I just got out of this mess happening and thought I needed to vent a bit to get this thing out of my mind and move on with the movie I was watching beforehand*... So I, a 5’5 (165cm) engineering student, live in a condo (many houses enclosed by a wall) with my family for the time being during the pandemic. My brother was playing football in the courtyard when out of nowhere a dog comes running in his direction and grabs the ball out of his feet and proceeds to destroy the ball. We my family is pretty close to our neighbors, and the dog was not familiar (which directly led him to think it might have rabies, which is why we didn’t fight back). He get’s home, is very sad and irritated because it was his only birthday present for last year (of course no party thanks to COVID) and says the dog is still in the courtyard and is worried he may go after the balls that were still there from the younger kids from the other side of the street. My father, who has a history of very complicating diseases and if catches the virus is sure to be dead within the week, goes out to help me pick up the other balls and we proceed to lock the dog in the court to keep it from running away before we find it’s owner.

Right after we do that, we hear one of our “what pandemic?” female neighbors who parties every week coming out calling the dog’s name and, obviously, does not have a mask on. I repeat 5 five times calling her to “put your mask on” as she hurries down the hill. She stops, no more than 30cm (1 foot) from my face when I tell her “will I have to hold you back?” and she replies with “If you touch me, I’ll call the cops on you!”. Nervous but level-minded as I could be, I reply with “No problem, now put on your mask”. She goes right back to her house, picks a mask, goes down the hill no problem and I even make sure to get at least 12 feet away from her. She picks up her dog, says we can put the destroyed ball on her mom’s check, and we both head back to our respective houses.

Now, it is important to point out that this was only the second time I really interacted with this woman, and the first one was when we she threw a party right when I had just come back from São Paulo doing some volunteering at a hospital there (I’ll just say I could not last long there). It’s also very critical to point out that nobody is vaccinated yet, and she know my fathers medical history pretty well.

A few minutes after we get back, this girl’s mother calls saying that her daughter was threatened by my, that I grabbed her and basically assaulted her. I would not be too worried in many circumstances, but the damn girl in a freaking lawyer with 3 month old baby (who did not deter her from partying like crazy, of course) and threatened to sue me for assault!

And the worst part is, my parents are now shouting at me saying that I’m on my own and that the whole judicial system is geared against me, and if there are expenses I’ll have to find a job to pay it. All because I DID NOT WANT MY FATHER DEAD!

I’m gonna be honest that I really want to move out and get on with in-person school as soon as I possibly can. Those friends who really know me know I could not hurt a damn bee if I wanted to (generally I just spend way too much time trying to get them to fly back through the window to safety 🐝) and now I’m scared to death because I now that just an accusation like that, regardless of court decision, could haut me for the rest of my life. According to my parents, she won’t bring charges or anything, but I should not be so scared for my life just because of standing my ground and telling her to put on a mask during a fucking once-in-a-hundred-years pandemic that, may I just remind you guys, has killed more Americans than the entirety of WWII!

I’m just angry, scared, tired and just want to get back to working on telescopes and spacecraft like I was a year ago...

If you guys have any advice, I would greatly appreciate it. I’m just a young person and have never felt so scared of having been born with the wrong bits down there... If it helps, I’m based on the southernmost state of Brazil.

* Just to prove how non-“alpha male” I am, the movie I was watching in Notting Hill (I know, I know)