Disneylândia

By Alexi LeFevre

Poverty and wealth collide in this story about a Rio taxi driver who struggles to fulfill his daughter's dreams.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alexi LeFevre
• Release date: Jan 8, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311329950

Alexi LeFevre

Alexi LeFevre is an author and avid traveler. He has previously served as a United States Air Force Officer and worked at an international affairs think tank. He has published in several online and print journals. To learn more about the author visit alexilefevre.com.

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Disneylândia

By Alexi LeFevre

Copyright © 2015 Alexi LeFevre

Guilherme dos Santos’s son was born while he was on the road. He had hesitated before leaving, suspecting that his wife, with a stomach as round and full as a pumpkin, might not manage until he returned. When he did finally come back, he spent two weeks with his son and baptized him before leaving again for more work. At nights, he parked his truck alongside the empty stretches of single-lane road that ran, like a single undulating wave, up and down the hills of the Brazilian countryside, the sertão. The infinite sky, with its clear stars that diminished the sense of place of a man, caused Guilherme dos Santos to weep. But then the reality and necessity of his duties came creeping back, after awhile, and the dull exhaustion of loneliness would eventually put him to sleep. This was the extent of the poor man’s life until his death, which also occurred on the road.

The room was a still canopy of silhouettes and sweaty poverty. The desperate, waning night hung over the bed of Oswaldo dos Santos when he awoke at half after four. He sat up and the blanket gathered around the matted hair of his belly. He looked around: the flat darkness of the small room he shared with his wife; the faint outlines of two old and mediocre chairs; the cramped