‘So Leonardo, tell us how the interview went. Rui is a nice guy isn’t he?’ Asked Manuel, who was sitting at the head of the dinner table. Leonardo was sitting by his left, whereas Leonardo’s mum sat right across the table from Manuel. Pedro, the middle son, was sitting at her right, and Lili, the youngest of the three children sat by her left side.
‘Yeah, he’s quite nice, and the
interview went well…’
‘So? Did you get the job?’ Asked his
mother, visibly agitated. She was now leaned over the table, starring intensely
at Leonardo, her eyes wide open, almost threatening to jump out from their
orbits out of sheer excitement.
‘…Yeah, I think so. He said he was
gonna call me tomorrow, but I think he liked me, so I’m somewhat confident.’
Hearing that, his mother seemed quite relieved and happy and lost no time,
congratulating him on the spot. ‘I just told you it’s not certain yet mum, I
think there’s a good chance but you never know. In any case, I think that even
if I get hired I’ll start as a trainee or something like that, at least for the
first three months or so.’
‘Well, I guess we’ll see then, but
you should allow yourself to be optimistic for once. Those are amazing news! My
son, a journalist! And not only just a journalist, but a reporter in one of the
best newspapers in the country… I’m very proud of you son.’
‘Mum… really, I don’t want you to
get too excited about this. It’s just an internship really, and I’ll have to
wait till tomorrow until I know for sure if I’m gonna get hired or not.’
‘Maybe mum we’ll stop calling you a
bum now Leonardo!’
‘Yeah, maybe I’ll stop calling him a
bum and I’ll start calling you one instead,’ answered Rosa, clearly molested by
her youngest son’s sarcastic intervention. Leonardo and Lili however found the
brother’s comment rather amusing and couldn’t avoid giggling a bit.
‘Rosa…’ said Manuel calmly, who was
rather used to playing the part of moderator in the household’s frequent
quarrels, which quite often involved the matriarch and her offspring.
‘But it’s true Manuel! Haven’t you
seen his latest school report? He has to change!’ Argued Rosa, quite
passionately.
‘He knows that he needs to start
paying more attention to his grades honey, there’s no need to bring up now
again, especially when where talking about Leonardo. You’re going to study
harder like you promised us right Pedro?’
‘Yes dad…’ answered the boy,
partially thankful to his dad for protecting him, but dreading the thought of
studying harder.
In the morning of the following day
Leonardo woke up to the sound of his cell phone ringing.
‘Hello. How is this?’
‘Leonardo? This is Rui Pereira, from
Publico.’
‘Oh hello Rui, how are you doing?’
‘Fine, thanks. I told you I was
going to call you today to inform you of my decision so I’m calling you because
of that.’
‘Yes…’
‘… Would you consider accepting an
three-month paid internship?’
‘That sounds great Rui… thank you so
much, my parents are going to be thrilled when I tell them…’
‘You’re welcome son. You start next
Monday so make sure you get some rest in the next few days. We’ll be expecting
you next Monday at eight a.m.’
‘I’ll be there. Thank you once more.’
‘You’re welcome Leonardo, congratulations.’
After Rui Pereira hung up, Leonardo felt a little bit weird, he felt both
happy and sad at the same time. He knew that that phone call represented a new
beginning, and the promise of things to come was exciting. He also felt proud
for having earned his place in society, although Manuel had played a huge part
in helping him find and get that job. He was also glad because he knew how
happy his mum would be, and maybe this meant that she would finally stop
bugging all the time about not having a job. And yet, in spite of all these
good things and happy thoughts there was this feeling… it was as if he could
hear, echoing from the deeps of his soul, a sinister cry of pain that reflected
a kind of sadness that was vast and enduring.
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