There is a bit 'rusty on the old blue railings that surround the gazebo of a beach. They have repainted two years ago, but the salt is already ruining it again. At the end of August, in a small seaside town, families are always with the boys to spend a few days off, waiting for schools reinitiate. Rent an umbrella and some chairs and hope the last summer sun. An attendant dressed in red, with toenails much small, is sitting on the bank to monitor the swimmers, while some ladies will bring their books and are on the cliff with the feet in water. They talk about children and to cook meals, schools and bedrooms. That day is very hot. There is a man of fifty, tall, very thin and with a mustache, has a warm smile, loves classical music, the sweet licorice and never puts the gloves, even in winter. He works year-round in a bank, they send him from town to town to check accounts and ATM. Take planes, trains, buses, driving his car for hours, but can not ride a bicycle: he never had one, when he was little his family was very poor, he went out to play with his few friends in the streets of an ancient city where there were lots of cats, then asked the tea-time mother from under the balcony bread and tomato. And the mother prepared them and put them in a paper bag, on which the oil was dark spots appear but fragrant when he went out to the balcony, had a blue robe and he was still down there waiting. Waiting for her. Now, in this small seaside town, this man enjoys an ice cream under the parasol, eats voraciously, as he always does. He finished reading the newspaper, does not see his wife and child. But it looks better on the rocks, his wife is talking with a friend, leans against a cushion inflatable to float in water. He hears the echo of their speeches, but does not distinguish the words. It feels comfortable. The child is the gazebo, where some games and a pinball machine in front of some tables in white plastic are the main attraction. Next to the gazebo is a small bar with a terrace where the owners of the beach serving cool drinks or coffee with cream. Every morning a nice man in that bar with the blue raincoat comes, order and sit by the window. Sometimes it looks, sometimes, still seated, writing on the back of some colorful flyers. Comes to the beach even when it is hot, but no one ever asks why you wear a raincoat. The father thinks his son under an umbrella, think that not passing a lot of time with him during the year sees him only at weekends, which does not always know what to do, what do you think, as it grows. He touches the gazebo. The baby has just finished a game of pinball, is not very good, often note that some of his friends can make more points, he loses immediately. Now these friends went for a swim, but he does not want to be with them. Sometimes tease him, then he feels safer in the gazebo, he noticed the man with the funny blue raincoat, but does not want to disturb him, although he's pleased that there is. The father arrives to see him smiling awkwardly play with the flippers. He wants to make a game too, never played the game, it would be nice to be with a child, but left the money under the umbrella. The son turns to his father, he understands that like to play with him but does not know how to tell him that no more coins. Would it be a lost opportunity, that his father had never come to see him play, that would not have already used up all the coins. "Ah, have you finished?" Said the father, not hide a slight disappointment. "Yes." Pause. "Sorry." Some tears of bitterness through it internally. The father smiled: "You have taken a bath? Come to Mama? ". And the boy followed his father smiled, but thought that would have given anything to have another currency, at the time. I can see it in my face, because I was in that gazebo. And I've seen everything.
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