At around 6 pm already, I probably will start thinking about the lift going down and maybe stopping on the 7th floor. Maybe she finishes working at 7 pm too. She has made a big impression on me: a glow blended with a touch of melancholy which does not overshadow her light but it makes it brighter.
I leave the window and I go towards my burial recess. The purple light shows that the computer has been switched on and Windows is loading... the working day is about to begin. User ID and password: I am ready.
Registering corporate deeds is one the tasks I carry out in the office, among many others. It is quite a repetitive job but after all it is also soothing and relaxing because I dont need to interact with other people directly and it doesnt imply any online verbal conversation.
I open the list made by Tamara: last week several companies were registered, some statute regulations had been modified, there had been a merge and five share transfers. It comes to a total of fifteen files to submit to the Board of Trade and this amount doesnt brighten up my negative thoughts from earlier on, making me take into account the possibility to finish my work before the evening, including all the breaks.
As I usually do, I start with the share transfers which are not too technical and they take me less than half an hour each.
The first one concerns a company owned by several people from the one family whose founder is now in his seventies and is trying to leave the business. I fill in the fields concerning the new capital stock, I grant the father a smaller share and the daughter a bigger one, I check their personal details and I consider the first file already done.
Check. Sign. Send. Amend. Sign. Check. Send. File registered: I will be sent the receipt shortly.
While waiting, I type Sbandofin Brescia in the search box and I press enter: the name is fascinating and I have always noticed it on the plates placed in front of the reception desk. Who we are, where we are, what we do, loans for your residential home, for your holiday home, debt consolidation, business funding, consumer credit, liquidity problems consulting. I stop midway through the page: the company does financial mediation for every need.
I stare at the screen. That girl, or woman, could persuade a penguin too from the Antarctic to purchase an air conditioner: she could manage to grant loans to people looking for cash to pay off other debts. Despite its name, I think that the company is a trustworthy mediator. Maybe she carries out a very boring job dealing with central credit register inquiries, looking for better spreads, filling in request forms to send to the banks. Considering that the first hypothesis is too fanciful and the second one is too sad, I just go for somewhere in between, which I cant focus on precisely.
The receipt has arrived: I save the pdf file. I can go on with the next share transfer.
I hear a loud clacking down the corridor and I saw a head of fair hair coming through my office.
«Hi Bra, are you doing okay?» Tamara says.
She cheerfully glanced at me and she walks to the window, beyond my desk, holding a cup in her hands.
«Hi Tammi, all is great» I reply. She looks through the glass panes and sips her coffee, with her back to me. Her wild hair fall down on a purple jumper. She has a pair of very tight black leather trousers and she wears a pair of quite high stilettos.
«According to you, why is my car remote control not working anymore?»
«What do you mean, Tammi?» I asked, turning to her. «The battery could be low!?» I tried to imply.
«You sound like my husband: I am not stupid, you know! I have already tried to change it but its still not working.»
«Well, I guess there is something else wrong with that.»
«Great. What would I do without you, Bra» she replied sarcastically. She turns around, she leans her back against the windowpane and grumbled. «I think Ill go to the car dealer» she added then.
«Good idea» I stated.
«Bra, do you think that these trousers are too flashy?» she asked all of a sudden stroking her leg with the palm of her left hand.
«Well, they dont go unnoticed, I think.» Like the jumper, the shoes, the bleached blond hair, virtually transparent.
«So, you too think that they are too flashy?»
«What do you mean by you too? Did anyone by any chance stopped you on the street to tell you?» I was being sarcastic.
«No, no-one. Anyway, I just walked through the underground car park» she answered with a smile. «My husband said that they make me look a bit tarty.»
«Really? Maybe just a little, but not that much. Well, it depends...»
«So, you feel the same too» Tamara interrupts me. «I think that you men have a problem with leather.»
«I dont have any problem with leather. Those trousers are nice, they suit you. They look a bit... now, I mean, they look refined... like an upper-class escort girl...»
«Well Bra, thats enough» she interrupts me. «I go back to work, thank you for all the compliments.»
«But I said that I think they are nice, Tammi.»
«Yes, I got it.» She gets to the door, she turns around and says: «Have a nice day».
«You too» I reply. I hear her heels clacking on the ground and going off.
I look back at the screen. I smile.
I complete my file: check; send; filed.
Now it is the two nice buddies turn: they are friends and they are the notarys friends. They seem to have come out of Wheelers Dealers. They have been business partners since kindergarten, they own a small business buying and selling second-hand cars; they fix them and sell them; beside that, they also fix cars and do the tuning.
The partner who is an expert in fixing cars, Ermes, has always had 40% of Anyauto Ltd. And now he bought 10% off his partner, Antonio. Now they eventually own 50% each, this makes sense after quite a few nonsensical changes within the partnership.
On Wednesday, while taking care of the deed, Ermes asked for information regarding the notarys old Porsche. His request was so detailed that well supported my convictions regarding the disappearance of 911 in 2005. Alessandro, when asked about the new arrival, he replied hastily but that was enough to confirm the actual existence of his beloved car which was replaced about two years ago by the Ferrari he has now.
Tax codes, shares, sum of the shares. Send. Amend. Check. Send. Filed. Still two share transfers to go and Ill be finished; it is 10:55 am and at 11:30 am I am meeting up with the notary to take care of the merge. A quick visit to coffee room, I said «get the hell out of here» to the bleached head of hair with black high heels underneath, standing in the middle of the corridor and I am ready to go ahead with the work I have to do. I do two easy transfers quickly due to the unstoppable enthusiasm with which my hands fly around the keyboard moving the mouse pointer all over the screen. I just got some time to go over the consumer credit draft by Sbandofin to whom I could turn to borrow rates ranging from 7%, with a GAPR amounting to 8,6%, payable also in case of liquidity needs without asking for any warranty.
I stare at the page and I consider such conditions misleading rather than interesting.
Red light, the notary is calling: «Tamara said that the merging companies have arrived: can you go and get them in the hall and bring them in the deed room, please?»
«Sure, Ill pick them up and well be right over.»
1.2 LIFE - TWO
«Sure, Ill pick them up and well be right over.»
1.2 LIFE - TWO
The two managers are there for the merger. First thing, there is a recap of all the projects followed by all the assets to be merged. The whole matter has been agreed upon months before so everyone looks really bored, including Alessandro the notary who is thoroughly reading all the bulky minutes and seems to be the only one still alert.
Three thousand euros in five years at that rate means repaying almost one and a half times the capital at maturity. Although I am quite prone to silly behaviours, I come to the conclusion that this idea would be useless and unnatural: there could be better ways to get in touch with the blue creature. More than a simple hello the next time I bump into her would be too straightforward for the way my brain works. What if the glow was just a simple and sudden glow? It would be useless to put energy into a blue flash ready to go off within a minute of conversation; even though I doubt that this may happen: such a deep blue colour cannot dissolve so quickly; this would be totally in contrast with the intensity of her gaze.
«Land Registry extracts were done together with the merger approval; nothing has changed since then, right, Brando? Can you pass them to me so that we can quickly go over them and check them?»
«There hasnt been any change, here they are» I reply, pushing the papers in front of me towards the notary.
Better to leave her in the world of dreams, dreams that are almost real, glowing dreams that are almost real.
«Next week we will register the deed and I will give you the updated extract» I say.
«Thank you, have a good day.»
«Ill show you the door» I answer.
When I get back to my desk, I find the notary there waiting for me in front of my desk, fiddling with an elastic band in his hands.
«You look already burned out today Brando: you look as lively as a warthog infected with Ebola virus» he says ironically while I am staring at him a little puzzled.
«Lets go to the coffee room: our clients who want to set up a company will be here shortly, shall we get a coffee in the meantime? You can stir yours, if you wish.»
«I wont have it stirred, just to show you my support.» After a few minutes, we are in the deed room again, sitting on the same chairs we sat on earlier on, with two coffee cups in our hands.
«Now, Brando, all that positive energy that is coming out from you, where does it come from?»
«I believe it is just an inner feeling. It is not on sale, I think.»
«Just as well, otherwise suicide attempts could unreasonably increase.»
«I dont think I am contagious, anyway.»
«No, I dont think so. What comes out of you is harsh if anything but what worries me is what you have inside.»
«Really? Why are you saying this? I dont look too weird or depressed today... I mean I dont look any different than other days.»
«Thats it, Brando. You are depressed and weird like many other days. However, lately, you are almost over the limit. I have known you for years now, I have never seen you like this.»
«You think so? I dont know, I havent thought about my psychological and physical condition today, actually. I got here and I got down to work with the files. I think I did even take a breath, from time to time.» Maybe the thought of the blue glow took my mind off what I was doing for a few minutes, her apparition may have shaken a regular day at its onset, but I think I am alright.
«I am not too sure, Brando. You look to me more and more... I dont know how to put it...»
«Loony?» I ask.
«No. Id rather say gloomy. As if you are trapped inside something. Trapped in there.»
«Trapped inside what?»
«Trapped inside, thats all.»
«What do you mean, trapped inside myself?»
«Yes, thats it.»
«Excuse me, notary, I have felt just fine up until two minutes ago: the day was passing just fine, like many others. Now, thinking that I am trapped within myself could make me feel distressed, it is a disturbing picture.»
«Maybe I am the only one to detect this lately: dont read too much into my words. It depends on the places we are trapped in: they dont have to be always bad places. If you have coconut trees and sun all day inside yourself, it could be all good» he replied with a smile.
«Sure. Havent you just said that I am gloomy inside? Actually dark?» I ask a little puzzled.
«Yes: mine was just a theory in fact» he answers. «Contra spem.»
«So funny» I say it with a grin.
«Lets put aside this introspective journey inside yourself» the notary goes on, «what makes you feel this way?»
«What do you mean? I am the same as any other day.»
«Has anything unusual happened to you recently? Is your matt car okay? Your parents? Is everything okay? Do you still live on your own refusing every human contact?»
«When are our next clients coming?» I ask with a sarcastic tone, to try and change subject.
«In a few minutes, I reckon. However, we have plenty of time to make a brief examination of your current life.»
«Good, how nice. Why though?»
«For no particular reason. I worry about you, about your psychophysical condition. More about the former than the latter.»
«Excellent. I am happy that you worry about my mental health. It pleases me very much.»
«So then?» he insists.
I am looking at the empty cup that I hold in my hands.
«Now I can tell you that my matt car is doing well and I guess my parents too, I mean, they are doing only too well. I add that I do not live on my own, I have occasional and normal contact with the other dwellers on planet Earth, and you are one of them.»
«Thank God, Brando, you have stopped hanging around with the aliens, this is a positive thing. Did you start hanging around regularly with somebody else, I mean, with the opposite sex?»
«No, I didnt. I stopped with the aliens, just give me some time to change my habits, meet new people to hang around with. Maybe zombies, there are so many around.»
«Very funny. Lets take a note: nothing new, the candidate does not point out any recent changes in his lifestyle. I am sure that if you behave like this, the sentence to home confinement will be revoked, sooner or later.»
«Home confinement that I was granted being trapped inside myself?» I wonder, puzzled.
«Right that one.»
«I was asking because I was afraid I had got lost.»
«So, are you dead on not trying to repent?»
«I dont think I need to repent for anything. Thats the way I am: I do not hang around with aliens, zombies nor human beings; I am gloomy and a bit down but I have always been like that. Maybe lately the whole situation has gone a bit worse, maybe I find it difficult now to put up with some situations that I used to somehow manage before.»
«Attention, please. We have here some sort of explanatory sentence which expresses a whole thought» the notary says sarcastically. «Are you talking about work in general or something more complicated?»
«It is the whole situation, what is around us: people, in particular. It is the attitude that people have towards each other. Not just in the working environment: it is something that makes me sick, it makes me feel bad.»
«People. People make you sick: disturbing. What do you mean, Brando?»