The Tears of Prof. Maria de Fátima and the surgeon

 

 

It was February 1985, in the classroom, teacher Maria de Fátima receives a Notification from the Municipality of Codó, State of Maranhão, according to the content with the reading, the teacher arranged her books and documents in the drawer, and she left the classroom with her eyes red and full of tears.

 

With her face smooth and full of vibrations, her hair black and lost in that mourning magic, she sank into the deepest restlessness of her soul. Walking through the streets of the city with my head down, without spirit, hopelessness floated in every step. And so, the newly unemployed woman did not know how to live in those agonizing moments, leaving no other alternative in the painful passage of life. Suddenly, on that street, a 16-year-old boy was passing through the poor neighborhood of the city, and he saw the teacher and called:

 

-Hey teacher Maria de Fátima! This is Fernando, her former student. I really want to talk to you.

 

Without giving any importance, the teacher replies:

 

-Now, I can't answer. I'm sorry.

 

The boy insisted, asking:

 

-Hey teacher Maria de Fátima, this is Fernando. Since yesterday I haven't been able to talk to you. I've been to her house and I didn't find you. Here is a memento my parents sent you.

 

The nervous and weeping teacher says:

 

-Come to my house another day, Fernando. Today, I cannot attend to you.

 

Fernando persevered, saying:

 

- Teacher, I'm going to São Paulo today. I'm going to take the entrance exam for medicine as I told you before. I intend to fulfill your wish to see me as a doctor. I miss your classes under the babassu tree. Receive master, it's a gift from me given by my parents.

 

When approaching the teacher, the boy exclaims:

 

- Are you crying teacher? What they did to you? I want to resolve this before leaving for São Paulo. Do not Cry! Please tell me?

 

She answered:

 

-Not. Do not. I can not.

 

The teacher grabbed the boy in the middle of the street and cried on his shoulder for long hours, without mentioning the reasons for his distress.

 

-Your memories will be marked on my wet shoulder with your tears on this bad day. May the Virgin Mary protect you with her sacred mantle. Do not Cry! So, I'm going to cry too, feeling these afflictions fall on me, without even knowing what it was. Teacher, I will never forget you. I'm going to São Paulo to work and study. My father is unable to give me what I need. Codó City Hall only pays one salary and my mother continues to wash clothes for the rich people of the city, earning almost nothing. She is also unable to. Don't cry my teacher. Do not Cry.

 

Upon arriving at her home, Maria de Fátima lay down and slept.

 

At dawn, the teacher woke up and got ready to teach. Before leaving, she looked at her notes and saw the resignation notice from the city hall again, which is why the teacher came in, closed the doors and windows, and cried on the couch, and slept there.

 

The next day, teacher Maria de Fátima opens the window with access to the street, observes the different day, the long hours and the busy people. A garden plant opened its pink corolla towards the teacher, mitigating the frustrations, at which point the teacher looks around and says that she is going to set up a private school in her house with the name of a former student.

 

After that, the private school is inaugurated, all the chairs were paid for with money rolled up in a gift and delivered by Fernando, before his departure. The teacher thanked Fernando's parents in a letter, saying that soon the family will have a doctor at home – Dr. Fernando. Thank you.

 

Years passed, and in 1994, with the school at home full of students, a person knocked on the door and entered, saying:

 

-Good Morning. I want to speak with Mrs. Maria de Fátima. I am a bailiff, and I am in charge of the Tax Enforcement of this property and its attached lands. I will pawn this house and land. Mrs. Maria de Fátima has up to 30 days to suspend the attachment. If it does not embargo, the pledged asset goes to auction.

 

Maria de Fátima, uneasy, says the following:

 

-Young man, there must be some mistake. This property is now in my name. How can you pawn?

 

The Justice Officer says the following:

 

-It appears, however, that the previous owners left an IPTU debt and never paid it in court. Now the city hall is claiming compliance with the asset attachment.

 

Without understanding anything, in the presence of the students, she says:

 

-This is not true. This house can't go up for auction, mister.

 

The bailiff says:

 

-I'm going to leave the counterfeit with you and her deadline starts running with the entry in the records. Am sorry. I can not do anything. See you soon.

 

In a great confusion and God help us, there was no more class, two students observing the emotional state of the teacher, they went to the kitchen to make some water with sugar for the teacher Maria de Fátima. And at that exact period, a person knocks on the door insistently.

 

Aurea was right next to the door, she answered.

 

-Good Morning!

 

Said the gentleman at the school door. Quickly, Aurea adds:

 

-Good Morning! Young man, what do you want? Please! Don't come here anymore to demand the teacher. She is not well because her house is going to auction. She doesn't come here anymore. I ask you for all that is sacred.

 

You countered:

 

-I don't understand why you tell me that. I come from São Paulo. I want to talk to Professor Maria de Fátima, that's all.

 

-She can't answer, she's crying a lot. City Hall is auctioning off your house and land. Don't insist young man. Go away, please!

 

The young man said:

 

Okay, I don't want to bother you, you mentioned the origin of the debt. Thank you very much

 

Days pass, on a certain morning in 1994, you knock again on the door of Escola Particular Dr. Fernando.

 

-Good morning teacher Maria de Fátima.

 

The teacher replies:

 

- Good Morning. My God! It's you Fernando, my former student, my first private student. See your gift here in the room, spread out on school desks and teaching material. That gift came at a very good time. I apologize to you that day. Well, I was fired without any problem at the education department. Later, I found out that Codó's secretary of education had given my position as a graduate teacher in pedagogy to her cousin Fernanda, who only knows how to read and write. Everything is explained why.

 

-Truth. I see it all here. The problem is that Brazil still experiences this type of abnormality in the functional frameworks. I came to bring you my business card. Now the professor has a former student who is a surgeon – Dr. Fernando.

 

-My God! How can it be! Such a young man! I am happy to hear this special news. I always dreamed of you being a doctor, leaving the interior of Maranhão, leaving everything behind to help your parents. The school is proud and full of pride with its former student, now a Doctor. See the name of the school – Escola Particular Dr. Fernando. It's in your name. It is the only tribute we can offer as a response to the boy from the sertão, poor and who studied under the babassu tree. He went to the biggest capital in Brazil (São Paulo) and won, today he is a beloved doctor wherever he goes.

 

A student named Fabiany said:

 

-Hey teacher! He is crying.

 

Another student, known as Ricardo said:

 

-Don't cry Dr. Fernando. You are our hope and our mirror in this fight. We are all proud of the boy from Codo for having graduated as a surgeon in São Paulo – Dr. Fernando.

 

Hugging his former teacher, Fernando said:

 

-Professor, I don't want to see you crying anymore. Here is your IPTU payment duly paid and free from the auction. As a gift from your alumni, choose between a car or motorcycle to buy. Now, I have conditions. I want you to turn your college into a great school. I'm here to help with everything.

 

-Thanks. God is perfect and does everything with wisdom and common sense. doctor Fernando, our surgeon.