to get
himself a bunch of guns.
Pablo should bring the bootleg stuff from Bolivia,
And Holy Christ would sell them in Planaltina.
(27)
However, it turned out that another guy, named Jeremias,
a well-know drug dealer in the area, came into play
As soon as the man got wind of Holy Christ's plans .
He was sure he should blow Holy Christ off the Earth's
face.
(28)
But Pablo brought Holy Christ a Winchester-22 gun,
And Holy Christ, knowing from early how to work a gun,
Decided to not use it until
His rival would get this war started.
(29)
His rival Jeremias, or rather, a bastard junkie dog,
That arranged a so-called Rockonha fest, just to turn
everyone of the business in,
Was the one who used to deflower innocent girls and fool
everyone,
By saying he was a man of faith, but in reality, he
didn't even know how to pray.
(30)
And for a long time Holy Christ had been away from home.
The absence had begun to hurt stronger and stronger in
his heart,
"I'm leaving right now, I'm gonna see Maria Lucia".
"The time for us to marry has now come".
(31)
As he got home, he could not help but weep.
And then he committed his second mortal sin .
Maria Lucia was now married to Jeremias,
And they had had a baby together.
(32)
Hate was all he was feeling inside.
In turn, he challenged Jeremias for a duel.
"I see you at Ceilandia, 2 p.m".
"Block number 14, see you there".
(33)
"Pick any gun you like".
"Because I'm gonna finish you anyway, you scummy rat".
"And I'll kill Maria Lucia in any case".
"That unfaithful chick to whom I swore my love one day".
(34)
And Holy Christ did not know what to do,
When he saw the broadcaster on the television,
Announcing the duel in the news time,
Telling everyone the scheduled time, the place of the
event and the cause.
(35)
"Saturday, 2 P.M, OK, got it".
On the date, everyone came to that established place to
witness
The perfidious shot that caught one of them off guard.
And as he got the shot, Holy Christ started laughing,
(36)
Feeling the taste of blood running through his throat.
He looked up, saw some streamers, saw the people's
applause,
He looked at the man selling ice-cream, looked at the
broadcasting cameras
Saw the broadcasting teams that were there capturing the
event,
(37)
The memories of his childhood came to his mind.
He also thought of all he had been through up to now.
He decided that he had got to dance to the moment's tune.
"If my road to Heaven was meant to be a circus like this,
so here I am all for it".
(38)
And then the rays of sunlight blinded his eyes.
That was when he recognized Maria Lucia's face,
Right before him, holding his Winchester-22 in her hands.
That same gun his mate Pablo brought him.
(39)
" Listen, Jeremias, I am a man of honor, it's something
you never gonna be about".
"I would never shot anyone from behind".
"Look at me, you son of a bit*h, bastard".
"Look at my dripping blood, come and hear my words of
forgiveness".
(40)
Holding his Winchester-22, Holy Christ
Shot at the traitor five times.
Maria Lucia felt so much guilty .
She also was shot dead and died next to Joao, her
guardian.
(41)
The people claimed that João of Holy Christ
was surely a real saint, not quiting on his dignity even
at the time of his death.
And the upper class in the town
Could not believe their eyes watching the story on the
TV.
(42)
Anyway, João could never fulfill his wish from old times.
It's just that when he moved to Brasilia to much later
meet his death,
He wanted, actually, to have a talk with the president,
And tell him to provide a help to all this population
who never knew anything besides a life of suffering.