Wednesday, February 15th
Thank God Carnival is over. I can't say that it was very pleasant, because grandma beat me, something she never does.
It's my fate that everyone who loves me makes my life miserable. The only people who have any authority over my cousins are their fathers. Oh! If only it were like that with me! My father is the person who annoys me least of all. If it hadn't been for grandma's and Aunt Madge's interfering I'd have gone to the masquerade ball at the theatre. Since the age of seven I've dreamed of being twelve so that I could go to the ball. And now I'm almost thirteen and I'm beaten for not going!
Aunt Quequeta was the one who made me want to go to the ball, telling me about what they used to do in her day. A friend of hers put on a masquerade costume, disguised her voice, and flirted with her father all evening until he fell madly in love with her and the next day instead of coming in to lunch he kept walking around in the garden with his head hanging down, thinking of the masked woman. Another friend of hers let her husband go to the ball first and she went later, masked, flirted with him, and he fell madly in love with her, to such a degree that he kept sighing the whole evening.
My aunts still have the hoopskirts they used to wear. How I wish they still wore them! They don't wear anything like that now, but I'd like to go like that even so.
It was Glorinha who gave me such a swelled head that I thought I could go. I asked mama and she said, "If your grandmother will let you I'll let you." I asked grandma, "Grandma, mama will let me go. Will you let me go to the ball with Glorinha?" She said, "I certainly will not!" I stamped my foot hard and I ran and threw myself on her bed, crying. She came in and took off her slipper and hit me twice, saying, "That'll give you something to cry about!" I thrashed my legs around but I didn't get up.
But it was worth it because today I got the material for a dress and a silver two-mil-reis piece.
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