Not everyone gets the chance to experience what it's like to live in an apartment building. It's an experience that many would say is a bit frustrating. You don't have a yard to walk around in and you have less privacy than in a normal house. Alfie lived in one of these buildings. Space was limited and there was no room for many secrets, because everything was known right away, you know the typical stuff. But it wasn't all that bad, because even though this place isn't as nice to live in as others, all the neighbors got along very well. Many had been living there since the beginning, when it was built. They were a very close-knit community and everyone helped each other out as much as they could if someone had a problem.
Alfie, on the other hand, has not been living in the building for very long. He moved in about 4 years ago. At first, when he moved in, the others saw him as someone strange and even a little suspicious because they thought he would not follow the good rules of coexistence that they had maintained until then. They were wrong about him because he quickly showed them that he was an excellent person. In these last 4 years that he has been living in his apartment, he has helped all his neighbors in one way or another. Some do not have money to buy a lot of food, so there is Alfie with a bag with food and basic necessities.
Some were older and needed someone to do their shopping or throw out their trash in the 1st stall, so there he was again willing to help. If there is an opportunity in which he can help, he is always the first to arrive. It is for this reason that he became very well-liked in the community of his building. Alfie is a musician, to be more specific, he is a professional pianist and often works in orchestras and gives outdoor performances as a street musician. He can play the classical piano that everyone knows and several types of electronic keyboards. He studied this profession from a young age and has always shown exceptional talent.
So far, everything was very nice and beautiful and it seemed that everything would continue like this, but this apparent peace and even happiness that they had in the community was about to change and not exactly for the better, because something was about to happen, this would test the limits of patience and other qualities of everyone, even Alfie's. It turns out that a very strange pandemic arrived in the city, it was a very contagious virus that affected everyone who breathed it. So the local authorities ordered the closure of all places and communities, no one could enter or leave. And in the case of the buildings, the story was the same for them, no one could enter or leave. Now everyone would have to live in the building until the outbreak of the pandemic in the place passed.
Despite all this complexity, in this particular building where Alfie lived, they had a different fate than the other buildings. In the sense that no one was infected by the pandemic. This was largely due to everyone acting responsibly from the beginning and complying with the rapid isolation measures taken by the authorities.
At the beginning of the isolation, everyone coped very well, because they were used to living in a community. So they continued their tradition of helping each other. But the days later turned into weeks and then those weeks into more weeks, until it got to the point where the months came and went and the isolation continued. The enthusiasm that everyone, including Alfie, had at the beginning faded. Everyone wanted something interesting to happen to get out of the routine. But they couldn't leave the place, because the pandemic was raging outside and no one was sick inside.
Some had not seen their relatives or taken their pets for a walk for months. It had all become an unbearable frustration. The neighbors stopped caring or taking an interest in each other and now began to focus more on their problems. Even now there were arguments between some of them, which was very rare and had rarely happened.
Despite all these difficulties that everyone was going through, Alfie was still interested in others. And whenever he could, he dedicated a few minutes of the day to helping someone or cheering them up. These were difficult times and any support was welcome. Even so, he could not cope with cheering up or helping all the people who felt depressed. That is why, in his desire to help, he began to devise a plan that would change the dynamics in the community and get everyone out of the boring routine that was more of the same every day.
He came up with several ideas, such as holding workshops for people to do presentations and such, or at least express what worried them. But after thinking about it carefully, he realized that doing that every day would end up boring him as well. Due to his frustration, he threw the pencil he had in his hand against the wall. The pencil bounced off the wall, hit a pot, and then landed on top of one of the keys of his piano. Right there he said, Eureka, “how could I not have thought of that before,” he said. He had had a way to help everyone go through the routine before his eyes all this time.
What occurred to him was to do a mini concert to liven up everyone. In fact, there were others in the building who knew how to play and had instruments at home. So it would be good to do it to cheer everyone up together. The next day he started talking to each of them to agree on what to do and how to do it. They all agreed to do a concert together on the roof of the building. That place was good because there was enough space for everyone to go up and listen together. The idea was brilliant in every sense of the word.
The next day, he told everyone that they were going to give a small presentation on the roof and that if they wanted, they were invited to attend. Imagine everyone's excitement. They had been there isolated for months and now, thanks to Alfie, they had the opportunity to get out of their routine and have some fun. That night, everyone ate early to be the first to arrive. Little by little, all the inhabitants went up to see the presentation. Alfie made an improvised platform and installed some lights and things like that to make the place more welcoming.
Then all the musicians who were his neighbors gathered together and finally got together on the platform. It looked like an orchestra. Then they started playing. People started dancing and having a good time like they hadn't for a long time. In the end, everyone was very satisfied and wanted more. So they agreed to do it again in a few days. Without a doubt, Alfie found the best way to help his neighbors. Now they could better endure the time in isolation. They didn't know it, but in less time than they thought, everything would end and they would return to normal.
Credits: The images used are free to use and royalty free. They were taken from pixabay.