Alberto is a survivor of the Peloponnesian War. He lost his whole family in the war and decided to sail to Brazil to try his luck, hoping to leave all the tension behind — which didn't happen, because Alberto is dyslexic and ended up in the land of temptation. All of this back in the distant 1950s.
Since his money only got him as far as Bahia, he was bounced off the ship in Salvador. The dashing young man tried vatapá. Little did he know his ancestors were already hooked on the delicacy. From then on, Alberto kept puffing up and puffing up, without ever losing his tenderness. When people started calling him Bolacha (Cookie), Alberto decided it was time to head to the capital of Brazil, since in Bahia everything is about the sea and Alberto has no calling as a fisherman.
In Rio de Janeiro he walked into a wholesale handbag factory. He took the prettiest ones on consignment and sold them all the same day. He came back for more and the salesman, astonished, asked him: “how?” And the answer came right away: “I sell purses, pouches and p@&$ies.”
And so Alberto built fame and fortune and was invited to society's most elegant salons, always remembering that first day in Rio.
At one of those dazzling parties, he met Sofia.
Sofia is the daughter of a great Brazilian industrialist. "Industrialist" is a manner of speaking. Her father ran a general store in the Baixada Fluminense and, when they decided to build the Flamengo landfill, Mr. José was the first to show up with a truckload of sand. Truck after truck, he raised the landfill and built Brasília in 5 years, along with his fortune, which grew more in those 5 years than in 50.
Mr. José's daughter is Sofia. At 10, she was already selling eggs at the grocery store. At 18, by then a millionaire princess, she didn't give up the eggs. On the contrary, she found eggs even under a rooster.
But Sofia doesn't beat around the bush, and Mr. José is proud of his fearless daughter. Her mother, not so much.
Nobody can hold Sofia back, and she gets bored quickly at the balls of Rio's grand monde.
At 21, she saw Bolacha show up at a party — I mean, Alberto. And she heard, firsthand, the story of the bags: purses, pouches and… I can't say it anymore in prime time.
And she grabbed Alberto because Alberto was different. He was clever and quick, just like her.
Sofia and Alberto are now around 50 (forget the timeline).
They're lively, very lively. They're business partners and they complete each other. Alberto is gentler; Sofia, more assertive. The scene between Dona Odete and Freitas is based on a story about Sofia's way of working: 'Freitas, I thought you liked to suffer.'
She's chic, knows how to dress and is smart. More curious than erudite, over the years she has built up quite a cultural background. She can talk to the fashionable writer, the steel tycoon and the cleaning lady. She just has no patience for socialites and influencers.
She has a voracious sexual appetite. Alberto suffers and can't always keep up.
They have two children, a boy and a girl, both in their late twenties.
I'll tell you more later.