My Memoirs - Citizen of the World

waited and waited, but one never came. I decided to send her a
telegram. Where she lived - Fajã de Santo Amaro - there was no
Post Office or telegraph service. Telegrams were quite uncommon
as well, especially on a small island like São Jorge. So the
telegram arrived at the main office in Velas, where her father
worked as a manufacturer of whaling boats. Unfortunately, the
postman happened to know her father personally and decided to
give him the telegram. Of course, he read the telegram, and he was
very surprised and upset (being the old-fashioned man that he
was). His imagination was probably running wild with thoughts of
his daughter at a faraway school, “What the hell is she doing there?
Is she studying to be a teacher or fooling around?”
Contrary to how things are done today, girls were not supposed to
be in a serious courtship unless granted permission from their
parents. When he came home with the telegram in his hands, he
asked her for an explanation. She told him that she had met me
recently and that I was working for the United States Military
Base. He was furious, saying the people who worked at that Base
were too Americanized, had a bad reputation, and were not to be
trusted.
To make a long story short, Deodete had a terrible summer
vacation in the wake of that telegram. As for me, after waiting a
few more days, I finally received a letter. She told me her father
had not spoken to her in days, and she asked me not to send any
more telegrams. I agreed to send nothing else, but under the
stipulation that she continued to write to me (without her father
knowing).
65