Building My Life
img img Building My Life img Chapter 3 Happiness Slum
3
Chapter 6 The Beginning img
Chapter 7 He Helps Even Being Short of Money img
Chapter 8 Glad to Meet You img
Chapter 9 Going to Downtown img
Chapter 10 Would It Be an Angel img
Chapter 11 Routine on the Building img
Chapter 12 Find Something to Begin img
Chapter 13 I Do! img
Chapter 14 Clueless Guy img
Chapter 15 The Future King img
Chapter 16 Clash img
Chapter 17 Enough of Jokes img
Chapter 18 Who's That Boy img
Chapter 19 Melissa img
Chapter 20 Let's Go to the Party img
Chapter 21 Meeting at the Party img
Chapter 22 Let My Friend Alone img
Chapter 23 Waking Up From Enchantment img
Chapter 24 Josias Is Upset img
Chapter 25 A Action of Gentleness img
Chapter 26 More Purchases and Visions img
Chapter 27 Clarifying Misunderstood img
Chapter 28 Explanation img
Chapter 29 Getting Tanned img
Chapter 30 May I Have Your Phone Number img
Chapter 31 Someone Is Dissatisfied With This History img
Chapter 32 Hose Bath to Refresh img
Chapter 33 Despair in the Math Test img
Chapter 34 It's Hard to Maintain a Con img
Chapter 35 The Phone Call img
Chapter 36 Damsel in Distress img
Chapter 37 The Master in Self-Control img
Chapter 38 The Jealous Win img
Chapter 39 Protecting the Little Princess img
Chapter 40 Unusual Invitation img
Chapter 41 Getting Rid of Punishment img
Chapter 42 And You Are to Blame img
Chapter 43 Conforting the Young Brother img
Chapter 44 Invitation to Lunch img
Chapter 45 Making Amends img
Chapter 46 Running Away (2) img
Chapter 47 What Happened img
Chapter 48 I Need Your Help img
Chapter 49 No More Fear img
Chapter 50 Triumphal Entrance img
Chapter 51 Finding Out the Address img
Chapter 52 Two Crashes img
Chapter 53 The Deal Was Modified img
Chapter 54 A Serious Chat Between Friends img
Chapter 55 He Was Just Kidding img
Chapter 56 End of misunderstanding img
Chapter 57 Good News img
Chapter 58 Fulfill Your Part of the Plan img
Chapter 59 The Two Rivals Meet img
Chapter 60 Interruped Declaration img
Chapter 61 Humiliated and Forgotten img
Chapter 62 A Sensitive Issue img
Chapter 63 Focus on Happiness img
Chapter 64 Useless Discussion img
Chapter 65 You Were Negligent img
Chapter 66 Is Nice to Meet You img
Chapter 67 The Lunch img
Chapter 68 Avoiding Dramas img
Chapter 69 I'm in Love img
Chapter 70 A Favor img
Chapter 71 Back to Home img
Chapter 72 Something of the past img
Chapter 73 Something Needs to Be Done img
Chapter 74 Pamela Takes the Field img
Chapter 75 Father and Son img
Chapter 76 One Day You Get Used to It img
Chapter 77 Melissa Is Mine! img
Chapter 78 Too Many Enemies img
Chapter 79 Falling at your feet img
Chapter 80 Let's Go to Your Bedroom img
Chapter 81 Caught in the Corridor img
Chapter 82 What's New img
Chapter 83 Explanation and Planning img
Chapter 84 Do You Want a Ride img
Chapter 85 The Gift img
Chapter 86 Either He or I img
Chapter 87 Fuss in the Bar img
Chapter 88 Josias Saves the Night img
Chapter 89 Talk to Her img
Chapter 90 Concerns img
Chapter 91 Caught img
Chapter 92 Pursuit img
Chapter 93 Explaining and Protecting img
Chapter 94 Costly Distraction img
Chapter 95 Rescue and Medical Care img
Chapter 96 Josias, Again img
Chapter 97 It's Time to Talk img
Chapter 98 Do You Want to Be My Girlfriend img
Chapter 99 I'm Not Going Anywhere img
Chapter 100 Everything is Going to be Alright img
img
  /  5
img

Chapter 3 Happiness Slum

"Amen!" Josias responds; somewhat moved. Despite the need to get off, (the driver gets wild when asked to stop and no one gets off the bus!) Josias wanted to stay a little longer, as he felt a connection with Everaldo that he was unable to explain at the time. But, it was time to get down.

After the two say goodbye with a handshake, Josias goes to the front door (the driver also notices Josias's little clothes) and disembarks. When the bus goes on its way, Josias and Everaldo see each other for the last time, the two waving their hands on their foreheads, the typical military greeting. So, Josias turns on his heel and faces his new neighborhood.

"Well, Josias!" he said to himself, trying to cheer up, "Time to get to know your new neighborhood!"

Josias starts walking. He is walking down the widest street, the main one. That's because, in Happiness Slum, there was no type of urban planning. The main street was the only one opened by the City Hall, as it was a street connecting Happiness Farm. The family who owned the farm sold all the land to the City Hall and moved to the United States. The City did nothing with the land and little by little the residents invaded the place, building houses without care around the street.

As the residents were poor and miserable people, in very low living conditions, the houses built were not of the best quality and reflected the identity of their owners. Many of these houses were not plastered. Most of them were built very close to the sidewalk of the street, which removed the privacy of the resident. Nobody thought about leaving a space for the front yard or garage, the main door opens directly onto the street.

With this type of construction, when Josias inadvertently looked at the window of one of these houses very close to the sidewalk, he saw another totally naked man looking for what to wear in the wardrobe, without caring about the open window. In another house, he accidentally saw a woman in her thirties watching the soap opera in a nightgown, lying on the sofa.

Ashamed, Josias leaves the sidewalk and starts walking in the middle of the street. At least in Rainbow Garden, the houses had a front yard, and no one was so exposed. How easy it must be to be robbed in this place if people inadvertently leave everything open!

Now Josias had to watch the street. Even though it was wide, it did not prevent people from driving their vehicles carefully. A cyclist could easily dodge Josias, but he made a point of almost running him over and demanding that Josias look where he is. Cars pass down the street with no sense of minimum speed. Bikers pass by leaving smoke and deafening noises. Josias starts to wonder if the residents here can sleep.

To complete the noise, one of the houses was listening at an absurdly loud volume "Xanadu", by Olivia Newton-John. Josias knew the music, but now he was not in the mood. In front of the house, a group of black teenage girls tried to reproduce the choreography. Another insensitive car driver drives at high speed, very close to the girls. They scream in fright and separate to avoid being run over.

"Where's the happiness in this place?" Josias asks gritting his teeth.

As he approached a crowded and messy bar, with a group of drunks singing a samba out of tune with drums and tambourines, Josias realized that the commerce was on a corner. He passed through many alleys, but this passage had room for at least one car to pass. He noticed that the residents parked their cars on the sidewalk so as not to block the street. Josias approaches. "Hope Street", so it was written on a hand-painted blue-colored sign. The residents maintained their optimism despite everything.

Josias needed a place to stay. Somewhere in this favela, there must be some kind of boardinghouse or building that rents rooms. Even more than that, in this street and the main street, most of the buildings are of several floors. In the building where Josias saw the lady in a nightgown watching television, there were six floors. She had the discomfort of staying on the ground floor.

Therefore, Josias started to walk in it, when he realized that Hope Street also had buildings. No, he didn't want to be on the main street, with all that noise and lack of privacy. Gradually the noise of drunks and samba decreased.

Josias found a five-story building with the sign "rent rooms". There, it was what he wanted. Josias put his hand in his pants pocket, and he didn't even dare take out the money to check how much he had. Obviously, he wouldn't have enough for even one night.

However, Everaldo's voice echoed in Josias's mind as he stared at the building. The main door was open, and from where Josias could see, the interior appeared to be the lobby, as if the building were a guesthouse or hotel. Well, the guy that had it built knew what he was doing.

"I will pray for you and plead that God will bring you the best for your life. You will get out of this and be successful. And I believe that you will have the willpower to overcome your adversities! Amen?"

            
            

COPYRIGHT(©) 2022