Time Changes

Part Eleven

Alexis was overwhelmed. Rio was hot, such a contrast to the snow in Stockholm and Geneva, or wet London. But it was also so vibrant. It was like nowhere else she’d ever been. Sofia, a classmate was the daughter of a Brazilian Diplomat, and she’d heard so many stories of the City, the country. As she was researching for her jobs, she’d literally bumped into Sofia; she had a job in London, despite planning to go back to Rio when she graduated. Her father wasn’t happy; he’d bought her a beach front apartment. She’d jokingly offered it to Alexis, rent free if she wanted to work for her uncle’s charity medical centre. A simple conversation had suddenly become everything she wanted after the arrogance of her father and the indifference of Peter, and within ten days Alexis had a flight booked to Brazil.

Basically, Alexis had three months of work, no bills, and most of her food paid for. She’d already applied for a graduate loan, so here she was, in hot and humid Brazil, and nothing to worry about but herself. Her only worry was that she’d miss her sister’s baby being born. But Henrietta understood, she’d been as manipulated by her father until she’d married, and had never had the confidence that Alexis had to just walk away from it all. She was only too glad to see Alexis break the restraints of the family, though her refusal to as much as mention Peter’s name worried her...a lot.

                “So how was your first day?” Her sister asked via their iPad facetime.

Alexis was shattered, the heat if nothing else had worn her down, but she would never tell her sister that. “Awesome Hen, this place is amazing. Honestly.”

She started to explain the layout of the city, the clinic, everything she’d done that day, and the heavily pregnant older sibling, who was off work and bored lapped up every moment.

                “Dad was asking after you today. He wants to talk to you. Will you let me give him your number?”

Alexis shrugged, “I’m still uncaring about it all, if you want.”

Her sister looked awkward for a moment, then added, “he saw Peter this week. He dropped it into conversation.”

Alexis shrugged, “I don’t want to think about that coward.” She gave a smile, “so how’s Daniel? Is he all prepared for this baby?”

Henrietta stored yet another subject change, and smiled in agreement. She was getting more and more worried about her little sis.

Every morning Paolo, the administrator for the group of medical centres met her and accompanied her to work. Her colleague was an older Dutch man called Boris, he’d been a doctor for thirty years, when his wife died three years eelier, he’d come to Brazil for six months. He’d been there since. Throughout that time he’d been working alone, and he was more than grateful for her support albeit her fairly inexperienced version. Very soon she was thrown in at the deep end! As she’d told her sister, the work was varied, pretty much anything could present for them. The area was rife with both malaria and dengue fever, both transmitted by mosquitoes, and there was no vaccination. They had a limited amount of medication, and it was a challenge to manage the sheer volume of patients.

 She’d rapidly realised that the City was full of two types of people, her neighbours, affluent, healthy, and high achieving, and the favela dwellers. They had little of material value, no work, no prospects, and often poor health. It broke her heart that so many lived in such poverty, but every day she was amazed by the resilience of the people. Most were grateful for her help, and within a few days she had people greeting her as she walked through the streets to one of the clinics.

Her life took on a pattern, a routine very quickly. Each day she was up early and out until the evening, within her first few days in Rio, she was adopted by Sofia’s brother Thiago and his friends. Thiago was twenty one, a student as were his group of friends, and boy did they party. The first evening she ventured out with them he took her to a bar, a building that was unassuming from the outside, but inside was a cavernous room filled to the brim with people. The bar sold cheap beer, and the band blasted out what she could only describe as dirty samba music. The dance floor was filled with dancing couples, and the whole place was addictive.