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   Everybody's health was checked, and we were all in good health. Arnaldo complaint about pains in his knee, and it was verified that it was due to banging his knee when leaving the plane.
Passed the first few moments of which we embraced each other, we verified that Arnaldo was still complaining about his knee pain.
I sat down on my flight luggage and started to lecture, while Prata Mendes laughed his head out:
"So much difficulty to arrive in China and here we are and don't know where..." "Well my friends, we have already escaped from the Indian and the people from Paquistan ! Now I only think of the whiskeys that I did not drink and am going to drink on the Jumbo on the way home."

Prata Mendes said in a very good mood:
"Arnaldo it is your fault !”

   There are been situations in our lives that mark us for the ensinamentos that you/they transmit us, it was in this small barracks that I had the privilege of learning with new and with old that they were crossed in my destiny, thanks to a fatality that already belonged to the past.
    With Arnaldo to recover quickly and with him Silver Mendes equal to himself, I didn't get to find preoccupying reasons.
    I accepted the fact that the Raid was over. It could have ended in worse conditions. We were all in good health and for me no other interests could overflow the reality, and after we were subject to a worse destiny of which God did not want.
    Remembers that during the night, in ours improvised room in a prefabricated hut, while he/she fought to sleep, I saw it Prata Mendes to get up and go close Arnaldo affectionately and to inform of its health condition without knowing that was he to observe.
    That small garrison was commanded by a youth of twenty and few years and the others they were all youths like him.
   

For five years a small defense group remained in an isolated post. When we did our military service we did not evaluate our luck, even when in most difficult situations. Comparable are those which were set to concentration camps during the wars in Angola, Guiné and Mozambique. Only those!

We were treated as first class. We could not have any conversation, as we could not speak Chinese. After many hours, a young Commander, loosing his shyness, wrote some English words in a piece of paper.

We read with amazement, as it said he could not speak English.

I give my sincere gratitude to that young man that gave me the lesson of my life. With faith and dedication and willingness, that young man, within his twenties, filled pages, while speaking to us.

It was an unforgettable experience, while we where teaching him how to pronounce the works that he wrote, such as: yes, father, mother, son, thank you etc.

The next day we had even a greater surprise. When the enquiry elements arrived, they were accompanied by military services and with them an old man dressed as a Mao, with hat and all. He was presented to us as the interpreter.

He asked us if we spoke French. Prudent we answered yes. He told us, without talking:

I am here to help you out.

'I know that you are Portuguese, and I am dying to see Cascais and Estoril. You will then tell me how your city Lisbon is.

Remaining with a serious look he told us that some spoke English, but it is better that 1 translate, as I know how you European speak.

I looked at Prata Mendes and promised Arnaldo that I would tell him everything later.