Imagination as refuge

Fragment from the short story “Olhos d’Água” (“Water Eyes”) by Conceição Evaristo. Amid hunger, childhood resists through affection and imagination. The mother, transformed into a “Queen” by her daughters, sits on a makeshift throne — a simple wooden stool — and receives flowers as symbols of love and reverence. Though poetic, the scene sharply reveals the depths of poverty and inequality. The mother’s “wet smile” exposes the contrast between the beauty of the children’s gesture and the harshness of their reality. It is the image of an imagined royalty, created to withstand real misery.