My aunt Maria from Valparaiso is here for the holidays. Likes to be busy, the day after her arrival she made Leche Asada, which is Spanish for custard.
Yesterday afternoon when the doorbell rang, Maria went to open. She exclaimed, “El Belcebú mismo [Belzebub himself]!” and slammed it in the face of the visitor. I rushed over there and looked through the peephole. The city councilman I’d invited to explain the Notice to Condemnee stood on the other side, quite bewildered. I apologized and let him in.
We sat down for tea and custard.
Notice to Condemnee, I’d heard about these things before but didn’t understand why the neighborhood would be affected.
The councilman elucidated “eminent domain.” Apparently the city had decided to renovate a large part of our neighborhood. That meant some houses, including ours, would be purchased by local government. The Notice to Condemnee we received was a formal step in this process.
The meeting ended with a better understanding of what’s next. We’d soon be evicted from the house I’d bought at full market price twenty years ago.
Before he left, the councilman helped himself to another piece of the custard.
My aunt, bless her heart, may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but her character analysis is right on the money.
- A sketch of this article was published in Scribes*MICRO’s April 2024 issue.
This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.