War Torn || Civil War

Chapter Four: The Redeemer

Music is "Unsteady" by X-Ambassadors.

Picture is Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor) in Rio de Janeiro.

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CHAPTER FOUR: The Redeemer

{February 8, 1991 -- Twenty-Five Years Ago}

R I O  D E  J A N E I R O

Carnaval do Rio de Janeiro.

The biggest holiday in Brazil, after Christmas--the largest carnival in the world, amounting to around two million people in the streets daily--and the Dugans had the bright idea to attend as part of the last leg of our holiday.

Brilliant.

"I've always wanted to see it in person," Rose told me excitedly as we packed our thing from our trip to Chile. "I watch it on television, but I've never seen it in real life."

We arrived day before last at an ungodly hour after spending five days on a cruise ship that left port from Chile. For the next day, Rose and Dum Dum rested. I, however, couldn't sleep. The streets were too loud, even from Howard's Copacabana penthouse suite. My legs were restless after being stuck on a cruise ship for nearly a week. So I took the opportunity to snoop around Rio, seeing the sights before the city was overrun by tourists coming for Carnaval.

Cristo Redentor, Christ the Redeemer, was among one of the more impressive sights of the city. I've always wanted to see it, despite South America being one of my least favorite continents to which the three of us have traveled. The people are wonderful and the sun is always shining. Her cities are beautiful and her flora is breathtaking.

But I'm an English girl by birth and a Brooklyn girl at heart. The snow and grey is intertwined into my DNA. The weather of South America just doesn't sit well with me.

But it doesn't make me any happier that our travels are coming to an end. Dum Dum and Roses have decided to end the decade of on/off traveling with Carnaval, after which they'll head back home to New York. As for me? I have no idea where I'm to go.

In a way, I am glad. They're not as spry as they used to be and they deserve rest. We've seen the world, touched every continent and visited almost fifty countries. We've had a decade of memories made, and I wouldn't trade it for anything on earth.

But I will miss their constant company. Things are going to change a lot over the next few years. Peggy is debating retirement as Director of shield, since she's just surpassed her seventieth birthday. Howard and Maria are making preparations for their son Tony to go to MIT next year. Dum Dum and Rose are going to make a permanent move back to New York, handing over full control of the farm to their daughter Winnie.

Everything and everyone has changed except for me.

I've returned to Christ the Redeemer statue for the second time on this trip. Today is the first day of Carnaval. Rose and Dum Dum are sniffing out trouble along Copacabana Beach, while I've taken the morning to think.

I grip my passport tightly in my hands, leaning over the railing of the monument with my back to The Redeemer. From here, I can see all of Rio. The beaches, the Carnaval preparations, the bright blue waters that stretch out forever, the green hills that turn into mountain ranges. I open the little burgundy book, seeing my face stare up at me.

NAME: Dugan, Emma J.
DATE OF BIRTH: 24 May 1961
NATIONALITY: United States of America
SEX: Female
PLACE OF BIRTH: Brooklyn, New York, USA
DATE OF ISSUE: October 2, 1981
DATE OF EXPIRATION: October 1, 1991