O Grupo Português
Alexandra Coimbra, Sociedade Portuguesa de Psicanálise
No dia 1º de Abril, uma senhora baixa e idosa mudou-se para o apartamento ao lado. O 1º de Abril é o dia das mentiras, mas nunca imaginei que a conversa que tive com a minha vizinha se viesse a mostrar uma história ficcionada. Ficámos amigas e, mais tarde, rimo-nos muitas vezes ao falar sobre isso. No entanto, confesso que, nos primeiros tempos, não achei graça nenhuma quando soube que tudo o que me tinha dito, naquela primeira conversa, era inventado. A minha vizinha disse-me mais tarde que se tinha dado à liberdade de ser quem sabia que poderia ter sido, se tivesse outra vida para viver. Que me disse ela? Que aquele apartamento que tinha comprado era a sua primeira casa, que nunca tinha tido uma casa antes porque vivera em vários países. Contou-me de uma forma apaixonada as suas vivências em África, na Ásia e América Latina. Tinha tido muitas paixões, mas nunca teve filhos. As amizades estavam dispersas por vários países. Descobri, mais tarde, que sempre tinha vivido em Lisboa, que enviuvara há dois anos e que o marido tinha sido o seu namorado do liceu e, sim, era verdade, para grande desgosto dos dois, que nunca tinham tido filhos, mas tinham dois sobrinhos muito queridos. Como referi, ficámos amigas e nas nossas conversas muitas vezes ela ainda se divertia a contar histórias dos tempos em que viveu noutros lugares. Eu ouvia, e mesmo sabendo que não era verdade, acreditava! On 1 April, a short, elderly lady moved into the flat next door. The 1st of April is April Fool's Day, but I never imagined that the conversation I had with my neighbour would turn out to be a fictional story. We became friends and later laughed about it many times. However, I confess that at first I didn't find it funny at all when I learned that everything she had told me in that first conversation was made up. My neighbour later told me that she had taken the liberty of being who she knew she could have been if she had had another life to live. What did she tell me? That the flat she had bought was her first home, that she had never had a home before because she had lived in several countries. She told me passionately about her experiences in Africa, Asia and Latin America. She had had many loves, but never had children. Her friends were scattered across various countries. I later discovered that she had always lived in Lisbon, that she had been widowed two years earlier and that her husband had been her high school boyfriend. And yes, it was true, much to their regret, that they had never had children, but they had two beloved nephews. As I mentioned, we became friends and in our
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