Sunny Saturday morning, of a beauty splendorous, flooding everything with light and heat, presaging a beautiful and promising weekend, in contrast, with the gloomy and sensitive to cold aspect of the ruins of the old center from São Paulo.

The sun was burning, trying to infiltrate among the cold and gray walls of the buildings peeled by the rudeness of the time, in a constant fight to break the tonality of ash gray of the jungle of stone of São Paulo and to heat up a little the souls, of the ones that in this life, they simply vegetate, faking to live.

Old "Várzea of Glicério, of charms thousand, where the silence of the afternoons is broken by the monotonous to ring of the bells of the old Cathedral of Sé, with her strange community, where the most varied human types proliferate, as the retired ones in search of a calm corner, where they can live in peace the last instants of their existences; of prostitutes and transvestites competing in the same space, in the quadrilateral of the sin, where the order word is to make money, to survive; of insinuating traffickers and drug addicts giving alms the own addiction; of oriental involved in the Chinese Mafia, where a simple point of drugs, it can be the limit of the life.

In that Babylon of São Paulo, of strangers and onlookers to be alive, in the tiring acrity of their day by day, we will find Johnny, a person born in São Paulo with fourthy years old, in search of a space to live. Divorced, distant of the children, he ended up finding den in that uncommon building, where most of the residents belonged the calm class of the retired ones.

Johnny, was very happy with his girlfriend Fátima, (Fafá) and on that moment they were before the door of the 54, known apartment of the building, of memories not very pleasant for the other residents. They were removing the inside of the lock of the door, to take it to the key chain and like this to change the secret of

that " apê "( little apartment ), more known by the neighbors as " hole of the perdition ".

- " Go on with this, Johnny, before the women returns " - She said him, with the

But what women was that, what did Fafá refer? To answer, it was necessary to return to the Past, time in that Johnny rented the apartment to live, when he was in a difficult financial situation. The way was to arrange a partner to divide the expenses of the rent, or better, a beautiful partner. Sculptural brunette, beautiful as the sin, and super usefullness girl in helping in the boy's financial afflictions. She had known Vitória, Vic, in a night house in the old "Bexiga". There, her work as entrepeneur of artists and Johnny sought musicians to form a rock band, besides lover passionate at that time, an unlucky platonic love for the youth Suzette, worsened by the discovery that she was "a little shoe", nickname of young lesbians), "big shoe" companion (the oldest).

Johnny and Vic started to live together, her in the only room with their girls, him in the room, alone with his solitude. Old "Apê " (apartment) it changed in a radical way: the room to receive visits (the strangest) it turned bedroom of Johnny. The room, a complete photographic studio with all their equipments, where Vic photographed beautiful nude women for the sex magazines. The small service area had been all painted of black, besides the glasses of the window, strayed itself in a laboratory to reveal pictures. And the clothes-line, before busy with clothes, now it dried the pictures of the "sculptural" “cats”... without clothes. A visual madness! And, opening up the window (the only) a magnificent view was had, of the polluted and scented evil Rio Tamanduateí. Vic was very smart, alive like her only. She promised him to divide the expenses with Johnny's fool, which deceived the whole time and in the end she ended without giving any money, as contribution for her stay in that disturbed home, if it is that can call like this it.

The picture sessions continued. It was one enters and leaves of beautiful women, a movement of blonde, red-haired and brunettes in the corridor and in goes up and gets off the elevator. And all in direction to Johnny's “Apê" and with only one objective in mind - they be photographed and to win a lot of money, anything more besides, at least, seemingly, nothing indicated that they had any other activity, unless Johnny goes too innocent in his judgements. Of any it sorts things out, excepted the appearances, he didn't understand well, because some of them stayed overnight in the apartment, for they be chatting with Vic and only leave of there, in the morning, with face of who slept badly.

The neighboring residents began to find strange the feminine movement of the 54 and the peacefulness of the same ones finished in the exact moment that Johnny set up his band musical, very crazy and he decided to enroll a romantic song in Rede Globe's Festival. It was necessary to record the song in a ribbon cassette and the apartment was a great place for the rehearsals and recordings. That after 23 o'clock, when the musicians were available. It was a terror! - strident guitars bursting tympanums, a deafening battery, finally the own Hell in the Earth, crossing the dawns. The times, they gave resting to the residents of the building, when they will play in Metrô Santana's close little bar, in change of some changed and a dinner.

In that building, nobody more got to sleep and there was a torrent of petitions then. The public clamor demanded the heads of the responsible, in other words, the summary expulsion of the noisy nuts. Johnny, unshaken, continued strong in his mission. He gave a new one visual for the boys of the Rock band, besides him own. All started to use clothes of black leather, agglutinated to the body, metals clinking in the pulses and long hair until the shoulders with tonality cashew, hideous! They seemed extra-terrestrial, came of a distant Galaxy and lost in old Glicério. The band had a very suggestive name: " GLOW WORMS OF THE CHIMERA ", but it could be "night mosquitos", because it was the terror of the dawns, with the battery girl, the acquaintance Suzette, loving disillusion of Johnny. The girl was very efficient, because in the daytime she photographed the nude models and the night "beat" the battery.

That noisy orgy had to end. Manoel Tobias, the retired Portuguese neighbor, no longer it tolerated more that mess. He lived in face of the agitated and trepidation " Apê " and he was, more and more, haunted with the movement that there occured. Manoel Tobias assumed the position of defensive vanguard man of the habits and of the morality, signing several lists of petitions. He hated of the bottom of his heart that "blonde" devil man, the person who provoked so many tumults, that make infernal things in his existence. But Johnny had an excellent defender - his aunt Amélia, syndic of the building, that defended arguing that him is a good person and soon, very soon, the situation would be normal, because she believed in his soul salvation. The other residents, however, they didn't adjust to so much serenity and the circus of horrors continued spreading fire.

As beautiful Vic, the queen of the debts was shown. Certain occasion, she hired a DDT’man to end with the fleas, that tumultueted the badly slept nights of the apê. Nobody slept, nobody had sex, he just scratched, in a stranger solemnity ritual - collective flagellation. Cursed insects! Demoniac Blood suckers ! The young DDT’s man received the glorious incumbency from exterminating the "Plague Gliceriana". The problem was to receive the payment of his work. The man tried, tried, for several times, to receive the damned money, speaking to Vic, but of anything it advanced. She fled of him and it dribbled the poor young man the whole time. Obstinate, he promised that he would receive that money from any way, nor that was the last thing that he would do in the life. After countless attempts, he decided to sleep in front of the apartment, and he lied down close to in the ground the door and only like this, with this stratagem, the obstinate and stubborn DDT’s man got to receive his money. Vic when leaving in the morning, ended up tripping in him and she didn't have another exit, to not to be to pay the debt.

It is, that episode had past has some days ago and now, he and Fafá there were before the door of the 54 changing the secret of the lock.

· " The secret of the lock was changed, now I want to see as those flirtatious girl,

· " Right, Fafá, you are very right. Before I forget, we will catch all the "old

household articles" of them and to take everything there to Vanessa's “Apê” in

Tabatinguera street. Vanessa was one of the girls friends of Vic. In few minutes,

The relationship of Fafá and Johnny were solidifying, more and more, until that they solved... to marry. She took the firm resolution of transforming him in a truth man. As first step, ordered that he cut that ridiculous hair, that he used normal clothes, he took a shower, finally everything that a civilized person does. The change was radical: short hair with the natural color, a distint and elegant gentleman's appearance, of suit and tie, that she made to accompany always of his beloved marries. The hooligans disappeared forever. Certain night, when they came back from their works, in the exit of the elevator, they were surprised in the corridor by Manoel Tobias's presence, the old Portuguese that, in attitude respectful, circumspect, inside of an unexpected formality, he told them: -"Good night! excused-me for my inconvenience, but I didn't get to control myself before such different and distint couple ".

· " I wish just to thank you for the changed this apartment. I see that you are different people, worthy of our whole respect (he lifts the hands for the sky) - thanks to God! We were free from the rampagers that here lived. It was a group of noisy hooligans, commanded by a depraved man, of hair fire color. The own Devil ! Johnny looked serious for the neighbor, controlling the laughter. The man, evidently, he had not recognized him in his new social disguise. The appearances always deceive. They said good-bye and they entered quickly in the apartment, before the walls, witness of the past crimes, denounced them. And so, Johnny's Apê "became a true home”, where after a day of work, he returned happy for the arms of his and dear and beloved Fafá.

Note of the author: I dedicate that story to my wife Fátima Queiroz, that inspired

(Story published in the Anthology book " Words, Sound and Fury, for the Publisher Arnaldo Giraldo of São Paulo, pages 63 to 68 - 2006).

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João Matvichuc