The Brazilian Millionaire’s Butler

Young, beautiful, and mysterious, Olívia arrives in Rio de Janeiro in 1944 too interested in keeping the party going to worry about the past she fled in America, the foreign world she entered, or the deception and treachery of the Brazilian millionaire she married. But she is not totally lost, for Brazil is a magical place. And because of that magic, the millionaire’s butler becomes Olívia’s champion, even at the risk of destroying himself.
“Catch a wave and ride it into a cafe noir in steamy 1940’s Rio in this imaginative ‘what-if’ sequel to the classic Breakfast At Tiffany’s. Scott Michael Powers paints the town red with blood in this murder mystery set in exotic Brazil. With characters as colorful as the setting, this read is everything an entertaining short story should be.”—Susan L in Amazon review.
A short story included in The Masters Reimagined anthology of speculative short stories.
From characters that disappear to odd occurrences to open endings, the masters who penned today’s literary classics left a lot of room for speculation. Have you ever wondered what inspired Kipling to pen The Jungle Book? Who else Macbeth’s witches influenced? Why Mr. Rochester’s first wife went mad in Jane Eyre? How the events of Treasure Island would unfold if the pirates flew spaceships instead? Escape into the speculative worlds of ten award-winning science-fiction and fantasy authors for answers that will fire up your imagination as you discover the essence of these timeless tales in stories that invite you to re-think everything you know about the classics, whether you’ve ever read them or not.
Excerpt:
“Well,” she said. “Then you and I must become good friends.”
She took my hand in hers. In that moment, I knew her.
I saw deeply into her darkness. Olivia already had been many women in her young life; always, always moving on. She rode life as a surfer rides waves, grateful for the moment, never looking back, never quite sure how long the ride would last, and always perfectly content to catch the next wave after one threw her or petered out. There always is another wave. I saw occasional pain from the throws, but never disappointment in the lost rides. There also was a tender, deep fear that if she ever stopped riding altogether she would drown. So she just moved on.
People never know when I see into them. Yet Olivia sensed something. I cannot imagine my expression betrayed me. I have a poker face. It is part of my construction. She released my hand with a snap and that curious expression of hers deepened. She tilted her head. When her honey bangs rolled into her eyes, she tilted back, wiped them away, and put on a practiced smile. It demanded: pretend you didn’t see that.
“Good friends,” she promised.
- ASIN: B073WF9QQ2
- Publisher: Off-University Press (July 11, 2017)
- Publication date: July 11, 2017
- Language: English
- File size: 614 KB
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
- Screen Reader: Supported
- Enhanced typesetting: Enabled
- Word Wise: Enabled
- Print length: 25 pages