Pedra Canga

Americas (English Edition), March-April, 2002 by Barbara Mujica

Pedra Canga, by Tereza Albues. Trans., Clifford E. Landers. Los Angeles: Green Integer, 2001.

Pedra Canga is a tiny community in the Brazilian wetlands where the mysterious coexists with the mundane. Beset by poverty, the townspeople cling to myth and superstition. Their collective obsession is the Mangueiral, a spooky estate owned by the Vergare family. One night, in the midst of a torrential storm, Veronico Vergare dies, and then, in the midst of another, the whole estate washes away. Or maybe not. It depends on who you ask.

Tereza Albues's narrative technique is as engaging as the stow itself. The author utilizes multiple narrators, each of whom interprets events differently. As soon as the reader is hooked on one version, another narrator interrupts and offers an alternate. The people of Pedra Canga just can't agree about anything concerning the Mangueiral, except that Veronico Vergare inherited the property from his father, Colonel Totonho Vergare. Beyond that, everyone tells, a different stow. Some say that the lands originally belonged to Antonio dos Anjos, who was ambushed and killed by the Vergares' henchmen, after which his wife, Maria dos Anjos, withered and died. Others say that Maria herself was behind the plot. According to some, Maria was a saint; according to others, she was a demon. But most people think that very strange things went on at the estate before it was inexplicably washed away.

Tereza, a young writer and the granddaughter of the town bard, Ze Garbas, decides to investigate the matter and, to this end, interviews the inhabitants of Pedra Canga. Marcola, one of her primary sources, seems to be something of a clairvoyant or conjurer endowed with paranormal powers.

For years the people of Pedra Canga lived in awe of the Mangueiral, where the Vergare family reputedly practiced bloody, satanic rituals. On stormy nights strange sounds emanated from the manor house, perhaps the screams of victims.

One object of conjecture is Nastacio, Veronico's son by a slave girl. Nastacio lived at the estate, ignorant of his origins and serving his own father as a slave. In the midst of a storm he disappeared, but the townspeople can't agree about what happened to him. Was he sacrificed? Did he escape? Another is one-eyed Nivalda, house servant and alleged witch, who runs through town scaring the children. Did Veronico put out her eye in some demonic rite? Or was she injured in an accident? On the night of the first great storm, Nivalda escapes from the estate, but no one gives her refuge until Genu, proprietress of the local brothel, takes her in as a servant.

During Veronico's lifetime, the Vergares stayed holed up in their house. Their magnificent lands produced abundant fruit, which they allowed to fall to the ground and rot, armed guards holding would-be scavengers at bay. The townspeople considered such waste in the midst of their own poverty a deliberate taunt. Not long after Veronico Vergare's death, village boys begin to venture onto the estate grounds. They discover, to their amazement, that the property has been abandoned and start pilfering fruit. Soon adults join them--not only the people of Pedra Canga, but outsiders who appear to be zombies. When at last the marauders approach the house itself, horrendous screams scare them off (according to one version of the story). In addition, the house changes colors spontaneously, supposedly displaying its displeasure.

Eventually, a group of pious citizens, the Crusade of the Living, breaks down the door in an act of righteous rebellion against the tyranny of the Vergares. The townspeople, joined by the zombies, ransack the house, carrying off everything, but the zombies' numbers swell so enormously that they soon overrun the town. Then, suddenly they disappear.

Tereza, intent on piecing together the truth for a book she intends to write, ventures into the mansion and snatches the Vergare diaries, which, she discovers later, recount the family's ghastly rituals. In the cellar, she is confronted by a terrifying specter, but is rescued by Marcola, who appears miraculously. Yet, later, when she questions her friend about the event, Marcola denies that the house even has a cellar.

Even after the disappearance of the zombies, the strange happenings continue. One night, when Ze Garbas is passing by the estate, a tremendous wind comes up, in the midst of which he hears the voice of a woman begging to be buried. He escapes to tell the tale, and with each telling embellishes it more and more. According to Marcola, the force of the Vergares still inhabits the house and haunts the town. Others say that what Garbas heard was a local crazy woman. Still others say he made the whole thing up. Bento Sagrado, a well-read intellectual, attributes all the stories to fantasy, to the fierce desire of the townspeople to see the Vergares punished.

Then, suddenly, the skies unleash another terrible storm, and, when it clears, the ruins of the estate have disappeared. A band of friendly, fun-loving gypsies appear at the Mangueiral, and the dark, ominous place becomes open and luminous. What really happened? The people of Pedra Canga are still debating.