Scene Content
December 2008, Sao Paulo's opera house. Intermission of a charity concert featuring Luca's mother singing.
Nathan tells the story.
"We saw the mayor arriving arm in arm with Luca’s mom. Behind him, Luca’s dad came, holding the mayor’s wife’s arm. The mayor and Luca’s mom started to go down the stairs to the main lobby, followed by Luca’s dad and the mayor’s wife. I heard applause from down there. An usher came looking for Daniel and whispered something to him."
"Daniel turned to me and said, 'They want me to follow the others down the stairs, but I can’t do it by myself. If my knee falters, I might roll down. Please help me!'
"Daniel looked, like, terrified. He grabbed my arm, and so we both went down the main staircase, walking down the red carpet placed in the middle of the steps, with Daniel firmly holding my arm. We were like ten steps behind Luca’s dad and the mayor’s wife. Hundreds of people were applauding.
"Suddenly, the ballroom’s balcony doors overlooking the grand lobby were flung open. I looked up and saw Euclides with musicians playing violins. Euclides gestured toward a group of youngsters who were, like, standing on the floors farther higher up. Those young folks started to sing. Slowly the theater got quieter. We paused on our way down the stairs, and I could finally hear the music. It was the freaking third song—the one Daniel was so fucking keen on, the one Luca’s mom was struggling with in the rehearsals. It was all so beautiful. Everybody was literally in awe.
"Daniel said in my ear, 'It’s just magnificent, just magnificent.'
"And then patrons started to sing along. The grand lobby filled with the voices of hundreds of people singing."