Balloons

There was no one home when Melissa got there around six. She was glad, this way no one would see her red eyes and ask why she had been crying. She was tired of being treated as a kid while everyone around her looked way more childish. The sixteen-year-old had spent all the way home wondering why all those things were happening to her, trying to find a solution for all of those problems, trying to find someone to blame. But there was no conclusion. She needed a distraction, so she opened her closet, packed with all sort of things not only hers but her brother and sister`s, and started to look for a book. She pulled the box she kept the old books she liked and something fell right by her feet: a bag of balloons.

George was always off at 6, he hated it. It was the worst time to head home, when the traffic at least doubles the time of his journey. In rainy days that time would double once more. He wasn`t feeling lucky anyway on that day, but he cursed the heavens when the rain started and he got stuck on Paulista Avenue. He tried to turn on the radio but then remembered it wasn`t there, he had been robbed on the weekend. He couldn`t help but go through all of his problems. His life didn`t seem to be as meaningful as it had seemed before, his family didn`t seem to be a dream that came true but the root of his problems. Even the thought of his wife, that he loved for 6 years of marriage, didn`t seem to quite please him. He wanted to run away from all that but he knew he couldn`t, he had responsibilities. He hated the responsibilities he got for himself.

It was just a bag of colorful balloons, but it inspired Melissa in such a way that she couldn`t let it pass. She opened the bag and started blowing the balloons. There were pink, blue, white, yellow, green and orange ones, they looked so pretty together, so cheering. She simply kept blowing them until the bag was empty, the apartment completely filled with them and her lips dry and pale. She looked around and enjoyed the sight of all those colorful things spread all over the floor. But she wasn`t quite satisfied. She got a black marker and started to draw a smiley face on one of them. She was about to start drawing a heart on the next one when her mom arrived, looking a little confused with all that mess.

When George finally got home, as ironic as it could be, the rain stopped. His wife was having trouble with the three-year-old and trying to feed the baby. The older kid was yelling, complaining of something he wanted. The baby was crying and spiting the food off. George didn`t even get the chance to say hi, for his wife was demanding for help, telling him tons of things to do and asking if he had brought any milk. He had forgotten about the milk. It didn`t take long for the arguing start and soon both adults were yelling and both kids were crying. George couldn`t stand that anymore, leaving the kids to his wife, he went out to the front porch to get some fresh air.

Melissa complimented her mom but got back to what she was doing. It took her a few seconds to notice how her mom was just standing there, looking at her with a surprised expression, without even letting go of her purse. Melissa reached another marker and offered her. They were now both doing all sort of cute drawing on the balloons, writing some kind words and even some funny ones too. They were laughing and having such a great time, it seemed right to spread that to other people. They took the balloons out on the balcony and started letting them go with the wind, from the 15th floor of the building. It took them a while to go back inside; they watched the balloons flying away until the last one of them was out of sight.

Even though he was trying to quit, George lit a cigarette. He had been wandering in front of the house for a few minutes when he saw, coming from a high level of a building of the neighborhood, a bunch of balloons flying away. It was a pretty sight, he thought. There were pink, blue, white, yellow, green and orange balloons flying over that middle class district. He watched as some of them came to his direction. George tossed his cigarette in time to grab an orange balloon with a smiley carrot drawn on it. He laughed at the nonsense. But something on that senseless orange balloon brought him up. He got back inside with it, his wife had almost completely calmed down the baby, but his son was still wining. As soon as he saw the balloon on his father`s hand, the kid totally forgot what he was wining about and went out to the yard to play with it. The house was suddenly back to normal. George kissed his wife and went to the kitchen to help her get the dinner ready.

Crime

She walked through that same street she walks every day. The same houses, same trees, same lights, she paid no attention to them, it was all the same. She worked two blocks from the main avenue, and lived at about 6 blocks away on the other side. When she gets to the main avenue, she thought, she would check her balance at the bank. She didn`t notice the man walking on the opposite direction, wearing jeans and striped shirt. Every time she noticed someone suspicious walking by her, she would cross the street and pretend being interested on something on the other side. She was terrified of muggers. And who would have guessed that this middle-class looking man would be about to rob her? He approached her next to a tree, showed the knife in his pocket, and demanded for her purse.
- Oh my God! – her heart beating as fast as it can – Please, my kid`s medicine is in it. Look, I`ll give you my money…
- Ok! Ok! Just give me your wallet. – He thought for a second and decided he needed to sound more frightening – And your mobile, pass me the mobile!
- OK, here! – terrified, she took the huge cell phone out of her purse, making it look a lot lighter. The artifact was probably several years old.
- And that`s all you have? – he asked while he took the 50 bucks out of her wallet.
- Yes, yes, it is! I swear!
- Right.
It`s hard to tell if it was because of Josiane`s expression of fear, or because of the giant dinosaur cell phone, or because of the kid`s medicine, but something on the crime scene touched Vanderlei`s heart. He was already looking to the sides to see if there was anyone watching them and run away when he turned back to Josiane, scaring her out again, and started to explain himself.
- Look, I`m sorry…
Josiane`s eyes were wide open, but she was less scared now and more curious.
- I am ill, you know, I got AIDS. The medicines are so expensive and I end up in the hospital every week, I had no other way out. I hope you understand.
- But… - she was getting emotive – Have you looked for help? You know, government help? There are some projects that help people in your conditions.
- It`s all bullshit! They help a couple of people and say they are doing their part, throw commercials on TV and make all that noise, all lies! You see, Ma`m… I`m sorry, what`s your name?
- It`s Bruna – she didn`t think long to answer, than realized he had her wallet with her ID in it – Josiane, I`m sorry, it`s the habit.
- I understand, we can`t trust people now a days.
Jo was feeling comfortable already.
- Yeah, especially when they rob you! - she laughed, he joined her.
- How rude of me! Take your wallet with all your documents, it`s so much work to get new ones and you`ve got kids to take care of. Here, take it back.
He took the money and gave her back her wallet.
- Oh, wow! Thank you!
- You can have this back too.
He gave her back her mobile. He didn`t notice her expression of dislike, the phone was covered by an insurance.
- Well – said Jo – can you walk me to the main avenue then? It`s only one block ahead.
He stared at her, suspicious.
- Oh, no! – she hurried to explain herself – I won`t even go to the police, I just want to avoid any more trouble. It`s getting dark now, what if someone else try to mug me and I don`t have any money left? What would he do to me? Would you believe me if I said: hey, sorry, I don`t have any money, some other mugger took it 5 minutes ago, maybe he`s a friend of yours. He would stab me for the disrespect.
Vanderlei laughed, but took a step back.
- Sorry Josiane, I hope you understand. I also have a son, we are waiting for the exams. Let`s hope he doesn`t have the virus.
- Oh, yeah, let`s hope so. Good luck! And Good luck on your treatment.
- Thank you.
They walked away, like 2 old friends that met on the street.
As soon as Jo got home she started to tell her sister what happened.
- Jesus, Jo! You got robbed?
- Yeah, he had a knife and took my money!
- You must call the police! – but Jo already had her phone in hands.
- I have a more important call to make… Hello! Yeah, I`d like to cancel my cell phone`s insurance. You want to know why? I`ll tell you why! Because the mugger gave it back, that`s why!

Hello!

After spending some time abroad I decided, as a Brazilian, that I love my country and I wanted to show people why. But what do I know about Brazil? I didn`t really travel a lot around the country. I realized what I love is actually São Paulo, the city I know better than anywhere else in the world. I grew up in a middle class neighborhood on the west side of the city. I was always fascinated about people and their cultures, so I guess I was on the right place. As any big city, São Paulo has got a bit of everything in culture, religion, ethnic, etc; but this one has some peculiarities that you couldn`t find anywhere else in the world and I could only understand that when I was away. I also noticed then, that most people know so little about life here that I felt like telling them all about São Paulo. But how can I show the real São Paulo to someone who`s never been to it? I`ve read some statistics, hoping that they would help:
The population is of about 18 million people; the average life expectancy is 62 years for men and 70 for women; 70% of people are Roman Catholic; the temperature is warm and slightly humid, the average being 21C in January and 14C in July.
It sounds like an interesting city, doesn`t it? Except that’s not São Paulo.
18 million people is the sense, but there is no sense of how many people live in each favela of the city, and that being a really large area (not as large as Rio in proportions but pretty large) I wouldn`t be surprised if that number increased. The average life expectancy is probably lower than many nice cities in Europe and in the U.S. Well, my grandma is 80 years old and she walks up and down the hill to go shopping for lunch, go out in the afternoon for a walk in the mall and watches the soap-opera in the evening. Many old ladies in Sao Paulo follow similar routines and what I always hear from foreigners that come here is that a lady of that age in their country would be confined at home, or a nursing home, unable to do stuff by herself. The Roman Catholic fact is actually interesting because most of those called catholic don`t even go to church. And you can easily find “catholics”, even the ones that do go to church, trusting the Orixas, carrying Jewish amulets for luck and having little Buddha’s in their houses to keep a “zen” environment. Besides, my TV has 5 Evangelic channels, a Christian religion of fanatics that has got very popular in the city. They show on TV their huge churches, crowded with believers screaming and yelling their prayers, while there`s no Catholic channel or much mention of the religion on regular ones. About the average temperature of São Paulo I just can`t figure it out, in any season. First you wake up and it`s freezing cold outside, so you get a nice coat and put an umbrella in your bag just in case; you come back for lunch carrying the coat because is sunny and warm and when you go out in the afternoon you leave the umbrella because there is no sight of rain; you come home in the evening soaked wet because a storm came out of nowhere, felt for half an hour and it was suddenly cold again. I have pictures of Christmas parties on which I`m wearing very light summer clothes, and others that I`m wearing sweaters.
All that make the statistic look a little controversial, don`t you think? This city is made of disparities and details that make it special. To understand the controversies of it you would need to live each one of them like the Paulistanos (people from São Paulo). So I think the best way to show how São Paulo really is, would be by stories that people have to tell about their daily lives in the city. I have a bunch of stories myself, that happened to me or to people I know, so I`ll share as many as I can. Hope you`ll enjoy!