Beyond the rain

ALÉM

BEYOND THE

R AIN

DA

CHUVA Michel Gorski | Fernando Vilela

BEYOND THE RAIN

BEYOND Michel Gorski

THE RAIN Fernando Vilela

Copyright © Michel Gorski and Fernando Vilela, 2020 All rights reserved to EDITORA FTD S.A. Rua Rui Barbosa, 156 — Bela Vista — São Paulo — SP CEP 01326-010 — Tel. (0-55-11) 3598-6000 Caixa Postal 65149 — CEP da Caixa Postal 01390-970 www.ftd.com.br CONTACTS Director Ricardo Tavares de Oliveira Publisher Isabel Lopes Coelho Foreign rights Tassia Oliveira foreignrights@ftd.com.br

Image credits: Pablo Porlan/Hans Lucas/AFP (p. 40); Michel Porro/ Getty Images (p. 42); Acervo pessoal (p. 43).

To the memory of grandma Elza with her vegetable garden; To Stela with her water contraptions; and to Tom, on behalf of all the kids in search of a better world.

I

was returning to my city, after a long absence, on February 5, 2035, to interview doctor Antônio Dias Sobrinho, who was now a renowned inventor.

I was distracted in the large internal space of the avicopter, and as I looked out the porthole, I asked the flight attendant: “Where is the city? The aircraft is almost landing!”

“Sir, we will soon land in the East intermodal base of the city of São Paulo”, she answered. “Please fasten your seatbelt. We will land before the coming storm arrives.”

I could barely recognize the urban landscape. From up there, I saw rivers, green fields and various plantations.

I was anxious to meet again with my friend Tonico, whom I hadn’t seen in years. “I wonder if he’s changed a lot since he became a famous scientist?”, I thought.

The dark clouds made me recall the season of summer storms. In 2010, we were a gang of inseparable school friends: Maria, Lucinha, Tonico and I. That summer lingers in my memory as if it were yesterday. It was the year that it most in the world; or at least in our little universe, the Mooca neighborhood.

9

It rained every day. In the afternoon , right at the time when I was in the car in the street with my mom.

Water flooded everything, and we took the longest time to get anywhere. My mom complained, my little sister cried, and there was always a culprit— the rain!

10

A lot of people loved the rain, but during summer storms, they changed their mind and started to hate it. To play games and play ball, it was wonderful, but for someone who had to get across a flood and got all soaked, it wasn’t easy at all.

When we got home, my mother, feeling irritated, always said: “When is this city going to get better? Nobody takes care of this! Every year it’s the same thing!”

Since that time, I already used to shoot my machinegun of questions.

“Mom, why does the river overflow? Why does the city get flooded? What do I have to do to make everything better? Why is the rain so bad?”

“Son, the rain should always be good. It is essential to life, but in this city, everything gets messy, clogged and flooded with it. Rain would cause problems if people knew what to do with all that water that falls from the sky.

13