Yesterday we went to the zoo.
Me, my wife, and two children\u2026 by train. In the infernal summer of Rio de Janeiro.
I was very happy because the train's air conditioning was working, but what charmed me and started the flow of kindness was the politeness of the person who, upon seeing me with my one-year-old son in my arms... gave up their seat!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, it was almost 10 a.m. and we were comfortably seated: I have absolutely no complaints about the service provided by Supervia, both on the way there and back\u2026 including a disconcerting episode that occurred inside the train, right at the end of the adventure, and had educational consequences that, I hope, will remain etched in my heart forever.
I'll tell you\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I can't deny that it was a wonderful day, just as it would be a lie to say that I'm not suffering because of my son's current phase: he's intelligent, has a memory that's hard to distract, and when he wants something he screams like there's no tomorrow!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These screams not only attract the attention of anyone two kilometers away, but they also seem to tear, through the amplification of my hearing aids, right in the middle of my brain: it's truly painful, extremely exhausting, and all I can do, while trying to talk to and educate him, is wait for him to advance to the next stage\u2014currently we're between two and three syllables\u2014of verbalization and communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This behavior of screaming as if he were being eviscerated when we deny him something he wants has been a bit embarrassing, and that's what happened yesterday on the train, after the ride, just before we got off: I don't remember exactly what he wanted, but I remember that the screams he made caught everyone's attention... and this was on one of those trains that doesn't even have divisions between the carriages.
(And, by my calculations, the boy's screams must have reached about five train cars away!!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The situation was so dramatic and poignant that even a vendor offered the boy a glass of guaran\u00e1 so he would stop screaming, but we, the parents, dying of embarrassment, refused, after all we try to prevent him from drinking sugar and he wasn't even thirsty\u2026 and that man, immersed in a pure flow of kindness, with all his generosity, then took a bottle of water and placed it, without allowing it back, in the child's hands just as the doors opened and we had to disembark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We got off with our backpacks, stroller, and children and stood there, exchanging glances, because the train had already closed its doors and was leaving, without even giving us time to reach for our wallets to try and pay for that water\u2026
Keep this information in mind, as the story continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This morning I was concentrating, absorbed in the silence of the many cinematic and legendary ideas that were passing through my profound deafness when someone managed to get my attention by tapping something metallic, probably a coin, on the half-open wooden gate of my garage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A little startled by what I had heard and uncomfortable because I was shirtless and sweating profusely, I peeked through the crack and saw two women, one quite old and the other younger, who said something that, unlike the first sound, failed to break through my barrier of silence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n