She intervened in everything — the plot, the genre, the dialogue, the characters. She demanded certain props and scenarios. “Now I want a sad story with Chico Bento,” she asked one day, referring to a character from a Brazilian comic strip. “And he sings!” Recurring cast members in her stories included Greta Thunberg, Oblomov, the sisters Bingo and Bluey (from the Australian animated series “Bluey”), Mario and Luigi (from the “Super Mario” franchise) and Luna (from the Brazilian animated series “Earth to Luna!”).
In late 2022, Mr. Bolsonaro was voted out of office, defeated by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. I told my daughter about Mr. Lula’s imprisonment, his release, the annulment of his convictions and his comeback as president. Now that’s a story. I told her about Mr. Lula’s dog, a female black mutt named Resistance who went from living on the streets outside Mr. Lula’s prison to the presidential palace. Potato loved that part.
Last year, with Mr. Bolsonaro and Covid-19 out of our lives — well, sort of — we could finally concentrate more on experiencing new stories rather than just telling them. Depression, my own faithful black mutt, still follows me around, but I have found more ways to keep it at a certain distance. A good night’s sleep is a nice way to start. Things seem lighter.
Potato is now a 5-year-old who knows how to read, write and craft a compelling narrative. A while ago, we were coming home from school when she decided to perform a story inside the crowded bus. (I told her to lower her voice, to little avail.) At one point we were all “in a very deep cave with a giant, a chicken and a huge ice cream.” The lady next to us couldn’t stop laughing, especially when the plot twist came. We got off at the penultimate stop, so most passengers didn’t hear the end, sadly.
Our storytelling has developed in tandem, each of us encouraged by the other. In the past year, I drafted a novel about depression, motherhood, Greek myths and creative writing. Potato wrote and illustrated five books before getting bored: “Things I Like,” “Things I Don’t Like,” “The Long Dress,” “The Crazy Birthday Book” and “The Pineapple Singer.” Life is fuller for both of us: She’s been learning to swim and I’ve been playing beach volleyball, risking the occasional bee sting.