38. Ladies and Gentlemen, the DOPS - Part I

Adriana Tanese Nogueira

“Shit,” Rachel whispered peeking out of the window, “There are two idiots outside.”

    The men in dark suits, wearing sun glasses and hats, pretending to be casually standing on the sidewalk, actually surveyed the surroundings each in a different direction. She knew who they were. Their false air of nonchalance could not deceive a person with a normal amount of neurons in their brain, although, she guessed, they believed to be invisible. The two individuals dressed in that ridiculous way in full summer, doing nothing on a weekly morning, and glancing now and then at her house could only be DOPS agents expecting to catch, any time, Antonio, or one of his siblings.

    “Damn them,” uttered Rachel in controlled anger.

    She slowly let go of the curtain and looked longingly at her bed. The pile of dirty clothes in need of being replaced by clean ones laid sadly on one side. She unwrapped the towel and quickly dressed. Feeling exhausted, she tossed herself on the free side of her bed, wishing to take a nap. But fixated the ceiling instead. A deep annoyed breath escaped out from her mouth. The awareness about the situation outside could not be postponed even under sleepy eyes. What to do? 

    It had been one week since Antonio had alerted them to hide. She had slept each night in a different friend’s home. São Paulo was such a huge city that allowed a person to disappear in it like a needle in a haystack. Osni was somewhere she didn’t know. He had enough girlfriends to never be short of places to spend the night. No worries about him. Her friends welcomed her without questioning, being that also an opportunity to be together. However, it’s never like home. Mainly, one’s own bathroom was a luxury no friend’s house could ever offer. Rachel needed a long refreshing bath and, thus, returned home on her tip toes at the first light of day.

    Now, with the two baboons in black outside she could not take the front door again and snorted. Fine, she thought conceding to the only solution, I’ll have to jump out from the back window.

    But for how long would she be escaping?

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