The Break by Pietro Grossi

Author:Pietro Grossi [Pietro Grossi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781906548698
Publisher: Steerforth Press
Published: 2011-12-07T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

HE’D NEVER DO IT, Dino told himself. Inside that gigantic concrete edifice that was like the belly of a monster, three rows of shiny new billiard tables had been lined up, fifteen of them in each row. Above the rows of billiard tables were metal bars with large green lamps hanging from them, and the bars themselves were secured to steel tie beams which were up there somewhere in the darkness of the ceiling, amid immense ventilation ducts. The playing area with the rows of tables was cordoned off by high railings, and beyond the railings were concentric rows of terraced seating, the seats themselves funny little coloured things shaped like a person’s backside. Even though there were hundreds of spectators, less than a fifth of the seats were occupied. This animal’s belly seemed to come from a place that had little to do with this earth, and Dino wasn’t even sure he would get out alive.

“Hey, you!” Dino heard from somewhere on his right, out of the din of voices echoing on all sides.

A tall thin man with grey hair and an electric-blue waiter’s jacket was calling him.

“Yes?” Dino said, walking towards him with his cue in his hand, although of course, strictly speaking, it still wasn’t his.

“Are you registered for the tournament?” the man asked.

“Yes,” Dino said.

“Then go over there to that little table and give them your name. Quick now, it’s late.”

Over to the right of the lines of tables was a small table with a red cloth and some signs on it. Behind the table, two men were sitting, also wearing those funny electric-blue jackets, and in front were two long lines of people. Almost all of them were wearing shirts with coloured waistcoats and little ribbons, and all of them were carrying small cases.

Dino was still wearing the white shirt and brown velvet jacket that Sofia had made him put on for the occasion. He walked slowly between the rows of tables towards the two lines of people in front of the small table, looking around like a little boy and hoping that this vast animal’s belly did not produce dangerous gastric juices.

He went to the end of one of the lines, leaning on his cue with every step, as if it were a mountaineer’s stick. Two men from the other line looked him up and down as he took his place, then by chance their eyes met and they laughed and shrugged their shoulders. The one in front even seemed to shake his head. They, too, were wearing waistcoats and rosettes. Dino wondered why they were all dressed like waiters, and felt rather out of place. He wondered if it was the custom here, as if when you were in the belly of an animal it was natural to dress like people bearing food.

“Card, please.”

Dino had gradually moved forward until he was just in front of the small table, and one of the men in the electric-blue jackets, a very short man the

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