Many men called Otto
“I heard you met our neighbor.”
That’s what the client said when she opened the door with a big grin on her face. She was referring to the constant sound of a car horn. The man next door was going wild with it while I was trying to park my car.
Why? No one really knows. And apparently, it wasn’t the first time. He’s infamous for his madman honking habits.
“Every neighborhood has their own Ove”, I said to the client. She laughed and agreed.
Ove is the name of the grumpy old main character in the Swedish book En man som heter Ove. It was made into a movie, and later got an English remake, A man called Otto, with Tom Hanks in the lead role.
It’s true – you come across this type of self-proclaimed neighborhood cop wherever you go. Always on the lookout for something to complain about. Anger and annoyance seem to be their daily diet.
In the book and movie, as the story unfolds, he changes. He softens. He becomes someone new. It’s beautiful to watch.
But you know what they say: that only happens in the movies. The real-life Ottos? They never change.
The end.