Page - 16 - in In and Out & www.whatsyourname.you

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 18 “And so?” Rahma asked. “Nothing,” Mimmo replied, “we discussed things and then we made a pact.” “Are you crazy?” Mariella exclaimed. “Making a pact with him!” “She’s right,” Rahma said, “how can you make an agreement to decide who must occupy a place in a park that is public?” “Exactly.” Mimmo said. “It’s public that is it belongs to everybody and to nobody.” “For this reason,” Mariella insisted, “how can you decide that something that should belong to everybody is mine?” “What do you mean when you say that it belongs to everybody? If there is someone who arrives first and takes possession of that thing, that means that it belongs to him or her.” Mimmo affirmed. “Instead doesn’t it mean that that person was stealing something?” Mariella questioned. “And if I arrive at the same time to get the same thing?” Rahma followed up. “I imagine that it should be divided equally,” Mariella replied. “And if you encounter a guy like Totore or his friends?” Mimmo looked at his friends who were thinking about what he had just said, and then he added, “Anyway, the pact we made is that we won’t take possession of their space and they’ll take possession of a smaller space, like from here to there.” For Mariella, it seemed reasonable to leave them that part of the park, considering that Totore’s friends were more numerous and noisier than the other groups who frequently spent their free time in the park; however, Rahma wasn’t yet convinced that this was the best choice. “It doesn’t seem logical to me that if they aren’t present, I’m not allowed to stay here and chat with Mariella. It could happen, for example, that my mood is different, and I need to watch the entrance from a different perspective and sit down somewhere else.” “Don’t say nonsense,” Mariella said. “Since we’ve met here you have never moved from our wall.”