Fabrício, like many Brazilians who came to Canada in search of dollars and opportunities, quickly and with good contacts made a lot of money in construction. Hard life, a lot of hard work and lack of time to learn English – this was the routine of the Bahian who shared a small apartment with 4 other Brazilians in a very similar situation. Since no one is made of iron, on weekends the 5 friends whenever they could, made a barbecue on the balcony of the apartment.
In the Summer with the sunny nights in Toronto, the binge would start on Friday and only end on Sunday, always watered with lots of beer. The barbecue on a Friday was almost over when the grill broke. Smoke, fire and despair. As friends tried to control the situation, Fabrício dashed to the building’s lobby for help, and luckily a police car was standing nearby.
— Fire! Fire, Mr. Policeman! Up in my apartment, help! The Bahian was so agonized that he could only speak Portuguese.
The policeman, of course, understood nothing and tried to calm him down.
— What happened? Take it easy …
The way was to improvise. Fabrício took a lighter, lit it, pointed it to the apartment and blew on it, as if to say: fire up there, you have to put it out …
It was tough, but the policeman understood – not because of the lighter, but because he saw the smoke coming out of the apartment – and called the firefighters. They quickly controlled the fire, which luckily did not spread through the apartment. After the scare, Fabrício had no doubts, he cut down on the frequency of the barbecues and enrolled in an English course on the weekends.
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Let Me Tell You is based on real facts lived by Brazilians in Canada, but the names and characteristics are fictitious.
