By Nora Vasconcelos
(Part 2)
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[You can read the first part of the story at Obinna Udenwe’s blog]
Confused for what had just happened and ashamed for his own actions, he followed his mom back home.
Life in the neighbourhood would be very different from now on, he thought, while passing by the hedge. What could have caused his neighbor to get so angry? He wondered, feeling sorry for her.
‘And you my son,’ his mom said, ‘don’t ever dare to behave like that again!’
He was sure there would be more problems. His mom would be leaving once all her medical tests were completed and the doctor determined which was the best treatment for her, but in his case, he lived there, and by now, he was sure that all his neighbours had learned about the argument with the girl. It would be a nightmare!
Mum didn’t speak to him the rest of the day. He didn’t really know what to say, so he let her alone. Tomorrow it’d be another day and may be everything would feel different then.
What he didn’t know was that just a few meters away, right behind his house, a series of phone calls had been made at the same time that he was trying to silence his overwhelming guilt.
At first, right after he had left the apartment, following his mum, she had thought she’d call the police and report the incident so he’d be taken to the police station, the least. But later, she thought of something better. Something that would make her anger get some release.
It took her about three hours but she had finally done it. Tomorrow morning, his horrible neighbor and his mom would pay for what they had done to her.
The president of the company she worked for was in good terms with many politicians and businessmen, and all of them found the way to make her wishes come true. After all, she had lived there for a while and she knew that all those powerful people had a particular interest in this area of the city that was growing a lot and had become very profitable.
The new changes, of course, wouldn’t affect her place, which she had decorated with the most expensive things that could be found in the city.
Some other neighbours would be affected, but it was for the greater good, and she deserved some sort of reward after giving her life away due to a job that had demanded of her a 24/7 dedication for years.
With the image of her revenge coming through, she finally fell asleep.
The next morning a strong noise woke her up.
‘What was that?’ She wondered while getting off the bed.
Her headache was terrible and the light that filtered through the window hurt her eyes. The noise seemed stronger than it actually was, at least for a simple knock on the door.
Stumbling around the living room, she managed to get to the door and answered from inside. ‘Who’s it?’
‘It’s me, your neighbour, I’ve come to apologize for what I did to you yesterday…”
‘Go away!’ It was her answer, leaning on the door as if she feared he could force-open it.
‘Please, accept my apology. I know what I did it was terrible, but you must recognize that you insulting my mom was also terrible,’ he said showing real concern in his voice.
‘You’re in so much trouble now, mama’s boy! You won’t even see when reality hits you with what you deserve! And now, go away or I’ll call the police, as I should have done it yesterday. Oh! And say good-bye to your comfortable life, neighbuor!’
Confused …again, and angry …again, he went back to his house.
He could understand that she was angry for what had happened the day before, but what he was completely unable to comprehend was what had caused so much hatred in her. Before yesterday they hadn’t even spoken. Why did she hate him so much? And why did she want to hurt him so badly? He also wondered what she had meant with those threatening words. After all, she had been the one who had initiated the fight when she went to insult his mother over the clothes being dried on the hedge.
With all these thoughts going around his head, he barely noticed all the noise that was coming from his house.
It was only until he had to push some people to get though the side-walk when he realized that there were a couple of black Mercedes and a patrol car parked in front of his place. Those were the exact kind of vehicles that brought people who intended to take care of official business. And the patrol car… ‘Had she finally called the police?’ He said aloud.
‘Son! Son! Come here! Hurry up!’ His mom called him out with an anguished voice.
He had to push some more people away, but he got to his house.
Once there, a big white paper with red and black letters on his door caught his attention.
Paralyzed by the surprise, the whole world around him seemed to disappear, even his mum’s cries.
Eviction notice, he read. And it was all what he managed to absorb in that moment.
‘How did that happen?’ ‘Why?’ He asked not addressing anyone in particular.
While trying to figure it out, two men wearing dark suits gave him some documents still enclosed in several envelopes. ‘Your mother refused to accept them, but you must take them, as the former owner of this property, you have to abide the law. You must empty this property today.’
‘What?’ It was all what he managed to answer.
The construction of a big parking lot and a shopping center was set to start that exact day, right in the area were his house was located, the two men had informed him.
Workers of a moving company had already started taking all the furniture outside and placed everything, small and big, inside of a big truck.
‘You can pick up your stuff at this address, previous payment of the storage fee, of course,’ one of the men said before going back to one of the fancy cars.
His mom reached for him and held onto him, sure that if he didn’t hold her, she would faint.
He hugged his mom tightly. Then he started to look around, as if a magical answer to this mess could be found somewhere on the horizon. Instead, he managed to see the tall and refined silhouette of his neighbor staring among the crowd. ‘How she dare?!’ He said, still holding his mom.
From total confusion to complete control, it took him no more than ten minutes to elaborate a plan to make his situation less complicated.
Gently, he took his mom to an empty bench close by. All those trees and flowers that the new government had been planting around had come along with some urban furniture that proved to be handy in this moment.
‘Calm down, mom. Just wait for me here. I’m going to fix this.’ He reassured her.
She took a deep breath and seemed to believe her son, but tears were still running down her face.
About half an hour later, he returned, placing his cell phone back into his pocket. A strange smile illuminated his face.
‘What happened, my son?’ Did you fix it? Do we still have to move?’ She asked with a hint of hope in her voice.
‘Yes, mum, to both questions. I fixed it, but we still have to move,’ he said, ready to explain to her what was going to happen.
‘We do have to leave the house because all the papers for a new development on this block have been signed. But we won’t be moving so far away, in fact, it’s just a few steps away where we’re going. I’ve arranged for the same company that took our furniture to the storage facility to bring it back tomorrow to our new place. Meanwhile, we’ll stay with a friend of mine who lives close to the hospital, so you won’t miss your doctor’s appointment.’
‘But how? Where?’ she asked.
‘You’ll see mom. I’m sure you’ll like it very much. The new place has all the best things in town and the best part is that we get to keep the hedge. It will be considered part of our property from now on, so nobody will tell us what we can or can’t do with it.’
Still confused, his mom followed him into the taxi he had just hailed.
Back there, behind his former house, the woman who had put him through all this suffering didn’t see this come. All of a sudden two men, wearing dark suits, got out of two black Mercedes that had been followed by a police car. They presented her with official documentation that forced her to leave the house that she had been renting for over two years, as the owner of the property had recently allowed a friend of his to buy the building.
After all — they explained to her–, the owner thought that being in good terms with the man who imported all the thousands of tires he needed every year for his transportation company, the biggest in the country, was a much better business than listening to a handful of local politicians and businessmen with small aspirations focused only in a small part of the town.
(Read the first part of this story here:
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* This story is part of The Crossover Mexico-Nigeria Project
