Telephone Game

 

Wondering whether the title should be ‘heard it through the grapevine’ or ‘telephone game.’ Guess I will go with ‘telephone game.’

It all happened a couple of Fridays ago. When I checked my messages, there was one stating the sad news about the passing of a cousin´s husband. The message read: he died on the treadmill, however, treadmill in Portuguese is ‘esteria’. It is used for other things too, but in this case, everyone thought it was a treadmill at the gym.

On the way to the wake, the family started talking about using this fact the next time the doctor said we had to exercise. Imagine going to the doctor´s and saying ‘my cousin passed while he was on a treadmill. Don´t want to die, so I will not do it.’ All of this was to make the situation lighter for everyone was incredibly sad.

At the calling, the cousin who had received the message of the death and passed it on to everyone else clarified the situation. It just so happened that the deceased worked in a factory that had a conveyor belt (also ‘esteira’ in Portuguese). You can probably guess by now where he really died. At work, not exercising. Nonetheless, what a dreadful event.

Written: February 18, 2025

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Guilty?

 

Coming home from an afternoon of shopping with her mom felt safe and warm. The sun was shining, and the car ride was pleasant. They talked about the supermarket offers and what they were going to cook for dinner that evening.

 As they reached their home, mom got out of the car and started to open the garage door. Suddenly, two young boys approached her window. One of them pointed a gun at her. Something came over her. She put the car into reverse and drove away – no destination whatsoever. She just ran away from that situation without turning back.

Meanwhile, her mom closed the garage door and screamed for her husband to come outside. ‘They pointed a gun at her head! She drove away! They are running up the street!’ Her husband ran out of the house and chased the boys up the street.

As he was heading back, his cell phone rang. It was his daughter. ‘Come back. They have fled. It is sa…’ The girl noticed her father´s voice had changed. He was struggling to speak. Suddenly they were disconnected.

As she approached her home, she noticed a mob in front of her house. There was a body lying on the ground – motionless. There was a neighbor trying to perform CPR – to no avail. Her father had gone. No gunshot wound. No blood. His face had turned purple due to the lack of oxygen. She couldn´t make out whether he was breathing. He had gone. Died.

Later that week, the neighborhood watch had posted a video on the WhatsApp group of the events of that day. She can´t get over the fact that her father had a heart attack. She hasn´t got the nerves to delete it. She watches it over and over again. Sobs. Screams. She has been in her bedroom since then and won´t come out – not even to eat.

Written: February 11, 2025

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Stay or go? That is the Question

 

Going to the weekly meeting has lit a sparked in your mind whether your presence is truly needed. As the app lets you into the room, the conversation going on can be heard although your microphone takes a while to turn on. Then, there are those who question why your camera is not on without realizing that this mechanism also takes its own slow time to turn on. Sometimes you wonder whether you should get a new laptop or just make a few upgrades so that it works a bit faster and do not need to deal with the comments made – “how come her camera is not on”; “it is always that way”; “maybe she doesn´t want to be seen” – these comments are so aggravating.

The fact that the people in or at the meeting (since it is online, prepositions are used differently according to grammarians. Then again, grammarians tend to differ on syntax) are much older than you are and the one who is younger has discovered a way to just say that he is listening in but is at work so then the camera will be off and will answer via chat. Of course, when the chat box pops up, the message is read at once. When you try to speak, someone tramples over your speech, and then the others just ignore your point of view and go along with the treader. So, what is there to do, but turn off your mic, hold on to your chin, smile and pretend that you are mindfully there.

Nobody asks for your opinion. Nobody even notices that you have made a gesture agreeing or disagreeing with what has been decided. Nobody cares whether you are there. Once again you wonder if you should say that the connection is bad; if you should miss the next meeting, if you should even belong to the group at all. Would you be a huge loss or even a minor one for them? Would they come running after you? You understand that people are replaceable, however these are the feelings that run through your mind. Afterall, you are only human.

There are times when you believe that you should make yourself heard. Your opinion is important. Your experience in life can contribute to the matter. You have probably done it several times before and are only tired from always having to do so. You end up coming to the conclusion that you actually cannot teach an old dog new tricks. The saying has been wrong all along. Maybe, it just applies to the animal itself. Old dogs are able to be taught, people are not.

 

Written: February 5, 2025

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