Maria Rosa Amorim * 4 March 1938 + 2nd November 2012
I've been thinking about my aunt Maria Rosa for a few days running. We had a rather close relationship since she was in her teens and I a little older than a toddler. I was born in 1949, when she was only 11 years old. By the time she was coming of age (16 going on 17) circa 1954-1955, we happened to be both in Ourinhos-SP where we quite often visited a myriad of relatives like aunt Anna Rosa de Jesus (her mother's sister) and uncle Virgilio Amorim (her father's youngest brother).
I remember going out with her on a Sunday afternoon dance in downtown Ourinhos. after leaving the Funeral Parlour we had been guests for a couple of days. She somehow made herself prominent into the local young society wearing her stunning organdy white dresses and had a few male admires who asked her to dance at the local club.
Maria Rosa was at the peak of her charms. She wore a white dress made of organdy with large wine-coloured dots that made her a little queen and called the attention of passers-by. Earlier on, she had stained her white dress by sitting on a freshly-painted chair but the damage had been minimal and she got away with it. That particular Sunday afternoon is forever etched on my mind. I remember we had to climb a set of stairs to get to the dancing hall which was situated at the 1st floor of a 2-story building, at a local thoroughfare. It must have been early yet for the hall was somewhat empty so she chose two chairs - all of them propped against the wall - and we sat down. That's all I remember... she must have danced a lot with many partners until twilight but I can't recall a thing. When one is very young, one only remembers parts and bits of events... not the whole thing.
I also remember going to at least a night session at Cine Marília with her and her then boy-friend. We sat close to the silver screen, so they could neck during the projection. I fell asleep for long stretches for I didn't understand the English language spoken in the featured films we watched and I couldn't read the Portuguese subtitles either.
Once on a Sunday afternoon I was taken by Maria Rosa and Nadir Martins to an amusement park downtown Marília near where the City Hall would soon be built. They decided to take a ride into a boat that would be propelled by both girls, each sitting on opposite and pulling ropes that made the wooden boat swing wildly. The higher they went the more thrilled Maria Rosa and Nadir felt... until the moment I couldn't hold any longer and vomited all over myself, and they had to stop the fun (and the bloody motion) to clean up the poor boy and his vomit.
Next time I remember Maria Rosa was when she started dating Arthur Bellini circa 1956 or 1967 for I remember Agostinho dos Santos' 'Meu benzinho' (My little one) being played on the radio. We had just moved into Dona Amabile's former house two houses down from where we lived on Rua Mato Grosso, 393. Actually, Nadir started flirting with Arthur who lived by himself on a brick house opposite ours after becoming a widow when his wife Elza Bisterço died on 19 January 1956, during the birth of José Carlos Bisterço Bellini.
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