2021/2022
Collection 17

The "Broken" Leg

c. 2010; São Paulo, Brazil

It was a peaceful day when my grandpa, whom I call Vovô,(1) got an email inviting him to referee a soccer game for some big money. “Yeah, I am going,” he said to himself.

Game day finally arrived, and that is when Vovô figured out that the game was very “important,” because the winner would be able to sell illegal drugs in the favela.(2) So, technically speaking, this was all illegal.

You will never believe this story unless I tell you some things about Brazil, so I will give you a “tour” of Brazil. If you have heard a lot of good things about Brazil — well, they are probably true. Like many countries, Brazil also has a lot of crime, including illegal drugs. Also, guns are illegal there. The only people with guns are cops and criminals. Now that you know more about what Brazil is like, let us continue the story.

It was a beautiful day with the sun out, and the game was going fine for the entire first half. In the interlude between halves of the game, Vovô heard gunshots going into the air. The team with the guns said to Vovô, “If we do not win, you are dead.”

Then the other team, which also had guns, said the same thing.

“Well,” Vovô said to his friend who had gone with him, “we are dead anyways.”

The game was playing along, and then a drunk man sneaked up on Vovô and kicked him a couple of meters into the air.

Vovô saw the opportunity to escape the game, and he took it. He acted like he had broken his leg so that he and his friend could escape the game. While Vovô went in the ambulance, his friend traveled on Vovô’s motorcycle. His friend could drive a motorcycle, but he hadn’t driven one in two years. Thankfully he made it safely to the hospital.

When they got to the emergency room, they put Vovô in a wheelchair, but when he got the x-ray, Vovô confessed to his friend that he had faked the broken leg. “What?! But it looked so real!” his friend exclaimed.

“Yes, I faked it to get out of the game,” Vovô responded.

He got up from the wheelchair and walked normally toward the exit. After that, he went home and had a normal life again.

One week later, the person who had invited Vovô apologized for inviting him to the game. Vovô also got paid a fraction of the money he had been promised.

One month later one of the soccer players from the game saw Vovô outside a store, putting heavy groceries into his car, and the player asked, “Do you need help with your groceries?”

“Why would I need help?” Vovô responded.

“Because of your broken leg.”

“Huh?” Vovô had forgotten about the incident. “Oh, yeah, I am fine now,” he responded. He had to keep the lie going.

In the end, they both went home, and Vovô is still remembering the incident even to this day.

Daniel Furlan; Missouri, USA

1. Vovô (pronounced VOH voh) means “grandpa” in Portuguese.

2. A favela (fuh VEL uh) is a slum area, especially in Brazil.

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