Chapter 3

Parkinson

Active Connection

"Hey boss, calling me at this time, I feel like I need something, am I wrong?"

"Hey Zé, exactly, I need that money, can you break this deal for me?"

My doubts about loan sharks only grow with each passing day, but if I can get at least half of the money I owe Maurício maybe he will accept a "rescission".

"Face again? Do you have any idea how much you owe me already?"

"I know, but can you do it or not? It's an emergency and besides, I will pay you everything with interest."

"You have 90 days to pay me or I'll kill you, you can come by tonight and get your money."

“Thanks for breaking this one, I'll pay you back sooner than you think.”

Inactive Connection

As the pie Louise left ready, I opened a beer and went to watch soccer.

The next day...

Roberto

That girl made me curious, Mauricio still hasn't shown up and we have a lot of things to solve today. The demand is great and we have to always offer the best to our clients.

"Good morning Amanda, call Mauricio as soon as possible and tell him it is important that he comes today."

"Good morning Mr. Lins, I'm sorry but he didn't sleep at home tonight and so it's impossible to talk to him."

"More than dope, thank you Amanda, have a nice day and if he shows up here tell him I'll wait for him in that room as soon as possible."

All our partners were waiting for us, but as usual Mauricio always finds a way to be late. To make matters worse, Norely was present and came determined to close deals for Parkinson's daughter; according to him, Parkinson also owes him and no one better than Louise to pay this debt. I greeted everyone, but to my relief Mauricio arrived just in time for the shit to start and didn't have a friendly expression at all.

"My interest is in Parkinson's daughter, I hear that they have her in hand and I am willing to negotiate any amount for her." Norely speaks up, but soon gets a no as an answer.

"Then you can forget about the possibility of having her. She is not for sale. Now let's get down to business, and always remember, Norely, you and I have the same power, so don't want to pass me over." Mauricio said harshly, and soon the room was silent again.

Mauricio

Roberto just gets me into trouble, he should have made it clear from the moment I said I will not and do not want to do business with her, she seemed to me to be useful for many things. They were lucky today that I woke up peaceful and in a very good mood.

"I hope you didn't come all this way to talk about it! But before anyone else says anything else I'll just say up front that she is not for sale. You are a good buyer, Norely, you can have as many as you want, but not her. She is a payment and I have my inquiries to make."

"Damn it Mauricio, I also have a good amount of money in the hands of that Parkinson's bastard."

"What was it Mauricio? You can ask for as much money as you want and I'll pay it, she's not a minor anymore I know, so she can pay her father's debt to me with sex and then maybe I'll send her to one of my clubs, I know she won't bring me anything good, but at least I'll…"

"If you keep talking shit I swear I'll shut up in my own way, Norely... do you know how insufferable pushy people are? If I were you I would learn to control your damn tongue.

We had a brief meeting and didn't talk about it anymore, or I would end up losing what little patience I have."

Louise

"Good morning Louise, I hope you are well because many things await you, shall we? I'm terrible, I didn't sleep a wink last night and if that wasn't enough I'm going to be a maid, well, I didn't do anything very different, but at least I was getting paid for it. And here? Here I'll live like a convict, wait, I am a convict."

"Today is the day that Mr. Mauricio doesn't sleep at home, so it's a great day to send him to tidy his room too, he is a very strict man and one false step we can die!"

"And what would this step be?” I asked, trying to make conversation. I know I won't be leaving here anytime soon so let me last at least until I find something that matters.

"Anything poorly done, whether it's a poorly kept house, your clothes with a wrinkle, you know how to iron?"

"Yes, I learned when I was a child. I can do a lot of things, I've always been able to do them myself, and believe me, I'll do my best."

From the moment she said that today he doesn't stay at home I started to like it, as she is going to teach me to tidy his room, maybe later on I will be lucky enough to find something useful that will get me out of here.

She begins by introducing me to the house, no house, a mansion. And from today I will

"I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier, my name is Louise…” I know I was talking nonsense when I saw her who cares" face looking at me.

"You can call me Maria, don't be scared and don't believe what the others say about me to you, they are ridiculous." Maria is chubby and looks like a bad person, but I know deep down she must suffer a lot here.

In each hallway Maria explained what I should do from now on, it wouldn't be so bad, I always helped at home doing most of the housework and always did well.

"I'm also not the kind of person who believes everything other people say, you are being kind to me and the only thing I can do to repay you is to help you too. Where can I start?"

"You can't do anything yet because you don't know our customs, but later on I'll give you the list and tomorrow you can start doing the right things so that there won't be any problems, do you understand me?"

"Oh, of course. Thank you very much, so what should I do now?" I don't know what they are in here, but I feel like a fish out of water that could die at any moment without air.

"You can go up to the dorm and make the beds, after that you can wash the bathrooms or, if you prefer, leave them for tomorrow."