The Ball. Erik Pethersen
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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.
«Are you trying to change subject?»
«No, you said it was better not to investigate any further.»
«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.
«So, it would arouse you to meet a man and have sex with him along with your husband.»
«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.»
«Just a fantasy, remote» I repeat, hesitant. «Is there anything else you are thinking of or would you really like to actually do it?»
«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 over» says Serena, then pauses and stares at me. «Those situations there, you know.» 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.
«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.»
«Your two coffees, girls.» «Thanks Gigi, very fast.»
«I’ll leave the sugar here for you, this is brown sugar, this is...»
«We don’t take sugar, Gigi, thanks» Serena interrupts him.
«Ah, ok» 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.
«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 person» I say, «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.»
Serena drinks her coffee and remains silent, staring into my eyes.
«Or maybe a transvestite.»
«No, not that. I would say that a traditional woman would be better» 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.»
«And why all this drama?»
«It amused me so much» I reply, laughing.
«How nice, Lavi» 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?»
«Yes, he was born the year after we started working at Sbandofin.»
«Yes, right. Sorry, just wondering... Is everything still the same with Luca as when you first met?»
«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?»
«The little dwarf is always around, but we can still find our space.»
«I see.» I take the smartphone off the table and I pass my right index finger over the fingerprint scanner at the back: 14:11 pm.
«Is it late, Lavi?»
«Not that late, but I don’t really want to go home: I have to move the boxes into my storeroom.»
«But do you still sell a lot on eBay?»
«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.»
«You always have a lot of clothing that you can use, at a bargain price» replies Serena.
«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.»
«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?»
«Sure» I say it with a smile. «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 jeans» I add, lifting the crossed leg and running my hands along the calf and then on the thigh.
«Those are super cool too.»
«I like them a lot too» I reply, crossing my leg again and noticing how the movement caused the jeans to crumple, a few centimetres beyond the ankle boots.
«What do you say, shall we go?»
«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. «So?» I say in a low voice.
She rolls her eyes and stares at