They are on their way to the company dinner.
As usual, Papaia is the only one who knows the way.
The others follow him without bothering to help him find the route.
When they get close to the restaurant, Papaia’s phone rings. He starts a long conversation with the family group.
Instead of stopping, he keeps walking absentmindedly, wandering randomly.
The others continue to follow him.
While talking, he leans against the low wall of a house.
The others signal to him to hang up, but Papaia is so absorbed in the conversation that he doesn’t even consider it.
Papaia
“…yeah… no… but I told you… what?! And you still believe her?… She only did it to get a free dinner…”
Papaia has completely lost touch with reality and thinks he is at home. He reaches out and grabs a can that a stranger has left behind.
The moment he tastes it, his expression changes.
Weeks later.
His colleagues go to visit him in the hospital.
They enter his room and ask how things are going.
Banani
“So… what did the doctor say?”
Papaia
(with a face as pale as a sheet)
“Nothing this week. Maybe I’ll get out next week.”
Ravioli
“Still, hepatitis is a serious thing…”
Banani
“But what on earth made you drink a can that a stranger had left on the street?”
Igor says nothing.
He takes out his phone.
A video recorded a month earlier starts playing on the screen.
It shows Papaia and the others walking past the exact same low wall.
While talking on the phone with his aunt, Papaia stops, places a can on the wall, and then walks away without ever ending the call.
Igor
“Sometimes, the real strangers are ourselves…”