BLACK
*
The Grand Central Station in Turin is a huge, imposing
building with passengers from all over the world swarming in the hall. The buzz
of foreign languages mixed into the sweet sounding Italian and then spoken all
at once is somewhat hushed in the corner, near the exit, at the supermarket’s
shop window.
Miss Espresso is sitting on a black, iron-clad bench,
clutching her purse and a bus ticket in her hand. She’s staring at it, bemused
by the elegant design, studying it carefully as if it were a tarot card, about
to spell her future.
Her long black elegant coat is at odds with the
colorful plastic bags and shirts around her. So is her sad, resigned
expression. An Asian lady is dragging her wailing son behind her as she heads
for the supermarket. Miss Espresso picks up the words “latte”, “mangiare”, spoken
with a cute inflection, and then bounces them back. Not her worries. A beggar
approaches the bench. As if…
Miss Espresso stands up, passing him by in careful
indifference as she leaves the station with determined steps echoing in the big
black hall.
*
C.so Vittorio Emanuele, a long straight street, one of
many in this city. You couldn’t get lost in Turin if you tried. Everything
squared, streets meeting at right angles. Everything seems so ordered and
there’s calm and beauty in that carefully positioned order.
*
Miss Espresso reaches for her cell phone in order to
check out the map and just as she presses the unlock switch the first tones of
Edward Blake’s Pink Panther theme ring under the cast iron balconies.
Caller ID: Miran K. Oblomov. She takes the call with a
sigh, waiting for the opening punch line. Talking to professor Oblomov is like
playing chess.
-“Looking for the Holy Grail, are we? Or is it that
sacred piece of cloth you wanted to see?”
There’s the pawn straight up front.
-“I told you to switch off the GPS locator on my
phone. You’re not my father and at times you’re turning into a creepy stalker.”
-“You’re very beautiful when you’re angry. But your
smile is like sunshine to my tired eyes.”
-“Not in the mood to soothe your eyes now, sorry”.
Bishop successfully taken out of the way.
“If you turn left right there, you’ll come straight to
the monument which is supposed to be the gateway to Hell.”
Checkmate.
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