Transformed

A Nice Canoe

Soon the car rental dealership came into view. The cab stopped, and we got out. My dad paid the driver and thanked him gratefully, and we hustled into the building. My mom asked my brother for his phone, and he handed it to her. A man, who was probably one of the employees, came over and said, “ Olá , eu posso ajudá-lo?” and me and my brother gave each other a confused look. Then my mom started typing something on my brother’s phone, and held it up to the man. Me and my brother soon realized that she went on google translate and had typed what she wanted to say. The man then said, “Oh ! Você fala Inglês , você é um americano , não é?” and then realized we didn’t speak his language, and typed it down instead. He wrote his sentence in Portuguese, and it translated into “Oh! You speak English! You are Americans, yes?” My parents read it and nodded their heads. He then typed another sentence, and it translated into, “So, how can I help you?” and my parents typed what they wanted and he showed them to the rental cars. We decided to get a yellow jeep, payed, and then asked where the nearest place to buy little boats was. He pointed down the street, and made an arm motion that informed us that we had to turn right. We thanked him, got in the jeep, and drove off. Soon, we arrived at the place the place where they sold boats, which we had decided to call “The Boat Selling Place”, since we couldn’t read the sign. We walked inside, and right away were greeted by what seemed like the perfect canoe. It was a natural reddish color, and inside it, on the bottom, there was a beautiful carved picture of a bowl of passion fruit. It came with the oars, and it was only 50 bucks! The employee was by another customer, so we went to the cashier. He tried to talk to us, but we put our arms up in a  “we-don’t-speak-your-language” way. He laughed, and said, “Oh! Ok, finally! Someone who speaks English, so I c-can practice. With- which boat would you l-like?” We smiled and pointed at the canoe we wanted. He nodded smiling. He typed something into the cash register, and said, “That will be twenty dollars, plus tax.” We gasped, and for the first time since we arrived, I spoke to someone Brazilian. I said, “But it says that it costs fifty dollars! I think you made a mistake…” But he laughed and said, “I guess it’s your lucky day, because I am giving you a discount!” And we all cheered.