What Growing Up Without a Father Can Do With a Man’s Head

Or How My Father Became President of China

I am the son of a single mother who decided to become a mother at the age of 33. She was dating my father, discovered that he had another girlfriend, but decided to “steal” a few little genes before ending the relationship.

My parents lived in Rio de Janeiro when I was conceived, but my mother moved to São Paulo as soon as she became pregnant. This is where I was born. And where I grew up, without a father. Let’s see what I’ve become.

I don’t remember many details of my early childhood. According to my mother, I started to miss a father around the age of five, since I realized that my schoolmates had one, and I didn’t. From what she tells me, I pressured her to find out more about my father and, at this time, decided to talk to him. According to her, a letter had been sent to him even before I was born telling him about my existence, but it was not answered. According to my father, this letter did not reach his hands. So when I asked to meet him, at the age of five, he didn’t know about me. I went to Rio with my mother, she met him alone and found out: he had married a barren woman. So I was (and am) his only child. As he was afraid that his marriage would end if his wife knew about my existence, he asked my mother for more time. My mom said no since I wanted to talk to him. She said, then, that she would “kill” him. He asked not to “kill” him, to make up another story. And that was how she…