from the collection Seven Tries (2000)  

the yellow streetcar with no name  

One day Rodrigo Vanas learned he was going to take the yellow streetcar.   He had been waiting for this for so long that tears came to his eyes and his mouth shook as he related the happy news to his family.   His wife threw her arms around him and hugged him so hard he hurt and the kids clung to his legs like crabs and pulled them this way and that so that he nearly fell over and was saved only by the edge of table in the cramped dining room space.   The busy wallpaper with its blue flowers seemed sadly out of place for such a happy occasion as did the melancholy dusk settling over Lisbon that was finding its way into the room through the single narrow window.

He had less than two days to get ready so there was no time to waste on sentimentalities!   A lot of preparations had to be made for such an important event.    Kids were ushered into their room and given tasks that were to keep them busy and Rodrigo Vanas and his wife locked themselves up in their bedroom to do the necessary planning.

His black suit would have to be thoroughly brushed and pressed but was almost certainly tight enough for the occasion.   He had plenty of white shirts and one of them surely would look right.   The black tie would have to be bought but that was a simple thing to do.   Old lacquered shoes which would fit his big bony feet might be a problem to find in the flea market but perhaps one of the undertaker firms would have a spare pair which they would be willing to part with for a reasonable price.   His neighbor from across the street, Vargas, had a bowler hat and had expressed his willingness to make a gift of it to him if his time to take the yellow streetcar came first, so that issue was solved.   There was a thin black cane somewhere in the house, most probably in the attic, and it would only have to be painted with black lacquer, so that again was no problem.   He would take the few necessities he needed (actually didn't need but was obliged to take) in the old doctor's leather satchel that came from a great uncle on either his or his wife's side, they couldn't remember which, that had been kept for all these years for just this occasion.   Those were the material things.   The business and legal matters would have to be reviewed in the morning with the notary, but it was almost certain they wouldn't present a problem.   If worse came to worse his wife would take care of them after his departure.

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