Prologue

"We have not been misled by any evil product of human skill or by any idol smeared with different colors. The sight of such things arouses the passions of foolish people and makes them desire a dead, lifeless image."  

Wisdom 15, 4-5

"I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws."

Ezekiel 36:25-27

Prologue

It was almost 5 PM of a cold winter afternoon that promised a beautiful sunset over the Copacabana Sea.

The former Socopenapã beach was only a desert area filled with cashew trees when, at the beginning of the 16th century, a small chapel was erected on a cliff to house the image of a saint. Traders from Rio de Janeiro, called “peruleiros” due to their routine of going and coming to the Viceroyalty of Peru, brought in one of these trips the image of Kopa Kawana, an Our Lady in the image of an Inca princess. The Castilian filter modified it to “Copacabana”, word that means luminous place or lookout of the blue. The statuette had dark skin and a light blue and gold dress. Her first home in Rio was one of the side altars of the Church of Mercy on the Morro do Castelo.

Religious differences made the saint lose her place in the Church of Mercy and her destiny was a small church far, far away, built by the sea specially to shelter her. Over time, this chapel designated the beach and the neighborhood. The chapel came to be demolished in 1914, to be erected, in its place, the Fort of Copacabana. The image of the saint that is currently in the church that bears her name, in Serzedelo Correia Square, is the same, the original.

Eternalized in the music of João de Barro, the "Braguinha", especially in the voice of Dick Farney, Copacabana, a Princesinha do Mar, has become known worldwide and is one of the great tourist attractions of Rio de Janeiro and Brazil.

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Sunlight was pouring through the clouds as if trying to cast them out to let the Sun rules majestically the entire celestial vault. It was in afternoons like that one that she used to appear. The Lady of the Window had become an urban legend that circulated among the tribes that frequented the beachfront of Copacabana. Some passersby were already standing on the sidewalk and looked up to find the window of the fourth floor of an old building. There were even those who brought binoculars or cameras with high zoom lenses in search of a better image of the beautiful woman. Few people knew for certain which the correct window was, and they scoured the front of the older buildings on the block, which contrasted with the modern ones on the beachfront.

            According to reports, the Lady of the Window appeared for a few minutes on the evening afternoons when there was sunset. One of the most accepted theories considered her as the ghost of a former apartment dweller who had many years ago, perhaps decades, thrown herself out of the window in despair at the death of her beloved, and that her inconsolable spirit remained trapped in the place. The apartment would have been vacant ever since - no lights were ever seen at night in their rooms. Mr. Alcides, a porter who worked for decades in the building, avoided touching the subject, but the gossip was that he confirmed to an already dead resident that there was really a strange love story involving the Lady of the Window.

Rumors circulated that on some nights the neighbors of the apartment heard footsteps in the hallway or the noise of objects being knocked down inside the apartment. Despite numerous attempts to catch the woman, she had never been seen. No one knew who was the owner of the property. Although all the fees were paid promptly, no one came to inspect it.

A homeless woman, believer and assiduous frequenter of the many Catholic Churches in the neighborhood, said she had received a divine annunciation and she supported the fact that the apparition in the Angelus was a Saint. Our Lady of Copacabana, patroness of the waters and of the neighborhood, appeared to ask for the repentance of the prostitutes, addicts, delinquents, corrupt and other sinners who infested the neighborhood mainly at night. The supposed divine revelation did not gather many followers - the time of the appearance of Saints had already passed...

Fans of the cold draft beer, irreverent goers of the kiosks and pubs of the region raised the possibility that it could be a seductive mermaid caught by a successful businessman and fisherman who would have trapped her in his apartment and kept her immersed in a huge whirlpool bath to take bath salts and serve him in sexual orgies.

He would have disappeared into the sea on one of his fishing trips and the mermaid had come since then to the window at the end of the day to await the return of her abductor in the hope of regaining her freedom. Another variant of this theory associated the Lady of the Window with the Orisha Iemanjá - divinity of the sea of Afro-Brazilian religions and protector of fishermen and sinners, thus expanding the religious syncretism of Kopa Kawana.

Iemanjá is celebrated with a great party during the passage of the New Year. Thousands of people dressed in white gather in Copacabana to sing and give Yemoja white roses and objects placed in Styrofoam boats that are set loose in the waves.
The Lady of the Window was also revered in the famous sand sculptures, one of the highlights of Copacabana and what contributes for making it the most famous beach in Rio de Janeiro. These sand artists, who work in exchange for the recognition of tourists through financial contributions, portrayed the Lady of the Window sensuously and always with her gaze lost on the high seas.

The most rational ones argued that everything was nothing more than the invention of disqualified people: drunkards, proletarians, idlers, and fanatics of all ideologies. They claimed that such woman would be just a chore girl doing the periodic cleaning of the apartment. Or perhaps everything would have been an optical illusion provoked by the sun's rays that penetrated the apartment late in the afternoon. It was refraction in the dust particles suspended in the air or in the dirt window pane that created an optical phenomenon where each one saw what he wanted to.

That afternoon, once again the Lady of the Window did not disappoint her faithful admirers. The curious and the dreamers have caught a glimpse of the silhouette of a woman of dazzling beauty behind the window pane, illuminated by the last rays of the sun. She stood still for a few minutes, her gaze lost on the encounter of the sky and sea. Excessively romantic people persisted in stating that a tear had rolled down her face. And as before, she lowered her eyes and slowly retreated into the shadows of the apartment as the last reddish gleams on the horizon dissipated in the rapidly falling darkness.

It was night.

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      Socopenapã - “The path of socós", in the Tupi language – Socó is a kind of bird, heron. ^RETORNAR

   The Angelus occurs at three times daily: 6:00 am, noon, and 6:00 pm, usually accompanied by the ringing of a bell, which is a call to prayer and to spread good-will to everyone. The angel referred to in the prayer is Gabriel, a messenger of God who revealed to Mary that she would conceive a child to be born the Son of God. Derives from the phrase: Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ – "... the Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary ..." ^RETORNAR

Chapter I: The White Queen

"Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has directed." 
Genesis 24:51

"The Queen is the most valuable and important piece and the whole outcome can depend upon how successfully she plays her role." 
Grandmaster Alexander Kotov

Chapter I: The White Queen

My memory has always been amazing. Often it was necessary to ignore it, to try to turn it off, to avoid the nuisance of having my mind bombarded by a multitude of details, most of which were of no relevance and which took away the focus on the main issues. I was always struck by the precise memory of numbers, odors, sounds, and distant images returning as if they were occurring again. Sometimes, when meeting again a teacher which taught in my class three years before, immediately came to my mind her first apparition: the clothes she wore, her expressions and first words, her perfume… And that distracted me, making me lose myself in the labyrinth of these memories. Nowadays, everything is confused and scrambled, but the memories have not been lost, they remain hidden in some obscure corner and return disordered. Right now, looking at the picture frame at the head of the bed, once again came to my mind the first encounter with that woman, which unexpectedly became so decisive for me. It happened one afternoon on the fifteenth of August, a sunny Thursday...

I was anxiously waiting for the bell to ring. It was unnecessary… She would certainly be as punctual as ever. It was still twenty minutes to the appointed time. I thought about turning on the computer and distracting myself so time would pass faster, but the idea didn't sound appealing. My mind wandered through the memories and brought out the details of how I had met her.

Rebeca, that was the name she gave me, though she said I could call her any other I'd like. At first, I didn't like the name. I found the coincidence a bad omen, but I chose to leave it as it was, and quickly put away the superstitious thought, an inclination that eventually manifested itself and which so annoyed me.

Since that first afternoon, there have been many other encounters. The sensuality, the perspicacity, and the provocative manner of Rebecca made me completely forget about the recent breakup of the engagement, on the eve of marriage. The state of apathy in which I was at the time discouraged me from seeking female companionship or anyone else's. I had been rather reluctant to visit the e-Venus page, an indication of a friend who was enthusiastic about the quality of the its service. In its advertisements, the company guaranteed to have attendants able to satisfy at least 90% of the qualities desired by the most demanding customers. The facts proved that it was right.

At first I was annoyed to make use of that solution again. I remembered that when I was a child I used to hear my uncles chatting about the times when they sought out escort service in the newspapers. Times have changed, new habits and new technologies have emerged, but in essence, the situation was the same.

The choice of the girl's features reminded me of my little sister, dressing her Barbie doll. I also decided to amuse myself by setting up the ideal woman, since the many I dated proved to be lacking in the essential qualities I appreciated. With the tip of my index finger, I dragged the colored ellipses with adjectives in the monitor screen. I dropped them into an image of a woman that transformed as the characteristics were added: silhouette, mignonette; hair, medium and brown; biotype, Latina; Stature, median; age group, 20 to 25 years; voice, soft, with a slight Bahian accent ... I also added psychological characteristics: aggressiveness, initiative, curiosity, sense of humor ... Damn, so many details available to stage a piece so banal! I could ignore the items I wanted to, of course, and most customers were probably content with just looks and sensuality - everything else was for those who demanded more refinement, which increased the cost of the service.

The button that would send the data with the elaborated profile twinkled in the lower corner of the screen demanding for an attitude. Still undecided, I touched the button. A sensual female voice, probably digitally synthesized, recited the customary message:

“It is a great pleasure to serve you. Please, wait a moment. Our computers are processing your request.” 

After an imperceptible pause, miserable milliseconds in which thousands of information traveled between computers, I received the answer.

“Congratulations! We have an attendant who satisfies the desired profile in 93%. Provide the credit card number to confirm the order and schedule the meeting.”

Ah, there also was a window displaying the contract for the provision of the service, which should be heard or read carefully, and accepted to validate the negotiation. Reluctantly, I recited the credit card number and, without reading the contract completely, I looked at the camera pinned above the monitor to confirm my identification by examining the iris.

In the hours before the meeting, I still thought about canceling the program with the girl, even though I had to pay a 10% fine on the value of the service. From the beginning, I considered the price of the program high, but the curiosity and the good references compelled me to keep the commitment. Besides, I wanted to get out of the boredom I was in at any cost.

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I looked at my watch again. There were still twelve minutes to go... My mind kept wandering through memories. I remembered the first time when the bell rang announcing Rebeca. Agitated, I opened the door abruptly. In front of me, a young woman stood still, bearing a welcoming smile. Although I had received a photo in advance, I was struck by the beauty and delicacy of her features. There was a magical gleam in her gaze, which brimmed with shrewdness and conveyed a feeling of a naive and sincere joy. I felt confused, mesmerized... It was as if I had known her for a long time and was waiting for her.

“Hi, I'm Rebecca. We have a date.” The young woman presented herself laconically in a gentle voice and brought her face closer to a kiss on the cheek.

She exuded a pleasant and sensual odor. She kissed my face gently, and with her closeness I could admire her smooth skin which bared no imperfections. I led her into the apartment.

I activated the media player, which played a soft oriental song that I had selected for the occasion. I thought about offering her a glass of wine, but I remembered that she probably would not accept it or perhaps she would accept it just to please me. As for me, I had to drink something to relax. I picked up on the table the Stonier, a red Pinot Noir whose label attributed elegance, sensuality and softness - suited the situation well. I poured myself some wine in one of the goblets by the bottle. While I tasted the wine, I watched the woman intently. She wore a knee length dress, fit in the waist, which molded her body emphasizing the sinuosity of her curves. Her harmonious and sensual movements hypnotized me. The wine always increased my excitement. The Stonier, although not among the best of the Pinot Noir variety, was one of my favorites and, as one sommelier would say, it came down velvety and tranquil.

I was delighted, eager to slip my hands on that slender body with such precise curves. Embarrassed, I asked her to undress. Without showing any signs of surprise, she slowly and without vulgarity took off the pieces of clothing she wore and tossed them gently on the couch. She moved in a slow dance, improvised in the rhythm of the melody that flooded the room. Excited, I took her in my arms and carried her to the bed in the next room.

I tried to control my anxiety to better enjoy the moment. As I slid my hands over the woman's perfect body, I pressed lightly my fingertips over her skin, feeling the variation of softness and stiffness so carefully distributed. At the contact of the bodies, all anxiety and resistance slowly dissipated and I relaxed and dissolved my consciousness in the waves of pleasure I felt. She led me through this sea, sometimes serene, sometimes agitated, anticipating my desires. I could not expect less from someone whose reason to exist was this. It was as if the woman were touching me completely, wrapping me with her hands, her arms, her legs - in a cadenced motion, stimulating my senses and making my mind fade. Sated and exhausted, I fell into a deep and restful sleep.

We talked a little in that first afternoon. I told her about my ex-fiancée... She asked questions and made some nice comments - would she be genuinely interested in what I told her or was it all staged?

Contrary to my initial intention of doing just one test, I scheduled a new encounter, then another, and another... The intimacy grew with each new contact and she guessed me more and more. It was as if we had known each other for many years. Without any doubt, e-Venus's commitment of satisfying my expectations was exceeded by considerable margin.

Despite being so enchanted, I was aware that Rebeca could never be mine, she belonged to everyone, or rather, to whoever wanted and could pay for her attention. It is a well-known fact that throughout the history of humanity, clients cling to women who sell their love and affection. But it is a sign of the times, the decadence of modern technological society, that they continue to fall in love to them, even knowing that they are machines built for pleasure.

I was awakened from my daydream by the loud ringing of the doorbell...

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