SHORT STORIES, : MY NEIHBORHOOD AND THE PEOPLE IN IT.

                                  Previously lived in ranches, remember? In the case of my family, for example, where we lived most of our life, there ws a garden, a beautiful backyard with jabuticabeira, palms, laundry area. My grandfather, among other hobbies, used to collect honey and pick wild umbu. But I said ranches. There are times we lived in the city. Like, not disgusting. It has its advantages. It is practical, safe, choosing the right one, a nice neighborhood and so on. But it has a very serious complication, neighbors! Where there lived one family, suddenly live 20, 30, 50, 100 depending on the case. With

the neighbor next door the conversation was usually cordial, and anything that bothered him he argued in a chat in the afternoon. You knew who the family was. If it were not for friends, enemies were none. There was respect and greater privacy. If your neighbor had to drag furniture or drum on the wall at midnight, or a child play marbles in the room, it was his problem. If you hit the door to enter and leave, if the couple squealed loudly, it rarely bothered anyone. In the city not the case. Everything happens right beside you or on top of you. The marble-making machine turns into a crazy running through the room next door, knocking the doors are in front of you! At home, the neighbor's conversations on the street disrupt the music that you struggle to hear. This is when the indigent do not have the habit of leaving open the door. Then it’s fair. To live in the city we have to be careful. Sound cannot be electric trio, nails, hammers and drills must be used sparingly and at appropriate times, ie, from 10 am to 10.15 pm the same evening on Wednesdays. And look there! You come across a multitude of people on the avenue, in common areas. Most of you do not know, do not know who it is, but you know one thing: they are your neighbors. The other day a babysitter was taking care of a little boy, already sweating after running through the garage with an electric cart made for those being caught, accompanied him in the swimming pool. Fully dressed. In an outfit of those long, black evangelical type, blouses, I imagine, panties and bra, and flip flops. Nothing against it, provided there is enough chlorine in the water to face all the colonies of bacteria that exist! And the neighbor who thinks he can leave the car in front of your garage for a while? Just in the little time you arrive and want to park in your garage and, moreover, having to pee. My neighbor complained the day before yesterday that he seemed to have no neighbor at all, as he never heard any sound coming from my apartment. See! I discovered that my ideal neighbor is myself, can it be?

Manassés Gomes De Paiva