Erik Pethersen "The Ball"

В«But what is it, a game? Is it a lunch break for unlikely questions?В»

В«Sorry girls, what can I bring you then?В» interrupts the striped boy.

В«Octopus and carpaccio, a bottle of still water and then two coffees, pleaseВ» Serena replies quickly.

«All right, girls: five minutes and I’ll drop everything over» he says. He turns around and goes off.

В«Here, exactly.В»

В«Exactly what?В»

В«But why do you keep staring at me like that for?В»

«Because I’m waiting for an answer» replies Serena smiling.

В«I meant light-minded, not frivolous, is that alright?В»

В«As light as a feather?В»

«Well, not quite like a feather» I reply, pushing my torso over the portion of table that separates us. «In short, you are light-minded in the sense that you do not let yourself be harmed by anything you don’t like or don’t care about. You overlook any negative situation and focus only on what really matters.»

В«Okay, it is fine, it was enough light-minded, anyway, I got the meaning.В»

«Just as well! So is the lunch break question time over?» I add, while she remains silent. «Good. Tonight as well I’ll have to bear with Amedeo’s usual questions, as it has been happening for the last few months, during every dinner. If I also have to put up with your delusional questions during my lunch break, I think I might not even get to finish the day in good mental health.»

«Sorry Lavi, I didn’t want to bother or annoy you. Sorry, sorry, sorry» she whispers as she reaches over the table to my hand and strokes it.

В«Yes, Sere, you are excusedВ» I reply laughing and pushing her hand away with my fingers.

«Why does Amedeo keep pissing you off? He didn’t even take it well after all the money you managed to put together for those losers of Banano rental estate?»

«I don’t know» I reply a little hesitant. «As for the Banano issue, he just said that it wasn’t that difficult to find money anyway. It has been like this for quite some time now: I think it is down to his job. Actually, he doesn’t do anything all day: he keeps saying that he has to sell all of it, but nobody wants it anyway.»

В«So, he is not doing anything?В» she asks a bit dazed, В«does he spend the days waiting for customers who never come?В»

«That’s right. I tried to suggest that the world doesn’t end there, that he might try to sell other properties too, but it’s like talking to the wall now: he doesn’t tell me anything, at the most he insults me and little else.»

В«What do you mean he insults you?В» Serena asks, opening her eyes wide.

«Sure, he’s got paranoia, he thinks I go around all day to meet other people. In my opinion he is going crazy, because this jealousy has come out of nowhere. I think it may be related to his job. Perhaps, having lost control over his job, he tries to have it on me.»

«You’re good at trying to psychoanalyze him» Serena remarks. «I guess you don’t see any other man, other people.»

В«What are you saying, Sere? Of course not: you know what I am like and the way I think about the whole thingВ» I reply a little abruptly.

В«Yes, I know, it was a rhetorical question, just to confirm it.В»

The voices in the bar are quite low and the whole room is almost silent.

«Your octopus and your carpaccio, there you go» says the waiter, placing the two plates in front of us. «Here’s the water. When you are ready for coffee, give me a sign and I’ll bring them over.»

The octopus is really hot, as indicated on the menu: when I chew it, it seems a bit rubbery but its texture and taste are almost pleasant. The quantity of chopped pieces, lined with small suckers, is however rather scarce, as well as the boiled potato wedges, which I believe would not be able to make up half of a small potato. Between the slices of fish and the little yellow pieces of potato, I see four pitted and slightly sad olives. Also, the amount of food of the chosen dish is not enough to satisfy the hunger I had during the morning because of all the walking I did around the city: I finish the dish in a minute and a half and put the cutlery inside the white crockery.

В«Was the octopus good, Lavi?В» Serena asks amused.

В«Yes, not too bad after all. Not plenty, thoughВ» I reply. В«How is your carpaccio?В»

«It looks quite edible, but I’m still on my first slice. When I finish the other four I’ll have a more precise idea.»

«What are you implying?» I reply with a grin. I grab the bottle and pour the water into my glass first and then into Serena’s. I move the chair away from the table and cross my legs, stretching them a little towards the window on my right. «This table is very uncomfortable: it’s low and you can’t move your legs; if you cross them, the wood underneath shears the thigh: in order to move them you would have to straighten your legs, hitting the person in front of you.»

«It’s my case» Serena suggests, biting into an artichoke. «I feel a bit stiff too.»

I glance under the table: Serena’s heels are perpendicular to the wooden boards and her knees are bent at ninety degrees. Her feet, arched in the unnatural posture forced by wearing high heels, force the lower leg muscles to stretch, stretching the fabric of the jeans: her calves look really sensual.

I keep staring while I can hear that the voices have lowered down in the room; now I also hear the music in the background which was covered by the sounds of the hall.

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I look up and notice that Serena seems to be staring at me with a strange smile, then looking away from me to skewer another artichoke. «By the way: we didn’t finish off...» she tries to say.

«Finish your nice, lovely carpaccio» I interrupt her. «Actually, it’s true, we left that question unanswered, funny girl.»

«Now I’m just enjoying my carpaccio and I can’t speak» she replies, cutting a slice.

В«Good. I could also take advantage of this situationВ» I add, grinning. I stretch my hands towards the knee of the crossed leg and interlace my fingers pulling it a little towards my torso. Serena raises her eyebrows to express indifference and keeps on eating.

В«So, you go on online dating sites...В»

She shakes her head.

В«You go on online dating sites sometimes, looking for people to meet.В»

She shakes her head again as her hair swings around her shoulders.

В«You sometimes look at online dating sites out of curiosity, fantasizing about unlikely encounters with other people.В»

Serena swings her right hand in which she holds the knife as if to confirm that some part of what I said is true and she begins to cut the last slice of carpaccio.

«With your husband’s joint participation»

She moves her head up and down smiling as she chews the meat.

«But maybe you don’t look at the profiles of other couples, that is, the announcements of other husbands and wives who want to meet other husbands and wives together; no, this morning you said you are interested in these things. The whole issue is twisted in another way, so it seems. Maybe you are looking into other groups, perhaps in groups of single people looking for couples... It would be better not to investigate any further, however, even if the matter intrigues me a little.»

Serena bites into the last artichoke, arranges the cutlery on the plate and wipes her lips with the napkin.

«Do you know that the table is actually very low?» You have to hunch over quite a bit even when you are eating: it’s nice, but it’s low.» She straightens her back against the chair and stretches her legs towards me, tilting one foot towards the floor and crossing the other one on top: the jeans stretch lengthwise, revealing another ten centimetres of the underlying nylon.

В«Are you trying to change subject?В»

В«No, you said it was better not to investigate any further.В»

«Yes, but I was saying that because maybe you don’t really want to talk about it.»

«And why wouldn’t I want to talk about something with you, Lavi?» she asks with an amused expression. «You are the person I confide in the most. I was just playing. Please go ahead and ask me.»

Serena lifts her chin up and waves a hand in the direction of the room behind me. Then I see her smile and lower her hand again.

В«So, it would arouse you to meet a man and have sex with him along with your husband.В»

«It sounds a bit brutal to me. And by the way, it’s not entirely true.»

«Sorry, I didn’t mean to be brutal, but I thought I was right.»

«Not quite» she replies with a serious expression. «Sure, it would be arousing, but I don’t think Luca would like it. So, it’s just a remote fantasy.»

В«Just a fantasy, remoteВ» I repeat, hesitant. В«Is there anything else you are thinking of or would you really like to actually do it?В»

В«Could be. It is an idea that came about talking with Luca, some time ago: you know when you talk over dinner, drinking wine, those moments when the world seems not to exist and you are all focused on him who is in front of you and is watching you with lustful eyes, and you can only think about what might happen when dinner is overВ» says Serena, then pauses and stares at me. В«Those situations there, you know.В» She slips the heel of her right foot from the shoe folded towards the floor, places it on the wooden floor and crosses her fingers, sliding them between her thighs.

В«Yes, nice picture: tender and pleasant, I would say. If you describe it this way, then, it only reminds me of situations which go back a long time ago.В»

В«Your two coffees, girls.В» В«Thanks Gigi, very fast.В»

«I’ll leave the sugar here for you, this is brown sugar, this is...»

«We don’t take sugar, Gigi, thanks» Serena interrupts him.

В«Ah, okВ» he replies, taking back the ceramic container with the sachets of sugar and placing it in the tray he is holding in his hands. He also fits our empty plates on it and disappears behind me.

I grab the black cup and take a sip.

В«Anyway, leaving aside the idyllic picture, I should therefore think that in one of these moments yourself or Luca got the idea to have sex with other people: indeed, with another single personВ» I say, В«that he is not a man because Luca does not like them. Since two sexes exist, I could come to the conclusion that every now and then you take a look at online dating sites by reading ads of single women looking for couples, or vice versa.В»

Serena drinks her coffee and remains silent, staring into my eyes.

В«Or maybe a transvestite.В»

В«No, not that. I would say that a traditional woman would be betterВ» replies Serena.

The voices inside the room, virtually completely emptied, are getting lower and lower, as it is the time when on average, the lunch hours in the Brescia Due offices ends. I turn to the left for a moment and I noticed that our colleagues too have left. I look at Serena and her hazel eyes glistening.

«It’s not so weird: these are things that are thought and said between husband and wife, especially after being together for a long time. In the end a woman is still a woman: a bit like me» she whispers.

«Yes, a woman is a woman: there is no doubt» I reply a little perplexed, «however it doesn’t appear too strange to me. I had already understood everything this morning, actually.»

В«And why all this drama?В»

В«It amused me so muchВ» I reply, laughing.

В«How nice, LaviВ» she adds, slipping her right foot into her shoe and hitting my boot with the tip of her high heel shoe.

«But how long have you and Luca been married, then? It’s been a long time, right?»

«Quite a few: since 2000, so it’s been seventeen years.»

«And Nicola is already... nine years old, isn’t he?»

В«Yes, he was born the year after we started working at Sbandofin.В»

В«Yes, right. Sorry, just wondering... Is everything still the same with Luca as when you first met?В»

«No, it’s nothing like it was when we met. But we’ve been together for more than twenty years, I think it’s normal. Then, you know, with a little dwarf going around the house all day, the couple’s routine changes a bit. But Luca is always Luca: I don’t want to be trivial, but I’d say he’s my everything.»

«So, when the little dwarf isn’t around, is everything the same as before?»

В«The little dwarf is always around, but we can still find our space.В»

В«I see.В» I take the smartphone off the table and I pass my right index finger over the fingerprint scanner at the back: 14:11 pm.

В«Is it late, Lavi?В»

«Not that late, but I don’t really want to go home: I have to move the boxes into my storeroom.»

В«But do you still sell a lot on eBay?В»

В«Yes, more or less, but it is now a struggle to the last euro. Some time ago I could earn a little money, now what I can sell, I do it at ridiculous prices so I even thought about quitting.В»

В«You always have a lot of clothing that you can use, at a bargain priceВ» replies Serena.

В«Right, but buying about twenty pairs of jeans or fifty ankle boots to keep a pair and then selling everything else almost at the same price, it is starting not to make much sense at all. In addition to that, I spend more and more time placing the lots I buy: many items remain unsold and pile up.В»

«I get it: if that’s the case, it’s doesn’t make much sense. Did you buy the ankle boots you have on with a stock?»

В«SureВ» I say it with a smile. В«I got it from a shop in Vicenza going bankrupt: a nice stock on bankruptcy online auctions, and in the lot there were also these jeansВ» I add, lifting the crossed leg and running my hands along the calf and then on the thigh.

В«Those are super cool too.В»

В«I like them a lot tooВ» I reply, crossing my leg again and noticing how the movement caused the jeans to crumple, a few centimetres beyond the ankle boots.

В«What do you say, shall we go?В»

«Five more minutes, come on: I still don’t want to go back up» she replies, staring at my half-naked calf.

I look amused at my colleague as she continues to stare at my legs. В«So?В» I say in a low voice.

She rolls her eyes and stares at mine. «Can’t I look at your calf? You, you always do it with me.»