The TV is showing the latest novela, Das 97, a remake of Vale tudo, an old novela I used to watch. I try to concentrate, but keep getting lost in my own thoughts and worries. Fernando comes through the door, with his wife Sara and my darling granddaughter, my first and probably last grandchild. Her skin is a nice shade of white, much much whiter than my skin and that of my sons. They live in the tiny house right behind my own place, on the same lot. Fernando enters with a bottle of Guaruaná8 and a bag of French bread. “Oh vó, vem tomar café da tarde9,” Sabrina yells. Loro echoes, “oh vó, oh vó.” Now I am his vó too. Sabrina erupts in a cry of happiness, which is also echoed by the bird: “ah, ah, ah.” “Yes, my darling, can you bring it to me on a tray, I just got comfortable here in bed. Come, you can sit here too, we can watch TV.” Fernando sits on the floor, by the foot of the bed, and Sara pulls up a chair.
“I don’t understand why they would produce a remake of a show with exactly the same story. What is the point?” Sara asks.
“The murderer of Odete won’t be the same,” Fernando replies.
To myself, I think, But that’s life. Unless you take some drastic measures or get very lucky, you will live a life very similar to the one your parents lived. Not a whole lot changes. Our lives are like a cheap novela remake. I am getting philosophical with age.
“Mãe, we were thinking of moving into the neighbor’s house, since it looks like they won’t be returning any time soon. You know how tiny our house is, with the three of us sleeping in the same room. In their house, Sabrina would have her own room, and we would have ours.” I chew my cheese sandwich and shake my head. “No, that would not be right. That is not our house.” They eat their sandwiches and decide to leave because they will have an early morning. I turn off the TV and decide to call it a night.
Suddenly I am awakened by a strange sound. I get up and look through the window: my son Reginaldo is in the courtyard with his friend Marco, smashing beer cans and smoking marijuana in the middle of the night. They both jump over to the neighbor’s house. I don’t even want to imagine what they’re up to! Maybe it would be for the better if Fernando moved in with his family, then at least Reginaldo won’t be able to transform the place into a drug den, maybe even befriend some of the gang members and gather there. That would be very dangerous, very very bad. Most boys who join the gang die young. One dies every week in the neighborhood here. Last week it was the son of Maria do Carmo, Reinaldo, who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, she said. But you are always in the wrong place when you’re in the gang, and there’s never a good time.
Hopefully the neighbors will never be back, I think to myself. What an awful thought. Maybe we could rent out the smaller houses in the back, since each lot has one additional kitchenette. We can also rent out the garages, for cars or even businesses. I bet a hairdresser or a store would be great here. The street is very busy during the day. We could make the wall between the lots smaller again, back to the way it was before dona Sandra decided that she needed more privacy, but did not think of me and how dark my yard would get with that huge ugly wall. In a few years, we would acquire the house by squatters’ rights. I don’t know how many years. And Reginaldo can live in this house with me until he develops some juízo10, or until I die, which, at the moment, seems to be more likely to happen first.
(…to be continued…)
Footnotes
7. Soap opera at 9:00 pm
8. Brazilian soft drink
9. Come join us for “afternoon” coffee
10. Reason, better decision making
Transadaptation Volume 7 – Via Ellipsis – Continuation of Uncertainty, Instability and Extremes Transadapted
January: An Unexpected Trip Down Memory Lane – Sarah-Leah Pimentel (South Africa)
February: Blow-up – Veronika Groke (Austria)
March: Futuros Murguistas – Alejandra Baccino Uberti (Uruguay)
April: The Nomenclature Man – Paulius Limantas (Lithuania)
May: Amanecerá y veremos – Adriana Uribe (Colombia)
June: Finding Light in Yerevan – Armine Asryan (Armenia)
July: The Last Judgement – Nadia Silva Castro (Brazil)
August: Puzzled – a nivola collaged by perypatetik authors (International)
September: Second Steps – Jonay Quintero Hernandez (Spain)
October: New Normality – Svetlana Molchanova (Russia)
November: Beyond Comprehension – Rahaf Konbaz (Syria)
December: Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Worm? (Parts I and II) – Narantsogt (Natso) Baatarkhuu (Mongolia)
Background – Context
Transadaptation Volume 6: Meaning? – Uncertainty, Instability and Extremes Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2025)
Transadaptation Volume 5: Of Flowing Vicissitudes – Life Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2024)
Transadaptation Volume 4: Material Dissent – Adulthood Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2023)
Transadaptation Volume 3: Evanescent – Young Adulthood Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2022)
Transadaptation Volume 2: Conceived – Childhood Transadapted, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2021)
Transadaptation Volume 1: In the Middle – Prelude to a Contemporary Transadaptation, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2020)
Peripatetic Alterity: A Philosophical Treatise on the Spectrum of Being – Romantics and Pragmatists by Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2019)
La Syncrétion of Polarization and Extremes Transposée, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2019)
The Codex of Uncertainty Transposed, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2018)
L’anthologie of Global Instability Transpuesta, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2017)
From Wahnsinnig to the Loony Bin: German and Russian Stories Transposed to Modern-day America, (eds.) Angelika Friedrich, Yuri Smirnov and Henry Whittlesey (2013)
Emblems and stories on the international community
Perception by country – Transposing emblems, articles, short stories and reports from around the world
Credits
Top row (left to right): 1. Santa Cruz Cabralia, Brazil – Roofs – Iryna Shpulak (Shutterstock); 2. Atins, Brazil – Village life – Rudi Ernst (Shutterstock); 3. São Miguel do Gostoso, Brazil – The fishing village – Christiano Diehl Neto (Shutterstock)
Bottom row (left to right): 1. Paraty, Brazil – In the village – JKSZ Photography (Shutterstock); 2. Alagoas, Brazil – The village – Joel Brandao (Shutterstock)