Dee-Dee Diamond
3 min readNov 9, 2023

The Brazilian playboy Plays NO more. šŸ™„šŸ˜®he barely crawlsā€¦Ā©2023

OY VEY!!!

Tall thin prematurely grey- hair, handsome with a blonde, or 2 on his arm. Always tanned & well dressedā€¦ a cocky self-assured ladies' man.

Pass a ā€œhipā€ watering hole & Enrico would be eating and drinking with one or another ā€œChristy Brinkley type blondeā€, who seemed to be google-eyed, mesmerized by his gorgeousness. Fernando Lamas / Cary Grant combo was his self-imagined lookā€¦and he wasnā€™t far off.

He was a stiff distant neighbor who didnā€™t seem to ever go to work. Enrico would spare me a weak nod, half smile, when he passed by me.

Presently I found him in my buildingā€™s lobby, his posture was tilted forward, his long legs sorta knocked- kneedā€¦ like his bony limbs shifted outa their kneecaps.

His familiar glowing tan presently had changed to hues of yellowish alabaster. Enrico hobbled like that of an old man. He walks alone minus any stunning galsā€¦ on his arm.

This Manhattan figure has been a steadfast beauty mark on my Manhattan neighborhood. Today he is just another old gizzard that shleps along on the cement sidewalks.

Enricoā€™s fading makes me stop in my tracks about, coming into my own patina of age, weaving over meā€¦like a spiderā€™s web.

Other Tenants of Age

Bing Rothstein the perennial widowed grouch, limps out the door with Gertrude, his ever-barking, disagreeable Chaquita -mix mutt. His bald pate is shiny like a waxed bowling ballā€¦bobbing upon his sagging neck aboveā€¦ his drooped shoulders.

A pair of married folks greet me while I await my Uber to pick me up.

The hubby, Oscar is very skinny & fragile these days.

Lola his wife stills wears a blond long ponytail- do, with a flirty attitude.

Shopping for a prospective replacement man in her life, for spouse # 3ā€¦perhaps.

Tina Louise Scotto wheels her creaky shopping cart out to the streetā€¦ to do her daily food shopping. Her ancient cat, Murphy snoozes in a mesh pet bag nestled in the bottom of her cart.

She wears her obvious cheap wig a little ajar, her gray, prickly strands peeking out. Her pancake make-up foundation thick on her lined face.

Mrs. Esther Frankel gets a push in her wheelchair, for some fresh air by Marta, her attendant. Esther is happy sheā€™s going to our neighborhood park. There sheā€™ll watch the toddlers play about in the gated sandboxā€¦I often wonder if sheā€™s mentally in thereā€¦with them.

The winner in our motley gang of original tenants, is our landlord, Towers, INC.

It looks like our rent stabilized apts. will soon be ready for new market- rate tenants.

Dee-Dee Diamond

Born & raised in Brooklyn, 80 years, ago. Interviewed by The Brooklyn Historical Society. I published a funny book calledā€ First Stop Brooklynā€ it's on Amazon.