Interrupção/ Interruption
Autor: Carla S.M. | Publicado: 2014-02-07T16:55:00-08:00



INTERRUPÇÃO

Carla Silva-Muhammad




Foto: mulhernegraecia.com.br




Depois de rodar por horas sem ter certeza
de seu destino, Fernanda foi delicadamente solicitada pelo trocador a se
retirar do ônibus, que finalmente chegara ao seu destino final: a rodoviária.
Um pouco desnorteada, a moça se levantou com certo esforço e procurou aparentar
controle, embora sequer pudesse sentir o chão. Alcançou com bastante dificuldade um orelhão, mas ao
procurar um cartão telefônico na bolsa, concluiu que não havia pessoa para quem
pudesse ligar naquele momento. Por mais que tentasse, não conseguia concatenar
as ideias, tampouco sabia ao certo que sentimento lhe ia na alma. Alma? Pela
primeira vez na vida cogitava sua existência e um calafrio lhe percorria a
espinha. 

Uma
dor aguda interrompeu seus pensamentos. Temeu perder os sentidos e acordar num
hospital. Esta razão a impulsionou a desistir da ligação impossível e procurar
o banheiro. Colheu algumas moedas no bolso da calça jeans para pagar sua
entrada e as estendeu à mulher jovem na roleta, que lhe apontou os pedaços de
papel higiênico previamente cortados e dobrados em pequenos pedaços dispostos
de maneira organizada numa prateleira. Notou que uma outra mulher passava pano
molhado no chão, cantarolando uma melodia gospel que vinha de um rádio de pilha
perto da pia.

Escolheu
ao acaso o pedaço de papel higiênico a que tinha direito e concentrou sua
atenção na geografia daquele banheiro de rodoviária. Precisava de privacidade e
queria estar o mais afastada possível da porta de entrada. Concentrou suas
forças neste intento, mas foi bruscamente interrompida por aquela dor que
insistia em vingar-se dela. Fernanda precisou apoiar-se na pia para não cair e
este gesto chamou a atenção da mulher que cantava.

"Moça. Você está
sangrando."

De
fato, ela sangrava muito além daquele sangue, o qual agora pintava de vermelho
o chão que a mulher acabara de limpar.

De
um salto a mulher segurou Fernanda pelos braços e a arrastou até uma cadeira.

"Você está machucada! Maria, vá chamar alguém, meu Deus. A moça precisa de uma ambulância."

Fernanda
sentia uma enorme vontade de não mais existir. Fechou os olhos e desejou
profundamente se esvair junto àquela hemorragia. Mas abriu-os novamente e,
segurando gentilmente a mão daquela desconhecida, pediu-lhe que não chamasse
ninguém. A mulher então deitou seus olhos de mãe naquela jovem que sangrava
inexplicavelmente no chão de um banheiro público e sentiu uma compaixão maior
que si mesma. Perguntou se ela desejava ligar para alguém vir buscá-la, mas
Fernanda recusou. A calça jeans estava agora banhada em sangue, mas o
sangramento parecia ter diminuído.

"Raimunda, o que eu
faço?" – perguntou Maria, a mulher mais jovem da entrada.

"Fecha a porta e vai correndo pedir uma calça
jeans pra Luana da loja de roupa. Diz que depois eu pago!"

Maria
obedeceu e Fernanda ouviu quando ela saiu, trancando a porta. Munida de uma
toalha surrada e sabonete, Raimunda ajudou a moça a dirigir-se a um dos
chuveiros, onde ela, sentada numa cadeira de plástico, deixou-se tomar um
rápido e sofrido banho.

Minutos
depois Fernanda estava novamente limpa e vestida. Sentada a um canto do
banheiro, ao ver aquelas duas mulheres tão bondosas limparem seu sangue
espalhado pelo chão, sentiu finalmente que as lágrimas caíam sem cessar e a dor
que sentia ia aquém daquela que há pouco ameaçara-lhe a vida.

O
banheiro teve as portas reabertas e Fernanda despediu-se de cada uma das duas
mulheres com um abraço sem forcas, prometendo voltar para pagar a ajuda
recebida.

Tão
logo ela se foi, Maria viu que a amiga chorava enquanto reajustava a estação de
rádio. Raimunda entendia. Também já havia feito aborto antes.








ENGLISH TRANSLATION



Interruption

by Carla Silva-Muhammad



After circulating for
hours, uncertain of her own fate, Fernanda was kindly asked to vacate the
otherwise empty bus, which have reached its final destination: Petrópolis’ old
bus station. Disoriented, the young lady
struggled to stand up, fighting to compose herself while barely feeling the
ground. She managed to reach a
payphone, but while searching her purse for a phone card, she realized there
was no one to call. As
much as she tried, she felt unable to formulate cohesive thoughts or to
distinct her feelings. Was she a lost soul? Soul? The contemplation of the very
existence of the soul made her tremble. A sharp pain interrupted such
unprecedented thought. 

Fearing waking up in a
hospital’s bed, she dismissed the impossible “call idea” in favor of a new
mission: finding the restroom. She paid the young female cashier with the few
coins she founded in her pocket and was directed to the toilette paper section
of the public restroom, where several small pieces of pink toilette paper were pre-disposed
in a certain order. She noticed that an older woman was mopping the floor while
singing a gospel song along with the radio, which was near the sink.

Randomly choosing the piece
of pink toilette paper she was entitled to, she proceeded to study the geography
of that bus station restroom. Privacy was crucial at that very moment, so it
was important for her to remain as far as possible of the entrance. But while
attempting to focus in such project, she was abruptly interrupted once again by
the pain and its inflicting doses of revenge. Fernanda had to lean on the sink
to avoid heating the floor, and such commotion drew the attention of the lady
mopping the floor.

“Miss, you are bleeding!” 

In fact, her bleeding
surpassed the tangible and profuse flow of blood now coloring the recent
cleaned floor.

With a jump, the woman
grabbed Fernanda’s arms and dragged her to a chair.

“You are hurt!” - she
screamed in shock. “Maria, go call someone! Oh God. She needs an ambulance.”

All Fernanda could feel was
a deep desire to no longer be. She closed her eyes, wishing to ooze herself
away with the hemorrhage. But instead, she calmly held the hands of the woman
and asked her to call no one. The woman laid her mother’s eyes on the young girl
copiously and inexplicably bleeding on the floor of a public restroom and all
her being emanated compassion. Fernanda refused to have anyone come to get her.
Her jeans were now bathed in blood, but somehow the bleeding seemed to have
stopped.

“Raimunda, what should I
do?”- inquired Maria, the younger cashier.

“Close the doors and run to
Luana’s store. Ask her for a new pair of jeans and tell her I will paid for it
later.”

Fernanda heard Maria
locking the doors after herself. 

Armed with a worn towel and
soap, Raimunda helped the girl reach one of the showers. Seated in a plastic
chair, Fernanda took a quick and painful shower. 

Clean and dressed, Fernanda
later saw the two strangers cleaning the floor covered with her blood and could
no longer contain the tears that nearly suffocated her. Her pain was now of a
different kind, beyond the one that had just threatened her so-call life. 
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The doors of the restroom
were reopened. Fernanda said goodbye with a weak hug, promising the women to
return and pay her debt. As soon as she left, Maria realized her friend was
quietly crying while fixing the radio. Raimunda knew. She herself has had an
abortion before.