I stood still near the stairs of João's veranda. Anxiety was everything I was feeling. I had to control myself, for a brief moment, to breathe. And there they were… in single line, climbing that wall that surrounded the stone stairs. I hardly saw them, they were an insignificant detail in the landscape. I climbed immediately and knocked on the door, with a strength that showed urgency. João opened the door, still half asleep. He explained me: — Everyone is still looking for Maria. My parents also went in search of her. — We couldn't, and we shouldn’t, but we did it, we went the three of us. I convinced him and Pedro, and we went to the forest near the corn field. Along the way, we gathered some bunches of grapes and apples. That was all we ate.

When we arrived to the limits of the corn field, we looked at the forest with respect. It was possible to see several oaks, some of them centuries old. The difference of luminosity that seemed to exist between the local where we were and the interior of the forest, was giving a serious sense to our intention. The street that led us there had a "warm" light, as if it whispered to us: — Come!... Come!... — And we, by enchantment, were going with a sense of respect. The earth covered with dry leaves of oak, and here and there, one or another plant was stiff enough to look green… I don't know what they made me feel: but certainly, they made me feel something stronger than the sense of belonging to that wild nature. It was a self contained fear, but it was only a part of the scene, it was not an alien feeling, it was not even an obstacle to our action. We were just alert. Always, like a stag, persistent, always observing what was going on.

 

Nevertheless, the crows were making us nervous. Their peep was having that effect on us, it sounded very sharp and was spreading through the warm and gentle wind, like the heat of a stove, that could make us dizzy due to its clearness and because it was very different from everything else one could hear. One of the flock stayed at one of the oaks to our right, and stared at us, it seemed to say: — Hello! … Hello! … — He made us stop and with a quick pace said: — Hello! Hello! — My two friends run to me and he flew away… near the road. Was he remembering us to continue?! We went away. On the path, the forest was talking to us: the pine tree stems braking; the pines falling; the cicada singing; the wind at the tree-tops, like a river of air comforting us. The fox! She would look at us surprised and ran off . The sound of our feet on the leaves and sand, was unique, and also the buzz of some insects, specially, some big beetles. Very, very big indeed…