«What kind of preferences?»
«Preferences of all kinds: appearance-related, but also their favourite sexual activity or sexual deviations.»
«Interesting. Then?»
«Nothing, then the portal selects people based on similarities and common interests.»
«And what did your friends choose?»
«But nothing in particular: they just selected that they were interested in flings and then they selected the physical features they were looking for in a man. The portal selected different individuals to my two friends, quite attractive and also from rather close areas. The same evening, they organized a date, each with the partner chosen from the dozens suggested by the portal. One went to a town in the province of Bergamo, on Lake Iseo, I dont remember exactly which one; the other in a town towards Cremona. They agreed to meet up at the end of the evening to share their impressions.»
«Yes, maybe your friends are a little crazy. They could have been in danger...»
«Thats right. You never know who youre going to meet. However, to make a long story short, one said that her date did not match the photo on the site: he looked like Yogi Bear but overweight and smelled of alcohol. The other friend got a boy of twenty, not the man of forty she was expecting.»
«So did they do anything in the end?»
«The girl who dated Yogi Bear ran away insulting him. From what I gather, he was saying that she had to end the date in a positive way anyway, because this is the community policy. At those words she started screaming in the bar where they met and she left. The other friend who went out with the young boy said that she felt sorry for him and felt compelled to do something, but I dont know exactly what she meant...»
«Nice experience, though, Sere. I dont know, I would never do it: I am against extramarital affairs as a principle, but even if I were free and looking for similar flings, I dont think I would ever want to meet someone like that, just to have sex. I would look for something different.»
«Yes, Lavi, neither do I, I think. It could also be arousing, but if you meet similar individuals... so scary.»
«What do you mean by arousing?»
«Yes, it could be fun. I would never want to meet someone without my husbands knowing, I would never do it, but I have been browsing around those sites there and there are also couples who are looking for other people: it sounds interesting... its just a thought...»
«Sorry, I dont get it: would you like to meet another couple, together with your husband, to have sex?»
Serena brings an index finger to her mouth, nibbling at it, and she begins to move the tip of her right shoe up and down by leveraging her heel.
«Is that what you meant?» I keep at it.
«Yes, Lavi, more or less. Come on, I dont know: its not a good idea to say things like that at 8:40 in the morning while Im still asleep and anyway, no, I dont think Id like to have sex with my husband and another couple, or swap couples» she replies a little confused.
«Okay, Sere, I thought you said the opposite before.»
I look at her in a puzzled and amused way as if I am expecting a further explanation on the matter, but she continues to nibble her finger and fiddle with her shoe. Her slightly wavy hair falls on her shoulders and her hazel eyes release a bright light. Those tight jeans, and those ankles, tightened by nylon stockings, finish off what I am looking at, standing in front of the window; she doesnt look forty-five at all: she looks like a sassy little girl, but well dressed.
And those legs of hers are really perfect.
She touches her thighs with her palms, rubbing her jeans. «But do I have a stain on my jeans, Lavi?» she asks. «Right, I must have got dirty with the icing sugar off the pastry earlier on.»
«No, theres nothing wrong with your jeans, I dont think, why?»
«I thought that you were staring at my legs.»
«No, I was just looking at you because I was amused by your mischievous girlish attitude.»
I hear the door open and the four new girls come in, the ones who arrived from the main office two months ago.
We greet them from the back of the room. The four of them say «hello» altogether and go to the first two rows of desks, settling down at their workstations.
«They seem very nice today too» Serena says in a low voice.
«Yes, they seem to have been so sociable for the last two months» I say in a whisper. «At least they keep at it.»
«I guess I have to start work: see you later at the coffee break.»
«Yes, good luck with your work, Sere. One moment...» I add in a low voice, «anyway the four nice girls spared you the explanation of the arousing thing.»
«If you wish, Ill give you a proper explanation. Perhaps.»
She looks at her thighs, she takes two steps forward and, leaning her torso over the desk, whispers: «And you will have to explain to me why you keep staring at my legs.»
2.2 LIFE - THREE
I look up and notice that the front door opens: Giorgio, Umberto, Andrea and Tiziano are coming in together. They are Sbandofin longer standing employees, already at the agency when I started working here in 2007, at the age of thirty-two. I was starting off my third job, preceded by others which lasted for a rather short period. Here I put down some roots, considering that the job is not too depressing and the work environment is quite pleasant.
The four colleagues are now busy walking to their workstations as they do every day. They are all around fifty-five years old: they have good manners and they always go around in groups, rarely seem to be willing to talk to younger colleagues. They always behave in a somewhat detached and defensive manner, as if they want to protect their group and preserve their greater seniority, which is an unquestionable factor, in my opinion.
They meet every morning sharp at the bar in front of the office for breakfast. The same scene is repeated at their lunch break: always together, always united.
«Hello everyone» I say.
«Good morning Lavinia» they reply one after the other, but with the same pitch and with the same neutral tone.
Tiziano and Andrea sit in the row in front of mine in the large open space; on the other hand, Giorgio and Umberto sit in row in front of the new girls.
It is 8:59 am and the office is almost full, ready for the working day: only Maddalena is missing, the girl who sits next to my desk. She may have been delayed by some strange adversity. And also Teresa, the manager: she arrives around ten or a little later.
I can see the phone LED lighting up and I hear Serenas phone ringing in the distance. The first phone call of the day which will quite possibly made by some desperate individual looking for money. According to the statistics, the early hours of the workdays are filled by this kind of individuals, as if these characters had spent the whole night mulling over how to get a loan. Usually, as the day progresses, more serious individuals with complex needs begin to show up: debt rearranging, large loans or more specific requests of financial brokering.
I have to look for some funding for the three individuals I met yesterday morning: they came here one after the other, after Tom-the-plump-one had left the office. As if they had secretly agreed, the first made an absurd request; as soon as I managed to get rid of him, the other one came in with an even more unlikely question and, when I was beginning to think that the morning could come to an end without any further hassle, the last one arrived to give me the last blow.
For the first potential customer, I therefore have to look for a mortgage to buy his first house along with his wife. It is an easy thing to do because he is unemployed and with a spouse working part-time and getting paid under the counter. The man is desperate because so many banks have declined his request so he turned to us in the hope to find some sort of solution. By discarding every bank and setting aside the blue puppet, not so keen on this kind of loans, FinExtreme is the last resort.
I press the button for my contact list on the phone, I look for the one of these criminals and press the button to call the selected number.
«FinExtreme, good morning, how can I help you?»
«Hi, Im Lavinia from Sbandofin in Brescia, can I speak to Ettore? I am calling for a request for a loan from one of our clients.»
«Hold on, please, I check if he is available.»
«Great, thank you.»
I am on hold and I keep my eyes on the monitor. As I have done on many occasions in the past, I try to picture what the office of these sharks may look like, and I am not too sure whether it would be a modern building in the south of Milan or an ancient building in the medieval centre. I switch the telephone receiver to my left ear and type in FinExtreme on Google, while a boring jingle is interspersed by a female voice that continues to thank me for my patience and is piercing my eardrum. I click on the icon at the far end of the window and, after a few moments, the map appears with a placeholder around Lambrate. I try to view the outside with Street View: no futuristic buildings or ancient buildings, only old, dilapidated condos that looked more like public housing, rather than the headquarters of prestigious financial intermediaries.
I scroll forward, and then to the right. The three embossed digits on a brass plate tilted about twenty degrees from the ground, match those ones that I read on their address. I hold down the left button and I position the Google camera towards the top floor, as the tune almost starts to harm my cochlear nerve. Maybe a small apartment used as an office, with Ettore in the kitchen deceiving customers with disproportionate rates, the girl who answers the phone with her desk at the entrance and two thugs working as bill collectors waiting for orders in the bathroom, one in the tub and the other sitting on the toilet.
I am still waiting, thinking back about Ettores voice which has always appeared nice and polite to me. It would clash with the picture that I have just made in my mind, perhaps only astounded by the annoying music.
«Ready. Hi Lavinia Sbandofin, how are you? We havent been in touch for a long time.»
«Good morning Ettore FinExtreme, everything is fine here, thank you. The reason why I am calling you is that some time ago I asked you for help regarding a mortgage for a person who was unable to show clear guarantees concerning his/her income.»
«Questionable guarantees: yes, I think I understand. More exactly, what is it about?»
«It is a request for a first-time buyer mortgage for a couple: he is unemployed, she has a part-time job, she works flexible hours in a family, working as a housekeeper. Do you still grant this kind of mortgages?»
«In short, she works as a housekeeper for a family of friends?»
«Yes, thats it, something like that: shes busy, but you know what friends are like, you do me a favour, I do you a favour, nothing too formal.»
«I see. But what capital are we talking about? And are these friends generous enough?»
«The house costs around 110,000 euros: it is a two-room apartment here in the province of Brescia. Sure, friends are quite generous: in short, I understand that they have a nineteenth-century mentality.»
«A mentality...» Ettore repeats with a slightly perplexed tone. «Ah, you are saying that they are old-fashioned. Old-fashioned as far as the number, of course. But I think Im not with you: do they have an eight hundred mentality or a one thousand and eight hundred mentality?»
«No. Nineteenth century, not one thousand and eight hundred. Otherwise, I would have said 1800s, dont you think? The 1800s mentality would seem to me too generous for a part-time housekeeper.»
«Yes, actually, Lavinia you are right» replies Ettore, giggling. «However, if these are the centuries in question and that is the value of the property, I believe a solution can be found. However, Ill tell you right away, the rate will certainly not be low.»
«You mean something around 5% all inclusive, Ettore?»
«No, Lavinia, we are no longer able to keep so low: I would say that we are even around 6.5% all inclusive.»
«6.5%? But its a lot!»
«We cant do better now. However, the threshold rate is around 7.5% now and we are well below.»
«Does one percent mean well below your parameters, Ettore?»
«Yes, Lavinia: for my parameters, one percent is a lot: thats 1,000 euros per 100,000 euros of capital per year.»
«Here, exactly. Anyway, assuming it might be okay, what documents should the couple need get off their friends?»
«They can always sign an agreement in which friends declare to remain friends for at least another twenty or thirty years: a private agreement like this may also be enough. Otherwise, there is always the possibility that they will give them a direct guarantee. This would bring the rate down significantly.»
«Sure, but from experience I know that friends in the end, when it comes to money, they dont turn out to be such good friends.»
«Yes, Lavinia, you know what they say here in Milan: friends, bloody friends...» says Ettore, interrupting himself and grinning.
«Even here, ninety kilometres away, they say the same» I reply, laughing.
«Then I will send you the details of the property and of the individuals» I continue, «if you draw up a draft, Ill submit everything to the two people.»
«All right, e-mail me everything. And if the deal goes through, you too can pop over the notary when the deed will be signed, so we can finally meet: its been a long time since Id love to meet your voice in person.»
«Of course: to meet my voice in person, nice expression, I like it! If they get the loan, Ill see you at the notary, sure: in fact, we have been talking on the phone for about ten years and weve never seen each other.»
«You promised, Lavinia Sbandofin: deed at the notary, Im counting on it.»
«All right Ettore FinExtreme, now Ill forward everything to you. Bye, have a good day.»
«You too. Bye.»
I hang up the phone, I click on the mail software and, once the cadastral registration is attached, I add a few words referring to the phone call just made. Finally, I choose Ettores address from the contact list and send the e-mail.
I click on the yellow icon and move on to the next folder: this is the guy with shaved hair and a bleached mohawk who, at the beginning of yesterdays brief meeting, also demanded a coffee, convinced that he was able to express the ideas better with a stimulant of some kind in his blood.
Actually his situation was not too complicated to explain: twenty-two, never worked and looking for five thousand euros to go to Thailand for a month with an elusive girl who, at first, seemed to me to live with him in Italy and, a few minutes later, she turned out to be waiting for him for several months in the country of destination. When I suggested him to look for a guarantor who could give him access to some credit, he replied almost whimpering that friends and relatives had completely declined any of his requests. Considering his appearance and his way of speaking, the news of the repeated denials did not surprise me, confirming only my initial decision, taken even before the word coffee: I press the e-mail icon and enter the address in the recipient field that I had saved in the clipboard.
We are sorry, but we have not been able to find any suitable solution to your funding request. Looking forward to meeting you on other future occasions, I wish you a good day.
Lavinia - Sbandofin.
Third folder: the man in his fifties looking for an anonymous lease for the purchase of a car.
I hear the front door make a faint noise and I look to the far right: I see Maddalena entering, opening a gap of about fifty centimetres, quite enough to let her frail body slide between the jamb and the large shiny steel plate. She closes the door behind her and nods to Serena. She walks along the corridor, disappearing behind the plants, and showing again, after about twenty seconds, under the opening of the glass wall, reaching the desk on my right.