First Chapter of 'Serendipity´s Matterhorn' for Free!!!
Autor: MARCELO DE ALMEIDA | Publicado: 2012-08-16T10:49:00-07:00


&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 







&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Serendipity´s&nbsp; Matterhorn









A contemporary fairy tale-&nbsp;by Marcelo de Almeida,&nbsp;June 22, 2011













Chapters:



.1 The Imperial city- p. #3



.2 Serendipity´s Matterhorn- p. #25



.3 Magic clouds- p. #35



.4 The land of polders- p. #53



.5 ‘The Black Forest, 1973’- p. #71



.6 Lassie- p. #90



.7 Tick-tock- p. #113











This story goes out to anyone who has ever wanted something&nbsp;so badly they could taste it...





Serendipity (n.) Serendipitous (adj.) Lucky tendency to find interesting or valuable things by chance.

(ex: serendipitous surprises)



Serendip- the Persian name for Sri Lanka (Ceylon)















The Imperial City



Maria May crunched over crackling dry, colorful leaves, mixed with spiky, ‘cuckoo burs’,&nbsp;in her black chamois dance slippers and Bauernfest dress. She kicked them off,&nbsp;climbed through the white-bark limbs of Frau Helle´s tree, and reached for the desired twig. Her lengthy, loosely-curled hair swept across her long back as the girl wrestled with it for a moment. Upon her third attempt the small branch snapped and she pulled it closer for further examination.

Maria observed the wood´s gentle arching form&nbsp;and stated.

“It´s perfect.”&nbsp;She jumped from the bare branches &nbsp;just as a chilly wind whirled down from the flat top mountain, pulling countless leaves up into&nbsp;the&nbsp;tall&nbsp;funnel&nbsp;which spun&nbsp;past the ‘Ahorn tree’.&nbsp;The gentle breeze that followed&nbsp;released a colorful star from above. She sprinted over and caught it in her hands.

“The last leaf of the season is always the luckiest!” cried Maria, as she crushed it in order to liberate the sweet fragrance. The girl&nbsp;smiled up at the low winter sun on this ‘shortest day’ of the year, then&nbsp;headed for&nbsp;home.



At about the same time, on ‘June 22nd- the day&nbsp;a pair of&nbsp;ducklings took to the water’,&nbsp;a highly polished antique Volkswagen, the kind they don´t make anymore,&nbsp;was pulling up to a gas station called the ‘Santo Graal, or Holy Grail'. The driver rolled down his window and called out to a young man, who then turned his attention away from a displayed country map, and looked over at the blue car.



“Bom dia Senhor, estou procurando ‘A Pousada da Maçã'.”

But the young man, sensing that Portuguese was not the driver´s native language, answered in English.

“I´m not from around here dude.” he responded, quickly shoving the rest of his ‘Dutch Stroopwafel’ into his mouth.



The driver then turned off the engine, and stepped out of the car.

“I would never have imagined that you were an American; considering your appearance and all. I´m 'Lagrecca the York man', pleased to meet you, ah...”



“It´s Serendipity Van Der Zee.” and the young man extended his hand.



“Where could a chap find 'the Apple man’s Bed and Breakfast', aye?”



“Just follow the trolley tracks into town and then keep your eyes peeled for signs.” answered Serendipity, still chewing the gummy substance.



“Hey lad, why is it you aren´t sticking around up here, the vacation´s just started? Is there something the matter with the climate? You didn´t like the people, maybe...”



“No...” he answered, covering his laugh.

“I´m making my way down to ‘Curitiba city’ to see if I can find myself a job at ‘Disney Brazil’.” he continued.



“They´re building a new park? Well, that doesn´t sound very promising to me, lad, considering the slow pace around here; what about Petropólis, have you ever been&nbsp;up there?” asked Lagrecca.



“No, I never gave it much thought, but it´s the Brazilian Royal Family´s city, right?”



“That´s&nbsp;it laddie; and they´re having their October festival soon. Perhaps we´d find us some ‘lassies’ aye. What do you say we go have a look? I´ve got to return to my language course after winter break, so you´re guaranteed a lift back.”

Serendipity looked around him at all the leafless&nbsp;‘Sweet planes and ghostly-looking Monkey puzzle trees’, then back at the tall man lighting a pipe besides the blue car.

He turned his head again to focus on the map preserved behind the glass while biting his tongue, and finally accepted Lagrecca´s offer.



The little air cooled engine drummed along the ‘Via Dutra highway’ for hours to the added sounds of the British ‘Ska band’- ‘Madness’.



Lagrecca turned up the volume as soon as Serendipity opened a beer, and began singing along with the song...



“I´ve been driving in my car, it´s not quite a Jaguar



I bought it in primrose hill, from a&nbsp;bloke from Brazil



It was made in fifty-nine,&nbsp;in a factory by the Tyne



It says Morris on the door, the G.P.O. owned it before



I drive in it for my job, the Governor calls me a slob



But I don´t really care, give me some gas and the open air...”





A ‘Hamburg Süd’ transport truck hung persistently to their right, as the little old car attempted to pass it. Tall mountains of the Serra da Mantiqueira accompanied the foreigners on the left to the rhythm of&nbsp;the song-





“It´s a bit old but it´s mine, I mend it in my spare time



Just last week I changed the oil, the rocker valves and the coil



Just last week I changed the oil...



‘Lagrecca the Yorkshire man’ looked in Serendipity´s direction and reaffirmed this, smiled and continued singing and honking-



Last week it went round the clock, I also had a little knock



I dented somebody´s fender- he learnt not to park on a bender, ha, ha, ha...





I´ve been driving in my car, it don´t look much but I´ve been far



I drove up to Muswell Hill, I´ve even been to Selsey Bill



I drove along the A-45, I had her up to 58



This copper stopped me the other day, you´re mistaken what could I say



The tyres were a little worn, they were ok, I could have sworn



I like driving in my car, I´m satisfied I´ve got this far...”





Lagrecca lowered the radio and said,

“Did you know that the emperor- ‘Dom Pedro II’ had&nbsp;his town built by a German engineer named ‘Major Júlio Frederico Koeller’ in the mid 1800´s, so that he and&nbsp;the family could escape the summer heat down on the coast.”



“I´d heard something like that from my grandfather once.” answered Serendipity, in between swigs from a bottle of the finest- ‘Baden-Baden’ beer, then passing it back to Lagrecca, who never even&nbsp;questioned what he was drinking.



“After the ‘Hunsrückers’ built a train up the mountain, it became chic to live in the ‘Imperial City'- where the country could be ruled from up in the clouds; like&nbsp;it were on-&nbsp;Mount Olympus. You can imagine that all of the ‘Richies’ wanted a share in the grand balls of the upper classes, and so&nbsp;built their palaces&nbsp;up there too.” confirmed Lagrecca.





As the&nbsp;old VW ‘Brasilia’ crossed the Rio de Janeiro state line, the&nbsp;music changed over to Lagrecca´s favorite composer- ‘John Barry’, and his famous- ‘#007 soundtrack’.&nbsp;The weather immediately began to warm up, and in no time at all they began losing altitude again on the winding 'Serra das Araras' stretch. Before them sprawled the ‘Cidade Maravilhosa’, as residents of Rio, known as ‘Cariocas’, are fond of calling it.



But no sooner were the two inside the city limits, when suddenly Lagrecca turned north at the sign for the ‘cidades serranas or Mountain Cities’, and started climbing once again.



“Let´s see; we don´t want ‘Nova Friburgo’ do we; they make ‘lingerie’ up there you know...” he said, passing the exit,&nbsp;and swerving into the fast lane. 

“It seems&nbsp;like all this poor little car´s&nbsp;been doing since São Paulo is ascending and descending a bunch of bloody mountains, aye ‘Dip’...”



“I bet you didn´t know that old 'King Pedro II' named 'Teresopolis' in honor of his wife, which was ‘Princess Isabel´s mother’ did you.

However, being as British textile mills were installed in Rio´s three&nbsp;mountain cities as a result of their cool, drizzly climate, Teresopolis actually ended up being founded more by the English than the Fribourg Swiss settlers.

Mind you, them ‘Brits’ also introduced&nbsp;football to Brazil!

The national team trains up&nbsp;at the ‘Granja Comari’ now a days, mate.”



Serendipity, who´d been busy watching the view of Rio de Janeiro unfold below, only made continuous nodding gestures.

The road twisted and turned from one switchback to the next; working it´s way up into the ‘Sea Mountains’.

Finally the blue car went&nbsp;through a stone tunnel and came out into thick fog.

“Did you see that Grecca?!” he yelled with his head still sticking out of the window.

Lagrecca just stared at Serendipity as though he were observing a child, then smiled back at his own image in the rearview mirror, and turned on the wipers. The music on the sound system played- the ‘Midnight Cowboy theme’. Lagrecca hummed along for a while, then, shouted above all the noise.



“Bloody good Yorkshire lad, that Barry!”



When they broke out of the cloud bank the first thing to appear&nbsp;was the ‘Casa do Alemão-German House’, where Serendipity wanted to stop for&nbsp;their advertised apple strudels&nbsp;and hot chocolate. After&nbsp;another kilometer&nbsp;came an imposing Norman style casino who´s reflection shimmered on the lake that surrounded it.

Right after that the little blue Brasilia drove past the ‘Cremerie park', which according to Lagrecca´s history lessons, belonged to a French noble of the time, who produced dairy products on location. It became public after his death; complete with a pond, pedal boats, dollhouses and ducks.



A few minutes past the Viennese writer- ‘Stefan Zweig’, and his wife- Elizabeth´s&nbsp;house,&nbsp;Lagrecca spotted the&nbsp;downtown bus terminal, he set his eyes on Hotel York, on ‘Avenida do Imperador’, and called in for the night.

Serendipity took a single bed on one side of the small room and Lagrecca on the other. Both had a view of the Catholic University of Petrópolis, which was framed in by towering mountains. The&nbsp;time piece&nbsp;on its roof&nbsp;held fast at&nbsp;‘12 o´clock’; remember that- ‘12 o´clock!’



As night fell they headed&nbsp;off to ‘D´Angelo´s restaurant’ for dinner, followed by ‘maracuja-Passion fruit ice cream’ next door. Serendipity was surprised to see such a wide mixture of faces and races in the middle of what he began referring to as- the ‘Brazilian Alp-palachians'. But what most struck him was the number of German-looking residents.

When questioned, Lagrecca answered that these fair 'Hunsrückers' were partly responsible for the city´s European character; ‘gingerbread houses’ and all. Festivity posters&nbsp;flapped from&nbsp;every telephone pole- a blond girl and a fat man decked in folk dress.



“Shouldn´t it be a tall, strong bloke to accompany the princess?” questioned the revolted Englishman. Dippy nodded in agreement.



The next day dawned cool and blue, like&nbsp;Lagrecca´s car. The bus terminal was so noisy that they could no longer sleep, so went window shopping on&nbsp;‘16 de Março Street’, where all the trendy people go, then up to ‘Rua Teresa’, stopping in for&nbsp;an apple pastry breakfast at the ‘Doçes Húngaros-Hungarian Sweets Bakery’ along the way, finally&nbsp;turning back again, and straying off in the historical direction of the Imperial Museum.

Sheepskin slippers had to be worn around Dom Pedro´s palace in order not to scratch the fine wood floors. The guides explained that Brazil had&nbsp;become the seat of government for the Portuguese Royal Family as a direct response to Napolean Bonapart´s invading army, and that with help from the British Navy, the country was turned into an upside down European kingdom so that the ‘Imperials’ could build the land of their dreams; resulting in the birth of&nbsp;their very own&nbsp;Imperial city.



When the question of wealthy ghosts came up, the visitors were advised to make their way over to the ‘House of Seven Errors’ on ‘Avenida Ipiranga’. One of the attendants suggested, however,&nbsp;that they should not miss an exhibition on the life of ‘Stefan Zweig’, at the municipal museum just in front.



“Petrópolis is full of famous phantoms...” whispered their guide.

“It´s a mysterious place...” she added, while watching&nbsp;sheets of white fog&nbsp;announce&nbsp;themselves by spilling in&nbsp;through the museum windows.



Serendipity, who was&nbsp;beginning to&nbsp;get agitated,&nbsp;found himself slipping and sliding anxiously from one room to the next in an attempt to find the door. He&nbsp;cut a corner a little too fast and almost bumped the ‘Imperial Crown’ straight onto his own head.

As&nbsp;the young Californian&nbsp;was being escorted through the front gates&nbsp;to the distant sound of Scottish bagpipes, he spotted the swaying poster of the&nbsp;humanitarian writer, who´d fled the Austrian Holocaust, in 1941.

“That´s the guy whose house we passed Grecca!”



Once they arrived&nbsp;at the exhibition,&nbsp;the travelers&nbsp;noticed a passage in&nbsp;the last book&nbsp;he wrote&nbsp;before taking his life, called-

‘Land der Zukunft- land of the future’, and&nbsp;in&nbsp;its pages&nbsp;'Zweig' states-



"Brazil&nbsp;is destined to become one of the most important factors in the development of&nbsp;our&nbsp;world. Here lies immeasurable wealth of soil that has never been plowed or cultivated, and beneath it are ores, minerals and natural resources that have not in the least been used up nor extensively explored."



Finally, they took&nbsp;the recommended walk&nbsp;along Ipiranga Avenue, passed a small Lutheran church,&nbsp;where tall conifers reached for the sky, explored their ‘haunted house’, and&nbsp;soon&nbsp;arrived&nbsp;at Princess Isabel´s Crystal Palace.

This glass-paneled structure had once been a gift to the princess from her French husband- ‘Louis Philippe Gaston de Orleans’, or just- ‘Count d´Eu’, in order to stage the horticultural society´s upper class dances. Lagrecca was ecstatic and insisted that though it´s iron and crystal parts had been cast in France, it was a British replica!



Across the street from Isabel´s Palace they were shown the ‘Viscount Maua´s’ house- a visionary who once acquired more riches than the king, and became&nbsp;Brazil´s greatest industrialist and banker.



Spreading out around the horticultural palace in all directions, were stalls for the festival which was opening the very next day. They hung around and watched dance rehearsals till late night when the sound of huge bells tolled out the ‘Zero Hour' from Pedro´s tall gothic Cathedral just around the corner.



Their eyes&nbsp;tracked&nbsp;a group of dancers leaving for home. Lagrecca called out to them and soon the tourists were approached by the prettiest 'North sea-looking girl' anyone is ever likely to find, who bashfully greeted them with a typical Brazilian ‘two-cheek kiss’.



“Will you both be around to see us perform tomorrow night?” asked Natalie, while giggling&nbsp;to her friends. Lagrecca nodded, and they each looked at the other,&nbsp;till her and Serendipity locked&nbsp;eyes. When&nbsp;Lagrecca noticed this he called it a night.



“What did I say about the lassies in Petrópolis aye Dip? That 'Goldilocks' is sure fond of you.” he added.



“Huh..?”&nbsp;asked&nbsp;Serendipity, who´d already floated&nbsp;off into space.



Natalie followed&nbsp;Serendipity straight&nbsp;into his dreams that&nbsp;night, leading him to a place where&nbsp;a fleet of ‘ancient longboats’ could be seen way out&nbsp;in the ‘North Sea’, across bright, sunlit waters. They&nbsp;were all&nbsp;coming in&nbsp;his direction.

From the mast of the lead boat swatted a blue and white-striped flag, blowing countless hearts into the water, forming a red path on which they traveled.

Then he awoke with the sun in his face&nbsp;when Lagrecca pulled open the large curtains in order for his pipe smoke to blow outside. The sweater-clad town was coming to life again.



After an ‘açai-assai fruit gelato’&nbsp;breakfast, the tourists followed a canal spanned by steeply-arched, red-painted, Japanese garden bridges, once again passing Dom Pedro´s witch-hat Cathedral.

Then they wandered down 'Avenida Koeller', which plugs right into the ‘Praça da Liberdade’. This park was created in honor of the ‘Lei Aurea-law’ that Princess Isabel signed to end slavery in Brazil, and utilizes a huge roundabout. Within it they found a restaurant called the ‘Rink', goats pulling popcorn-throwing children around a dancing fountain in small buggies, and the preparations for 'Italian Day'.



Then, at 'Santos Dumont´s' lofty, Cliffside house, a guide argued that though this man hadn´t been the ‘First&nbsp;in Flight’, he certainly&nbsp;did fly the first&nbsp;‘true’&nbsp;airplane- the ‘14 Bis’. She explained further that this strangely small, building was the product of a multi-talented inventor who´d even patented his own private bathroom.



“He had a small stature but was greatly ahead of his time.” she added, while tapping her finger on Dippy´s wrist watch.



“Are you suggesting this thing&nbsp;didn´t exist in his time?”



The guide affirmed that Santos Dumont could never have timed his flights with a pocket watch in hand.

“Necessity´s the mother of invention.” she added, while pointing to where his statue now stands at the new ‘Petrópolis Wax Museum, just across the street.



The Brazilian flag, atop his house, reassured the country that Dumont´s patriotism leaned, not towards France, where he´d tested his planes, but rather to his native land.

The national colors flew alongside a much larger banner positioned at the ‘Hydrangea Flower Clock’; the ‘blue, green and yellow' promised to win the World Cup this year.



“The Petropólitan Foot-ball Club is on the way to the ‘Bauernfest’ matie.” affirmed Lagrecca, with his thumb pointing behind him.

“Your country plays tomorrow and mine the next day. What do you say we watch the games there?”

Dippy smiled and said.

“the ‘Mechanical Orange' is my team Grecca!”



“Not this Yorkshire man!” he protested, as he opened his coat to reveal 'Saint George´s red cross'.

“We´ve got to fetch you a ‘Dutch’ jersey then kid!” However, seeing that Serendipity had no interest in&nbsp;soccer,&nbsp;Lagrecca just changed the subject.



As the sun neared the western mountains, Serendipity and Lagrecca arrived at the ‘oldest Bier Brauerei-beer brewery in Brazil'- 'Henrique Kremer´s 1853 Cervejaria Bohemia'. They were just in time for tastings, and the first dance show.

One of two platforms straddled a canal and was positioned across from the ‘Holländisch Windmühle Bar’.

It was from there that they observed wood chips flying, maids twirling, and couples waltzing to the sounds of a ‘Deutsche Umpah Band’ from the town of Blumenau; who´s Oktoberfest&nbsp;didn´t compete&nbsp;with that of Petrópolis´ ‘Bauern’&nbsp;because it&nbsp;was not&nbsp;in wintertime.





The boys danced The Polka in 'brown lederhosen-suede shorts' with suspenders. They swung the girls round and round until familiar strands of long blond hair&nbsp;flashed high&nbsp;above&nbsp;yellow&nbsp;flames as&nbsp;their ‘Goldilocks girl’ hopped over a campfire.

The&nbsp;two English speakers&nbsp;were hard pressed to identify the&nbsp;dancer who followed through the flickering light though. She&nbsp;had the same tall stature, and neither he nor Lagrecca recalled having seen her at the rehearsals two nights back. the ‘Low Country-Benelux region of Europe’ came to Dippy´s mind as ‘this brunette, with a most curious white streak in her hair’, went in for another try; fire licking at both girls with every jump.



Soon the group joined hands in a continuous circle, closing the two&nbsp;in around the flames. Serendipity&nbsp;thought a long way back through the ages, when witch hunts forced princely maidens like these into hiding. Today they were free to reenact a heathen-like festival. He imagined that if these stately girls had been prize-winning horses, then the brunette would be a ‘Belgian filly' and the blond a ‘Friesian'.



Dippy tapped his friend on the shoulder to ask which one he was fond of. Lagrecca turned to him with a wink, and said.

“The one with ‘serendipity’ of course!”

Dippy was perplexed by his comment, and kept repeating&nbsp;the odd statement&nbsp;to himself under his breath.

“Which one´s&nbsp;got&nbsp;serendip...?” he wondered.



When the show was over, the group left the stage and headed back down towards the Dutch Windmill Bar for refreshments. The visitors suddenly found themselves rubbing shoulders with the two ‘thoroughbreds’.

“So you guys made it down!” sang Natalie alluringly.



Serendipity, who´d been noticing the ‘Belgian´s' curious stares, asked the ‘Friesian' to introduce them.



“Sorry!” said Natalie.

“Hey, Maria May, these&nbsp;guys are&nbsp;gringos!”

Cheek kisses were given all around, but

Serendipity continued looking as though he were awaiting autographs. Maria soon asked how the foreigners had discovered her city.



“We followed the party love.” answered Lagrecca. “My friend here´s got his eyes on all the old architecture.” he said with a heavy accent,

“Since he spent the last five years participating in the ‘Jamestown Colony’ reconstruction out in Virginia.” he added, while elbowing Dippy.

The brunette giggled at his British Portuguese, then approached Serendipity delightedly.

“How come you don´t have an accent too?”



He shrugged and confessed to being part Brazilian himself.

She then came closer and asked. 

“Would you be interested in evaluating an old&nbsp;house on my farm tomorrow? Because my brother and his friends are going to ‘bulldoze’ it down next week, so we´d need to be quick.”



Serendipity studied Maria May´s deadpan expression for the ‘punch line’, but soon realized that she was being sincere. Suddenly a&nbsp;‘shady character&nbsp;in an Audi' whistled Natalie over to his car,&nbsp;so she grabbed her things and ran out to him, but as her 'Friesian frame' galloped into the night, she took one last look back at Serendipity and blew him a kiss.



Maria said.

“That&nbsp;girl doesn´t stay in one place for long.” Her&nbsp;hazel eyes penetrated Dippy´s.&nbsp;But before he even had a chance to melt into them,&nbsp;Maria&nbsp;got to her feet and invited the gringos to try out the beer bongs which were coming their way. She lit a cigarette and studied Dippy´s arms for evidence of carpentry.



Needless to say, all three ended up so imbibed by the festival´s end, that when Lagrecca pulled his Brasilia onto the sidewalk in front of 'Papa Braun´s&nbsp;Mosela Tavern' the following day, none of them could quite remember exactly which taxi had taken them home. Maria came down the stairs from her second floor flat to greet them.

A twelve year old boy accompanied her to the street introducing himself as Nicolau´s friend- André.



“Who´s Nicolau?” questioned Dippy, with a frightened look.



“Oh..? My son…

He´s in São Paulo with his dad for a few more days, so André´s having to play in the ‘miniature village’ by himself.”



“What village?!” interrogated Serendipity. André called him to see a series of bricks he´d piled up to look like small buildings. Dippy was fascinated by the idea of a Brazilian ‘Madurodam’ and had to be&nbsp;coaxed back into Lagrecca´s car for the visit to 'Fazenda Ingelheim'.



The Brit&nbsp;handed Maria a ‘cd’ to accompany their drive up the steep sided Mosela valley, because he figured that ‘John Barry´s- the Knack and how to get it' would fit their situation,&nbsp;as her new beetle rounded the hilltop, and then followed down into the ‘Fazenda Ingelheim’ neighborhood. They crossed federal highway ‘BR-040’ which connects ‘Rio de Janeiro to Belo Horizonte’, then began a second climb towards some aeronautical towers positioned atop a flat, solitary&nbsp;mountain.



The air cooled as the three reached Maria´s farm. The high altitude&nbsp;oxygen was sweetly fine, and Serendipity lost his breath at a nearly vertical pasture when he spotted grazing cattle far below. She stopped her new yellow VW in front of a stocky A-frame house and pronounced their arrival.

“So what do you guys think?”&nbsp;Maria May&nbsp;inquired, while squinting&nbsp;both eyes in the bright light, and&nbsp;turning to call her brother.



“Where are we ‘lass’, 'On Walkabout'?” joked Lagrecca. Impressed by the endless piles of old Volkswagens, reflecting the sun´s afternoon rays, covered in breeze-blown eucalyptus leaves.



“'Daddy Braun' was a mechanic before he passed away.” she answered.



Then Maria presented Serendipity and Lagrecca to her redhead brother- João. All shook hands and asked one another questions regarding each other´s backgrounds. They were invited into the house for lunch, but none of them had much stomach for real food, so João nodded and said.

“I was down at Bauernfest myself last night; keeping an eye on siss here.” he affirmed with a not-so-convincing glare.

“And I ain´t got much of an appetite either; how about a 'Caipirinha'?” he suggested sprightly.



The soccer game was just finishing, so João commented that the ‘USA’ was going home.

Serendipity seemed so indifferent,&nbsp;that the brother and sister just figured&nbsp;Americans didn´t care much for football.



“Sis here says she´s&nbsp;going to show you ´all that old, half-burned cabin before it comes down huh.” laughed João. You know how&nbsp;dad cared little about the old place anyway; the people who built it&nbsp;talked some funny kind of German!” he added, while twirling his finger in circles beside his ear.

Maria May looked down at her&nbsp;dance shoes&nbsp;without comment.



After a while the party thanked João for his hospitality, and returned to the car where&nbsp;‘Barry´s- Somewhere in Time’ track led them through the final leg of the journey. The pasture road afforded a 100 mile view out towards the North, on a route&nbsp;which a&nbsp;migratory bird&nbsp;might´ve found perfectly useful.

Wisps of low cloud blew repeatedly into the valley, masking the grand vista,&nbsp;but when the sun shone through, a dilapidated half-timbered structure appeared.



Serendipity exited the vehicle behind Lagrecca, from his rear-seat position, and cautiously neared the house. He found an old Mexican cypress tree, draped in curtains of Spanish moss, leaning against the porch roof. It had toppled onto the house in a blaze.



“‘Hexen’...” he thought, as he watched Maria&nbsp;May walking beyond&nbsp;the tree, who´s branches sliced through&nbsp;white layers of returning fog.



When&nbsp;Maria circled&nbsp;around and reached Serendipity,&nbsp;she commented that the cabin´s unburned parts would be salvaged for use elsewhere; causing&nbsp;Dippy to freeze in his tracks.



He was troubled by her apparent conformity.

“You´re really going to demolish 'Grandma´s house'?!” he cried, with his hand waving in reference to the old cottage.

“Just like that?” he&nbsp;finalized with a snap of the fingers.



“How did you know an old woman lived here?!” she questioned with attentive eyes, which then turned to Lagrecca.

Both Maria and&nbsp;the&nbsp;Yorkshire man&nbsp;had the habit of pursing their lips whenever things became uncertain.



Lagrecca&nbsp;tried to read Maria´s&nbsp;flustered, batting eyes, and finally&nbsp;answered.

“Well, it would take serendipity for that, aye?”



Maria May´s face lit up as she perceived that her dilemma was being taken to heart.

“We´ll have to&nbsp;enter the cabin&nbsp;from the&nbsp;back Dippy since the front door´s wedged shut.”

She pulled a small rusty old key from her purse to unlock the kitchen door. It creaked open, revealing a series of yellow plastered walls, framing in a sink-front window with a piney view.



The floorboards on one side of the house sank and bounced back, conforming to the weight of whoever passed over them. Serendipity counted one bedroom, a bathroom, and what seemed to have been the living room, before the old tree toppled down onto it in the fire.

Now, passing clouds and dancing cypress needles formed it´s ceiling.

Birds nested in every corner, together with squirrels, who´s cache of inch-long Monkey Puzzle pine nuts overflowed from the openings in the walls.

Serendipity, the ‘first-generation Californian’ removed one of the countless seedlings which had popped out from the cracks, in order to show his friends.

“Look, this is what happens if we don´t eat the pinion nuts.” He lifted the miniature yucca-looking plant into the air,&nbsp;inspiring Lagrecca to playfully declare the west wing as a ‘re-born&nbsp;ecological paradise’, or simply the ‘sunny side’, as it had no roof.

Maria giggled at his optimism, however, argued that it was unfortunately the very side which needed repair. Then she pointed and commented.

“That large door over there is the one that leads onto the front porch.”



Serendipity saw that the ceiling beams were presently resting on the door and drew up his conclusion.

“The whole thing&nbsp;can be wedged back up with a good 2x4” wood brace; hammer its footing a little more each day until the door works again, then 'sister’&nbsp;the beams to other ones so that&nbsp;they won´t come down again.” he said with upturned hands.



The floors showed signs of strange wing marks, but then again after so much wildlife had come and gone over the years, there was really no way of arriving&nbsp;at any conclusions.

Lastly, Dippy positioned a chair below the eastside attic door and began pushing against it till cracks of sun light streamed in from the roofless, Westside of the house. He stretched his neck up like a swan in order to make sure that nothing had been left unnoticed in the preserved gable-end attic. Confirming his suspicions, he sealed it shut again.



As dusk was approaching, Maria and Lagrecca called Dippy back to the car so that they could all make it to Bauernfest on time for her next presentation. However, Dippy yelled for them to go on ahead of him, in order to let João know about his house-reform estimate of around twenty grand$; all expenses paid.&nbsp;Meanwhile he´d have time to baptize himself in the cold&nbsp;waterfall which flowed behind the cottage.



“That´s ice water Dip!” they called out simultaneously. “You´ll catch pneumonia in there at this time of year…” finalized Maria. But to no avail, because Serendipity´s crazy mind was as set as&nbsp;a cuckoo&nbsp;clock.



“I´ll meet you two back at the farm gate!” he yelled, while running upstream towards the glassy pool in his ‘Clock House underwear’ and jumping into&nbsp;the pool&nbsp;head first. Maria shivered just thinking about the temperature, while Lagrecca lit his pipe, awaiting Dippy´s resurgence.



Tremblingly he said,

“You know what? Tell&nbsp;your brother&nbsp;that I´ll&nbsp;reform it for free if you guys can´t cover the costs, so you´ll have nothing to lose.” Dippy smiled from beneath a fallen log, as cold water ran from his long brown hair, and steam wafted&nbsp;off his shoulders.

Maria couldn´t fathom what she´d just witnessed and signaled Lagrecca into her yellow beetle.



In no time at all Dippy was alone in the encroaching silence where only the trickling sound of running water made itself heard

“'Ing´s Home Farm'...” he repeated to himself.

“That´s 'Fazenda Ingelheim'...this is 'Ing´s Place'? Marveled Dippy,&nbsp;watching the fog thicken.



He shivered as he dressed, took a last look at the blackened gingerbread-looking house, and sprinted off in the direction of&nbsp;João´s farm.

However, as darkness was falling fast, he took a wrong turn down an ever-worsening track until finally it narrowed into a mere foot path which ended at what looked like a large, bromeliad-covered rock slab.

“Where am I?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder through dark clouds.

Suddenly Dippy began hearing footsteps edging their way along the bottom of the stone, and wondered if they were an echo of his own. But then came the rustling of dry brush beyond the stone, so he concluded that someone must&nbsp;have just&nbsp;walked past, and would be only a little ways ahead. He followed for a few more minutes calling out.

“Hey you, hold on!”

Then all at once, when the noise disappeared, he heard a&nbsp;farm vehicle&nbsp;driving along a&nbsp;dirt road just before him. Serendipity made out the silhouette of an old gate in the approaching headlights. He jumped into the road to flag&nbsp;down an&nbsp;old truck and was given a lift back up to the Braun´s farm.



“Thanks a million!” Dippy called out to the driver in relief, who in turn, sent his regards to Maria, and sped off into the dark forest. It was at this time that a second set of headlights began illuminating the woods around him.

“Did you get lost ‘Cali’?” asked Lagrecca from his passenger side&nbsp;window. Serendipity was soothed to see his friends, entered the car, and said,

“It´s 'Ingel´s-Heim' alright!”



“Do you mean 'Ing' like in England?” questioned Lagrecca.



“Yes, like 'Ing'&nbsp;lives here...” answered Serendipity with a snorty laugh.



“Are you insinuating that this 'Ing'&nbsp;lives in&nbsp;my country too?” continued Lagrecca.

'

“I think 'Ing´s’ overrunning&nbsp;the whole world!” confirmed Dippy.



“What a load of ‘cod´s wallop’ mate...” protested Lagrecca.



“Well this 'Ing', 'Eng', 'Ang', or whatever you want, is the&nbsp;founder of modern English, and English is the international language now,&nbsp;right?” concluded Serendipity.



A smile came over Lagrecca´s face.

“The ‘Angels and Saxons’ certainly&nbsp;brought the original&nbsp;form to the British Isles, but the question is, whether we can still call it English at all; and whether

&nbsp;‘International’ means it ‘now’ belongs to the world, or&nbsp;the world to it?” inquired&nbsp;the Yorkshireman,&nbsp;in his stove-pipe voice, before pursing his lips again. 

“After all, we´ve got several Latin-based languages, but no more Roman Empire.”



Maria found difficulty in accompanying the foreigners whenever they&nbsp;argued in&nbsp;their native tongue, but was amused just the same.

“Ing´s place?” she finally questioned, with a nodding head.

They saw humor in her seemingly sulky face, and soon went back to Portuguese.



A pit stop in the Mosela neighborhood was just long enough for Maria to slip into a state of performance, because things tonight were beginning to&nbsp;feel different to her.

All of a sudden&nbsp;Maria May&nbsp;began to see&nbsp;her&nbsp;world from an&nbsp;‘upside down standpoint’. She perceived that Serendipity was connecting her&nbsp;with things she´d always yearned for. Maria no longer felt alone now that they´d met and seemed to sense his presence everywhere she turned.



The hair that flashed&nbsp;through the&nbsp;light as she leaped over the fire on her second night was both hers and his. She saw him in her own smile, because, deep down inside, new bridges had formed.



“With Serendipity, grandma´s gingerbread house had finally broken it´s long silence, and began rising up from the ashes." she thought.

Maria May continued&nbsp;going over the details&nbsp;as she lay down on the grass, exhausted from dancing, and stared up at the constellations and fast moving satellites,&nbsp;in gratitude for the wishes that seemed to have been granted.



However, in no time at all, she was pulled back&nbsp;to her feet&nbsp;in order to participate in a human train, where each person held onto the shoulders of the&nbsp;one in front, forming a long centipede which twisted and turned, like time itself,&nbsp;around the inside of Isabel´s Crystal Palace, to the thumping beat of yet another ‘Blumenau Oompah Band’.

Lagrecca claimed that he´d never been so dizzy before and asked what they´d given him.

Serendipity passed Maria and the Brit with Natalie holding onto his shoulders. Then the train folded back again revealing countless other combinations, until finally the four held tightly to one another and detached from the rest, going off in their own direction.

Serendipity led the way into a crowd assembled amongst heat lamps, and collapsed onto the grass; Natalie falling to his left and Maria to his right, while Lagrecca made himself comfortable across the three like a ‘hatch mark’.



It took some time for the group to gather their scruples in order to stop laughing and converse like reasonable folk.

Soon Dippy&nbsp;asked if they wanted to hear&nbsp;the medieval fairy tale about ‘Hansel and Gretel’. The Brazilians knew this story by the name of ‘João e Maria’. They gave him the go ahead, and when he was finished, everyone became ecstatic with questions.

“But how come&nbsp;the ‘siblings’&nbsp;couldn´t get away from the bad witch?!” they interrogated.



“It´s probably because, like every&nbsp;professional sociopath, she was sure to have pinned one against the other. Gretel had been strategically turned against her own brother&nbsp;but didn´t realize it, and probably agreed with the old woman that&nbsp;Hansel would eat them out of house and home.

The story didn´t explain that the witch was most certainly their evil stepmom, but that their dad wasn´t aware of her two-face nature since she always waited for him to fall asleep before sneaking out into the woods to check on her captives.”



“Do you&nbsp;really think&nbsp;Gretel&nbsp;wouldn´t&nbsp;rather have&nbsp;freed her brother and escaped?!” called Natalie.



“Why didn´t she then..?&nbsp;I bet&nbsp;the bad witch&nbsp;had her believe that Hansel wanted the cookies all to himself. Besides, the evil woman probably convinced her that he´d taste just like roast duck,&nbsp;and that the ‘skinny little girl’,&nbsp;would only turn into&nbsp;a beautiful&nbsp;maiden if she had&nbsp;a little more meat on her bones- "Better to eat&nbsp;him than you, right?!" People often prefer to believe in&nbsp;lies, even&nbsp;when they´re&nbsp;from an ill-natured person!



“But the part of the story that only&nbsp;one or two&nbsp;of us&nbsp;know is that there was a good witch living in a real ‘Pfefferkuchenhaus or gingerbread house', who was well aware of the bad witch´s scheme, and saw an opportunity to finally break the spell and convince Gretel to push the step-witch into the cooking pot instead!

Then she turned them into a pair of swans so that they could swim back to their dad.”



Everyone in the vicinity agreed, in one form or other, that the stepmother had mysteriously perished at exactly the same time as the bad witch, and that her&nbsp;wax gingerbread house was only a&nbsp;facade for&nbsp;stolen wealth and human traffic.

Amongst the crowd now was the driver of the Audi, who´d stopped by to pick Natalie up for the second night. She blew everyone kisses, and stumbled towards his car.



“That´s all for 'this kid' too, so I´m leaving you lovebirds to&nbsp;get a&nbsp;taxi in your own direction; ‘England’ plays tomorrow!” affirmed Lagrecca, as he rubbed hands with Serendipity and Maria, and was off to Hotel York.





Finally the gates closed and the couple was all alone on a dark, tree-lined street, where two significant rivers met; one coming from the North and the other from the South. They smiled bashfully at each other, but since the street lighting had difficulty penetrating the leafy canopy, their expressions went unnoticed, leaving each with only a mere guess at what the other was feeling.





Maria put&nbsp;her cell phone&nbsp;into Serendipity´s hand and wrapped her arm&nbsp;around his, the way couples used to do in old movies, for their promenade towards the point.

They climbed to the top of a steeply-arched, red bridge, stopping in the middle to watch the water flow underneath.

Maria May removed her worn, black dance slippers and tiptoed about the wooden boards, like the ballerina she was. 

“Relevé..?” she whispered, while lifting herself high into the air.



The cold planks felt soothing. She reached into her purse for a cigarette, throwing the spent match into the current below, and leaned far over the edge in pursuit of 'Nicolau´s&nbsp;secret night fairies'.

Serendipity became interested in her story and soon found himself accompanying the young woman´s elegant figure over the rail, listening for signs of nocturnal village life.

Within minutes, sounds of hammering began, followed by sawing.



Dippy was impressed with this hidden world, but when he tried to make a comment, Maria immediately covered his mouth then pulled away.

“Shhhh!” she whispered.

“They´ll hear us.”

He nodded apologetically with eyes open wide; using his shoulders to affirm that he hadn´t realized the delicate nature of the situation.



When the cigarette reached its end, she lit them another and passed it to his outstretched fingers. The smoke floated gently down the busy canal like low clouds, in a way&nbsp;which the night fairies may have confused for a sign of coming rain. They didn´t, however, stop working, but rather, appeared to be increasing production in hopes of completing things before the possible flood came.



Maria May´s pronounced&nbsp;design brushed repeatedly against Dippy´s, provoking a continuous chain of kisses, who´s sounds were concealed within the trickling of water. Maria would turn to look at Serendipity and study his features, which became quite distinguished whenever one of them took a puff off the cigarette; deepening desires. However, she´d always turn her attention back towards the fairies just as the orange glow faded.



When an eternity had finally passed, Maria held her black chamois at the end of extended arms and asked Serendipity to wish for the first thing that came to mind. He began picturing a snowy mountain, when, to his surprise a pair of dance slippers suddenly dropped straight into the water, being carried away to shoe heaven.



He looked at her sadly.

“You didn´t want them anymore?”



“It´s a proper burial.” she affirmed, while taking his arm once again for the&nbsp;last remaining steps toward the taxi cabs.







Sunday´s bright rays attempted to tan Maria´s pleasant curves as she nestled further into the arms of her sun-bronzed lover, who´d just fled a Virginia summer. They rolled around until noon, when the phone rang for the tenth time.



“Bloody hell mate, poor old England is getting smashed by those naughty Germans! Good thing you´re not rooting for them twits!” cried Lagrecca.



Maria took hold of the remote control with the objective of watching her second favorite team win the game. The couple confirmed the Brit´s sad state of affairs, apologizing to him for 'England´s’ eventual departure.



“You´re going to have to support the Brazilian team now!” laughed Maria, stealing the phone from Dippy.



“I suspect I might be altering my citizenship too!” added Lagrecca.



Maria disappeared into the kitchen wrapped in a blanket, then returned with coffee and 'Helga´s Brot’ toast. Serendipity replaced the TV with one of his rave techno cd´s for her to check out. She claimed to have recognized a few tracks from her dance years out in São Paulo, but found it strange that a non-dancer would actually go out and purchase this genre of music.



Meanwhile, without realizing it, an electronic pulse was drumming a Morris code clear across the empty lot to the next building over, and penetrating right into Nicolau´s friend´s house, serving as some kind of secret language which spoke only to André and Nicolau´s young minds.

Before Maria could get around to commenting on the potency of her new home theatre, knocking was heard at the front door.



“Who is it?!”&nbsp;yelled Maria May.



“Is that American guy there?” called André above the music. She waved Serendipity to the door.



“’Boa tarde'...” saluted the Californian, with a wave.

“Is the volume too high?” he asked with a facetious smile.

“Sorry about that son.” he continued in an apologetic manner.

“Could I just leave it on until this track finishes?” asked Dippy.



“'Não! Não!'” protested the twelve year old.



“Ok!!! If you insist then I´ll just...”

Serendipity stopped talking in mid sentence, turning swiftly to lower the music. However, there had been a serious misunderstanding regarding the noise level, since André came running into the flat to turn the dial back to its previous decibel; just after Dippy had lowered it. This caused even more confusion, until Maria got off the phone with her son and intervened.

“Don´t worry about it Dip, André loves loud music so much that we leave him in charge of dj´ing at ‘Pop´s tavern’ some times.”



It was then that Serendipity got a ‘thumbs up’ from the adolescent, who proceeded to take his hand and lead him down&nbsp;for a second&nbsp;visit to the little riverside village.

André showed him to the latest construction site, which was situated on a piece of high ground where the summer floods wouldn´t reach. Serendipity asked him what sort of building could be requiring so much digging.

André smiled&nbsp;broadly when he introduced his head capitalist man; who was a Smurf-size cat named ‘Iggy’. He was supposedly the town´s rightful inheritor, and therefore, enjoyed something of an imperial status. It seemed that this cat had a secret police of his own, a family coat of arms, as well as a ranch that was soon to become a thriving border town, set up to deal in an endless array of black market products from neighboring countries.

Serendipity hadn´t realized the complexity of the situation until he´d been shown a small farm situated between Iggy´s ranch house and the river front area. According to André, this was a piece of property that had been unlawfully settled by landless peasants from over the border in British Guyana, in compensation for Iggy´s family´s neglect of payment for generations of migrant labor.

Apparently, Iggy´s family had considered that the countless debts which ‘Nicolau´s- kitchen chef’&nbsp;had acquired&nbsp;were more than settled by the time of their mysterious disappearance; but that this was where the Iggy cat diverged from his late family, as he dishonored and tore up all the receipts regarding payment.



“If it´s a family feud that Nicolau´s low-class clan is looking for, then they´ll be in for it because Iggy has the right to river access!”



“But why can´t he simply allow the chef to obtain a title to his land and build&nbsp;his desired&nbsp;‘Boa Adjetiva Restaurant’ there; then Iggy could lease the right of way for the future port?” humored Serendipity, laughingly.

“I mean, you get half the city and a giant castle right? How many stories is that going to have by the way?”



“The ‘Lage do Iggy' is&nbsp;a dance club that´ll be on the&nbsp;twentieth floor!” answered André. 

“Iggy knows how to make money because everybody´s aware that border towns need red-light districts; but what´s the chef going to cook in that filthy joint, caviar?” giggled André.



Serendipity stared at the boy in hopes of understanding what his logic was, but soon realized that Iggy simply wanted to run the show. Dippy put his hand to his forehead and began laughing again.



“It looks like the chef´s going to need reinforcements.” added Dippy while kneeling in front of Nicolau´s dilapidated old farm building, and observing the sparkling little creek running behind the structure where cattle grazed. He noticed a collection of two storey buildings encroaching on farm property like&nbsp;at the ‘West Bank, in Jordan’. It seemed&nbsp;like a time bomb&nbsp;which would eventually have to be defused, however, Serendipity couldn´t think of any immediate solutions.



Suddenly Lagrecca pulled up in front of&nbsp;the Mosela&nbsp;Tavern for a visit, waved to Dippy´s crouching figure, and headed up the stairs to cry on Maria´s shoulder about his team´s elimination from the cup. He began talking about how outdated the players had become and that it was time his country began putting more Brazilians in to stir things up.

Suddenly Serendipity made out the image of a Tonka truck-size longboat rowing its way up the ‘Mosela River’ towards the little village. The crew of blue Smirfs was dressed in grey robes which made them look like monks, and were so silent that the Iggy cat didn´t even seem to notice them. The small voyagers inspected the riverside area, exploring as far in as the chef´s farm, then returned to their boat and quietly went floating back down stream with the current.







“Wake up 'Maple Syrup', you´ll be late for work.” said Maria May the following day, still half dreamingly. Serendipity saw he´d overslept, and that the week at 'das Haus' had begun.

He went straight for a cold ‘wakeup’ shower, and strong coffee, then, sat in warm rays on the top of the stairs observing the winter clouds circling the mountain above the Mosela valley before the sun burnt them off. Then, finishing his French toast with honey, he packed a sandwich into&nbsp;a Helga´s Brot bread bag and drove Lagrecca´s borrowed car along the ‘parallelepipeds stone road' to the Ingelheim farm.



Upon arrival he was greeted by João and his ruff-neck friends- Julio Cesar, Augustino, and Claudio, who´s immediate reactions were of a belittling nature, but which, due to his Jamestown Colony experience, had actually been expected. So he returned the rude comments with humorous ones, and that got the crew onto a comic roll.

His tools hadn´t yet arrived from Jamestown, so he´d be counting on borrowing crowbars and hammers till midweek. ‘Grandpa Lobato Monteiro’ had offered his own address down in Rio de Janeiro as the place for his serendipitous grandson´s saws, drills, sanders and tool-belt to be sent.



João and Maria´d left the job completely to Serendipity´s discretion, but the rest of the crew had the nasty habit of disrespecting the idea of having an American as their foreman. Plus they were still in the mindset that this building was worth more in pieces, which they could then conveniently utilize on their own residences at a reduced cost.



“Shall we start with the ‘Dach-roof system' then?” suggested Dippy.



“Yes mama!” answered Claudio in a defiant tone. Augustino was the first to climb on top of the ‘Dachfirst-ridge line', and begin crow-baring off the rotten 'Dachsparren-roofrafters' one by one; since they were all fixed in place using old fashioned, cut nails. Dippy requested that these small items&nbsp;be preserved for future use.



“Whatever you say, Longhair!” spit Claudio again.

Serendipity was becoming uneasy about the idea of having to get through four&nbsp;months of work in their presence, when suddenly lunch break was called.

The three sat on one side of the picnic bench, leaving Dippy alone on the other. They observed him pulling out a fried egg sandwich from&nbsp;his bread bag in disgust, and Serendipity giggled as both Claudio and Augustino scrambled their way toward the fallen porch for the rest of their fine smelling Macdonald meals.

American-style trash flew in all directions as Julio Cesar, who knew his friends were difficult to get along with, pardoned their offensive behavior and began a conversation with the foreigner.



“They´re communists!” reported&nbsp;Julio during an ironic discourse. He then informed Serendipity of his affinity for catching ‘smoking waves and babes’ down at the beach, and how he didn´t really follow politics.

“These guys just like to go on about the way your country supported the ‘military coup’ that held Brazil down long enough for ‘Old Glory’ to get on top.”

Julio Cesar&nbsp;shook his head at Serendipity as though he understood the argument´s futility; however, even he had certain distrust for Dippy´s society.



Serendipity tried in vain to dismiss the crew´s rude comments as playfulness,

But&nbsp;Julio affirmed that his friends´ mistreatment was a serious act of defiance against what they considered to be ‘American Imperialism’.



By the end of lunch break, Coke cans, French fries and cigarette butts created a wasteland effect in all directions.&nbsp;Julio Cesar&nbsp;sheltered his face from the trash blowing wind in order to light his own and passed it around in hopes of bringing about some sort of cordiality amongst the crew.



“Too many chiefs and not enough Indians…” he said tauntingly.





Julio´s logic worked like a charm and the guys synchronized into steady production till about midweek. However, beyond that, things would once again see a steep decline.

Nobody wanted to try understanding Serendipity. One of the reasons might have been his insistence on making dual-language references for what would otherwise be no more than simple everyday house parts.

Perhaps it was Serendipity´s fault for having treated a Brazilian experience as though he´d been confusing Petropólis with some icy gothic land. But ever since his return from a visit to 'Johan Gottlieb Kaiser´s, 1847, Casa do Colono', which was presently a German ‘Einwanderer or immigrant museum', situated on the other end of the city, the language equivalents for these house parts were still fresh in his mind.



Serendipity was fascinated by the style used in the Imperial city.

For instance: the ‘gable end walls or Giebleseitewänden' were made of meter thick stone and mortar, while the ‘connecting walls or Verbindungswände', utilized cement-covered straw. The museum had left exposed sections all around the structure for observation.

What impressed Dippy most was its similarity to that used by the English settlers of Jamestown in 1607, which is considered the first village built by British immigrants in the United States.



During his participation there, he´d been taught equivalent techniques in 'Wattle and Daub Construction’; a system where mud was spread onto a basket-like arrangement of tree trunks, branches and straw. Little by little he discovered how the cross braces worked, how to produce and secure a ‘thatched roof’, and the methods used in ‘glass blowing' for window panes.



It all looked so similar to pictures he´d grown up seeing of his father´s childhood ‘Timber-frame house or Fachwerkhaus’, near ‘Hamburg Germany’, where 'hand-hued wooden posts’, fixed at all angles, supported swollen walls; giving the structure a pillow effect. These houses continued reminding Serendipity of the old story books he used to color in with crayons.



This romanticizing of such a simple folk house was exactly the thing that the ruff neck crew had found so disturbing about Serendipity; aside from his ‘girly hair’, of course. They were of a modern school of thought, in which new was better, and that old things only served to stand in the way of progress.

Thus one could only imagine what types of jokes might have come his way, given these circumstances.





By Wednesday afternoon, as Maria May showed up at the jobsite, in route from the airport, with Lagrecca in the front seat and little Nicolau at the wheel, to check in on the crew´s progress, the gang was just settling down to some after-work refreshments.

The&nbsp;ten year old&nbsp;honked the horn while parking the new beetle in a gravelly corner beside the toppled tree. Lagrecca allowed the anxious boy to jump out through his side just like an&nbsp;animal might, so as to use up his remaining energy making a white-haired&nbsp;‘Polly doll' fly around the premises.



Serendipity came down, from what used to be the west wing of the roof, and took Maria into his fatigued arms. Lagrecca appeared to be avoiding the couple as he walked straight over to share a beer and make small talk with the crew. The clouds passed by rapidly in the clear, cold, darkening sky, forcing Maria to dig into her car for a red ski jacket.



“Nicolau!” she cried.

“I´d like you to meet someone...” Serendipity was still awaiting Lagrecca´s greeting when her son approached him with a small handshake accompanied by cheek kisses. He practically threw his 'Polly doll' into Dippy´s face for him to meet as well.



"And who might you be?" coughed Serendipity.



"I´m Polly, the restaurant chef´s girl”. she answered.



Then Maria asked him to explain the trip he´d taken to 'Campos do Jordão' with his father.

“Serendipity stayed at the same&nbsp;bed and breakfast&nbsp;as you both did son.”



“Oh, the ‘Pousada da Maçã' há?!” commented Dippy in a surprised tone.

“And did you eat the famous apple strudels, and a lot of fried pinion nuts, and&nbsp;maple ice cream?” he continued.

Nicolau made the little Polly doll&nbsp;nod her head repeatedly.



Next, Serendipity took Maria by the hand to show her their progress as well as to complain about his three assistants. She soon made him realize that one of the crew members was indebted to the Mosela Tavern, so his buddies had offered to help him work it off.



Soon after the&nbsp;crew had excused themselves, with the objective of meeting João for a long night of football and beer at Gehren´s Bar, Lagrecca approached Serendipity in the same sardonic manner as the ruff-necks had, offering a handshake, then helped Maria and Dippy clean up around the place.

In half hour it had gotten dark and cold at the ‘Pfefferkuchen-gingerbread house', which helped to accelerate their return home.



Lagrecca promptly&nbsp;departed to join the group down at Gehren´s Bar, while Dippy settled in at Maria´s flat.&nbsp;Sometime during the night, his grandfather called to inform him that the carpentry tools had arrived, so Serendipity said that he´d go&nbsp;down with his friends for a visit on Friday.



That night&nbsp;Serendipity was so tired that he could hardly even play with the kids. Maria tucked him into bed early, promising not to delay her return. But by the time she finally came into the room,&nbsp;the Californian&nbsp;was fast asleep dreaming of syrupy ‘Stroopwafels’, tall snowy mountains, and people yodeling about the ‘Mattertal valley’ in a sing song form of Swiss-German which was foreign to his ears.



The next day dawned so cold that Dippy found it difficult to get out of bed. He even settled for a steamy shower, and entered the sunlit kitchen for his morning coffee, packed his lunch for the fourth day, and was once again off to the jobsite; however, in Maria´s car this time, because she didn´t need it for anything on this day.



The morning mist clung thickly to the deep green subtropical hillsides, forcing Serendipity to close the windows every time he passed through a cloud bank. He arrived at the site before the crew, as was usual, but noticed that by-&nbsp;‘half past twelve’ they still hadn´t shown up; that´s- ‘half past twelve’ now... It became immediately clear to him what had befallen them the night before- ‘Germany’ had lost to ‘Spain’.

So he decided to make it a four day weekend and drove over to slip a shopping list under João´s door for the following week´s work.



The day became pleasantly warm, and by the time of his arrival at Maria´s flat, things were really getting hot. Some of her friends crowded into the apartment for a barbeque, while the kids played agitatedly in the small town. Maria´s girlfriends yelled for André and Nicolau to come up and eat, but they seemed to be quarreling extensively about city politics, to the effect of impressing a temporary new member of their town; consequently paying the adults no mind.



“Serendipity!”&nbsp;shouted one of Maria´s dance colleagues, from the apartment door.

“My daughter´s playing down there with your boys!” and she began trying to convince Dippy to lend a hand with the kids,&nbsp;then the&nbsp;young woman&nbsp;just disappeared back into the flat, leaving him alone with the children.



"Ok then..." He said to himself.

“It was a pleasure to meet you too!” he shouted up at the door.



Dippy then stepped into the village.

“And who might you be?” he asked, while looking at the new town member. The little&nbsp;girl&nbsp;turned red and&nbsp;said that&nbsp;she had been playing with Nicolau´s white-haired Polly doll.

She and the restaurant chef were cleaning up the mess around the farm so that they could start&nbsp;on the repairs. André sneered at the whole&nbsp;situation just as Dippy patted their heads and climbed up the stairs to join the ‘shindig'.



Serendipity had barely made it through the door, after promising the kids he´d return for a ‘village tour’, when suddenly Lagrecca pulled his air-cooled Volkswagen up onto the curb with such momentum that Dippy´s formal introduction to Maria´s friend was interrupted in mid sentence.



“I hadn´t realized the size of them bells! And when they began tolling, we all bloody ran for cover!”

Lagrecca gave kisses all around, then, presented Maria with a mug sporting an engraving of&nbsp;King Peter´s cathedral on one side.



She looked at him affectionately.

“But there´s no clock on its tower!” she reacted.



“No? Well, I thought you´d like it anyway lass. They were selling them at the ‘Germania souvenir shop’.”



Then he turned to Serendipity and&nbsp;reminded him about the gothic Lutheran church&nbsp;they´d seen days back

“Remember the one&nbsp;situated behind Dom Pedro´s Cathedral?” He informed his friend about the traditional Sunday masses still held in ‘Deutsch’, and that it could be interesting for Serendipity to attend.



“How did you discover it Lagrecca, from Natalie?” inquired Maria.



“Well it´s an old Hunsrücker´s church. Is she Lutheran then?” he asked, while touching an index finger to his lips and squinting at Maria´s curious grimace.



Serendipity smiled like a child, while Lagrecca made a statement to Maria and her not yet introduced friend.



“It appears to me that you Petropólitans continue paying taxes to your formally exiled Royal Family. Does this mean that the Imperial city still belongs to ‘The Crown'?”



“‘Laudemio’!”&nbsp;shouted Maria´s still, not yet introduced friend above the music.

“That´s the name of the property tax which we pay to King Pedro´s family till today.” she added, while calling her angelic daughter back up to the house so that they could head home.



Lagrecca spoke again, smirking.

“I had no idea that the&nbsp;Cathedral was a Royal Family tomb either!

“They went so far as to produce perfectly carved stone sculptures of Dom Pedro II, his wife, daughter, and his French son-in-law, above each of their respective tombs; you know…on the right just as you enter the building?&nbsp;Some claim it to be of Norman-French design.” he added with a lifted index finger.



Then the Englishman covered his laugh, and pronounced the Cathedral of Pedro de Alcantara’ to literally be-



the ‘Dead Center of Petrópolis’... “Ha, ha, ha....” continued Lagrecca.



The group of friends couldn´t get past his dark British humor.

And as the party carried on laughing, Lagrecca spoke again.



“And you know what? It took a hundred years to construct.” he said, with tongue in cheek.

“Poor old Pedro and Isabel never got around to seeing it completed.”



“Speaking of special spots, are we on for tomorrow?” asked, Dippy.

“My grandpa says there´s a surprise for us waiting down in Rio de Janeiro.”



Maria and Lagrecca both nodded their heads, but were soon interrupted by a long, high-pitched scream which came reverberating up the stairs from down in the miniature village.



Maria May, who recognized her son´s voice, ran to the door.