what I really liked...and what my friend liked...the world for him... was... soccer...for me... I wasnt much caring...to see how was the shape of the trajectory... which conducted the ball...to the goal of the flamengo-team...what really did make me feel happy...was to be able to enjoy the harmony I was experiencing...inside an enormous tree... way up there...feeling the wind to swing its branches...feeling a happiness which I had never felt in my life...the happiness of being able to play in an yard like that...barefoot...in the peaceful mood of my grandmothers house...--- --- ---at night... after a nice-little-beans-soup with spaghetti strips...and with a nice-little-taste of coentro... ( an herb typical from the northeast-part-of-the-country...)it was time to watch television...with my cousin... my grandmother... and her sister tia lurdes...tia lurdes had broken her ankle...it was at the bus-stop...the bus took off... squeezing her ankle...between the bus-wheel and the side-walk...she used to spend all day sitting...in front of the television...with the leg in a plaster-cast...sometimes she used to cry...one day when she was crying...my cousin mariana arrived closed to her...and hugged her...comforting her...this scene was kept in my memory...I found it very beautiful... the scene of someone comforting the other one in her suffering...I wasnt used to see scenes of this kind...my parents didnt have the habit of hugging each other...and... my brother and sisters... neither...so... this scene was like something new to me...--- --- ---I was ten years-old...my cousin... eighteen...one day she invited me to go out with her... and her boyfriend... erick...who had the habit of going out with her in a certain day...once in a week... at night...he came over to pick us up at home... with his cool... neat... volkswagen-bug...very shiny...he also... all neat... and bathed...really well-shaved... with a certain parfum...ready to date...as we got into his car...him... on the drivers seat...my cousin... on the passenger-seat...and me... on the back-seat...about thirty-seconds later... after we were all accommodated on our respective places...and the car already moving on the road...erick says to my cousin...... " it seems like youre acting differently tonight "...at this point she comes closer and gives him... a true-love-kiss...very slowly...and I... who wasnt very used to see such scenes...for me... it was like a sort of shock... in the good-sense of the word...then... I started thinking to myself...that she didnt start kissing him from the very beginning... ( as usual...)probably because of my presence...but... as soon as he gave her the hint...( it seems like youre acting differently tonight...)she let her shyness go away...and acted normally... as usual...I realized immediately... how pleasant it must be... to go on a date... --- --- ---a few days later... my family... my parents... my brothers...arrived from rio-de-janeiro...my old family...in the new-paradise: in my grandmothers house...full of trees...but my family... wasn t too much caring about the trees...my fathers obsession was to be able to transform my sister ana emilia...into a new world-record-champion in the swimming-sport... should we stop here...?we should stop here...a big hug on both of you...with tenderness...your father... ...luis antonio...