Summer Memoirs of a Grandfather Who Has Synesthesia

It's amazing how we are able to hear colors, feeling the sounds pra feeling the taste of shapes.. The first thing we think of when we talk about summer is a watermelon stand on a paradise beach. For me, summer tastes like strawberries, strawberries bathed in cream and sigh.

I was in that famous 1990's scenario, in my grandmother's backyard, my sisters admiring the surfer neighbor's photos and I alone, they don't usually let the youngest participate in gossip.

Sitting in the rocking chair in the backyard I saw my grandmother from the kitchen, she knew exactly what she was doing, at 10 years old she repeated the same recipe. Beat the white of an egg for 15 minutes, until it looks like whipped cream, then chop all the strawberries and put it in a shallow glass bowl, then add the cream and voila. The mixture of flavors was done, and just by the smell I could feel Grandma's meringue melting in my mouth. She saw me out of the corner of her eye and called me

Dalilah, don't just stand there and come help grandma.

I used to hate my name, but when she said it I felt like the only 10-year-old girl in the world, after all, it's not very common, right?

I took the creams and added the sighs. I had to arrange my hair in a bun beforehand, as the curls used to fall out all the time and if they saw a strand of red hair, it was certainly mine.

- Why aren't you reading the book grandma gave you, love?

- Because my head doesn't like the words grandma, I struggle but every time, I get hungry because my brain gets tired.

She laughed in my face, I didn't understand, what I was saying was true.

After putting the meringue in the fridge, she took off her apron decorated with flowers and cupcakes and went to the living room. I stayed in the kitchen cleaning up the mess on the counter and washing the dishes, which was Charlotte's job, but she said she was going out with her boyfriend and bringing me a package from Summer Bob when she got back, so I did everything right.

As soon as I finished, I was playing stickball in the street with Débora, my twin, and the neighboring boys. But it was only for an hour because I spotted Charlotte's boyfriend's silver Caravan and then I went back to grandma's house. When she arrived in the kitchen, I saw the Summer Bob package and my mouth was already watering. I loved those snacks, it was just like grandma's food, it tasted like summer. The only difference is that Summer Bob's food tastes like a diner and grandma'sfood tastes like home. I quickly took her hand and sat on the rocking chair in the backyard. When I opened the package, I was disappointed, there were only napkins and ketchup, no snacks……

- I'm going to kill Charlotte- I screamed red with anger and held myself not crying.

- Well done, I said that she doesn't do what she says- Débora replied sarcastically.

I didn't even get a chance to complain to my older sister for not keeping her word. Charlotte had already gone out again to go to a friend's house and I was there crying with rage. - The first disappointment we never forget.

Grandma heard my screams and cries from her room, went down to the backyard, and picked me up.

I remember lying on his shoulder as we got to the living room. She sat me on her lap and looked at me with those blue eyes, most people were a shade of heaven, hers was the purest sapphire shade, a dark, shimmering blue. Grandma Maria was so beautiful, I always wanted to be just like her, acquaintances say that of the 7 granddaughters I'm the one who looks the most like her, but I don't have those sapphire eyes that penetrate and the tanned skin she had, the only thing I have her wavy hair, but mine is the color of fire, it doesn't give obsidian.

- Do you want to hear a story, Delilah?

- I want to, but it has to be interesting if not I sleep- I said sobbing and with tears in my eyes

- I promise it will be, honey….

- In 1950...

- No old people's story, grandma- I wanted to cry even more.

- Quiet, let grandma finish.

"In 1950, a girl from Brazil, named Maria, traveled to the countryside of France, for her it was certainly a novelty. But not because she was in another country, this girl was from a big city with lots of lights and movement, that town in France was small, full of farms and very helpful people. Upon arriving there, she was received by the mother of the church who would be staying, Sister Agnes, a very serious Englishwoman. This girl found the city strange for logical reasons, but She has been adapting for two weeks. One night, she was in the backyard of the church, which was literally a wood, and saw a bunch of teenagers drinking behind some bushes by the lake. Not knowing anyone, she decided to approach, and she would stay in France for a while. 3 months and she couldn't feel alone"

- You'd better go to the other side, you're in front of the fireplaces in the bedrooms, a nun might see them - said the girl

The 4 young people were scared of her, they thought they were alone, so they took a long time to respond.

- Don't worry, it wouldn't be the first time they caught us - said a blonde girl in a black embroidered dress.

- We won't vandalize, we just like to stay here, because it's quiet. - a boy in a black jacket replied

- Don't be rude, come here honey sit with us. Where are you from?

- São Paulo, Brazil. My name is Maria.

What a classic, my name is Louise, his is Dominique, Amélie and the one lying there is Pierre pointed to a boy lying on the grass who still hadn't spoken.

- Pleasure- the girl said lying, already regretting having approached. - I'll go then, see you later...

- Wait a minute- Dominique replied- take a moment. He must have sensed the disdain on Maria's face because he then said, "Come on, it's just wine and cheese, you can't leave France without tasting our stereotype."

She managed a faint smile, the first since arriving in France. And they managed for a few seconds and words to steal Maria's sympathy. She stayed there with them for a while and only came back around 4 am, they talked about Brazil. Those French people wanted to know everything about her life, being from a small town it was not very common to meet foreigners. He found out that Amélie wanted to run away with Dominique to America and Louise was going to Paris to try to be a dressmaker. The only one who didn't say much was Pierre, Maria looked at him from the corner a few times and realized how handsome he was, tall and muscular, with green eyes like the grass he was lying on.

The Brazilian girl spent two more weeks seeing the lakes and old castles of that French city, it was so beautiful. Every day she passed a street with many flowers that formed a tunnel of lilies. Her new friends managed to make her appreciate the time more. I would stay in that country of lights.

Maria and that shy boy, Pierre, became so close that they decided to run away to Italy for the month of July, because soon after she would return to Brazil, at the end of August. It was like those tragic tales where the main characters don't like each other at first sight, but they have an instant and strong connection as soon as they talk for the first time, in fact, what brought the two together was Pierre's synesthesia, he was literally different, via all in a peculiar way, I used to hear textures and tones, as well as being in a place and relating it to a random melody.

In Italy, they became a tourist town that had lots of greenery and flowers, the streets were tiled and the houses were old with many stories hidden and buried in time. On their first day in that country, they lay on the grass of a small mountain looking out over the landscape.

- Say a food that will make you taste this summer - said, Pierre

- Don't be stupid, there's no way to taste a season, only for people like you who have synesthesia.

- Do you want to know how people like me feel about things? - Pierre replied

- Just say it.

- Do you know this view full of greenish mountains with this lake around it and these colorful houses that we are seeing? For me, it's very warm and orange, the color of the sunset and it tastes like a sigh. But since you're here, it tastes like cream with strawberries at the same time.

- So summer for you tastes like a sigh and not watermelon? -

- Yes, but a summer with you tastes like strawberry sighs, a very pink dessert actually and with Beethoven sounds.

- So we'll make one, but we have to make it only when it's summer if you don't lose the essence of the thing. - Maria said mockingly.

So the two left that little mountain and after a few days, they returned to France. The day before Maria's departure, Pierre decided that he would leave for Brazil with her, and to say goodbye to the European summer they made a strawberry meringue.

In the conversation they had on the mountain in Italy, she laughed in Pierre's face, but it was from that moment that she decided she wanted to be with him forever. Not all boys hear colors and smell flavors, for many at the time, synesthesia was a brain defect, but for Maria the way Pierre saw things was so beautiful.

When he arrived in Brazil, he told her that the country smelled like green and tasted like pineapple.”

- That's why every summer you make meringue with strawberries, Grandma,” Delilah said, already calmer with the disappointment of the Summer Camp sandwiches.

- Yes, my love. Your grandfather was just like you, he felt things too much, but that's not what grandma wants to do. Everything will pass, even your sadness for not having a sandwich in your hand and the anger you feel at Charlotte, just don't forget the taste of grandma's meringue, you'll have all the summers of your life to remember it.

I remember Grandma Maria was in a marshmallow voice that day. Today, at 41 years old, I am not the cook she was, that title was left for Charlotte, much less the one who loves to travel, this style stayed with Débora, but without a doubt I have Grandpa Pierre's style and the thought he gave to Grandma Maria, that summer undoubtedly tastes like meringue mixed with strawberries and bathed in cream, the smell of orange color like the sunset and the sound of Beethoven.

Ingredients:

1 can of condensed milk

3 egg yolks

1 can of milk (use the can of condensed milk as a measure)

1 teaspoon of cornstarch

A few drops of vanilla essence

2 boxes of strawberry

1 pack of sigh

Preparation mode:

Cream: Heat the condensed milk already mixed with the milk and yolks. When it boils, add the dissolved starch with a little more milk. Stir for about 5 minutes until it thickens and wait for it to cool before mixing with the strawberries later.

In the end, add the vanilla.

Whipped cream: Use a ready-made one, but if you do, put the yolks and 3 cups of sugar in the mixer and stir until foamy. It takes about 15 minutes.

How to assemble:

A layer of sliced ​​strawberries

Second layer: cream

Third layer: meringue

Fourth layer: mixing strawberries and meringue in the cream

Last: whipped cream