The Crossroads by Niccoló Ammaniti

Author:Niccoló Ammaniti
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: Canongate Books
Published: 2010-02-22T16:00:00+00:00

116

Danilo Aprea was paralysed, with the phone glued to his ear.

Rino Zena had threatened him. And a threat from that crazy Nazi was no laughing matter. That guy would kill you without so much as a second thought.

And above all, he never forgot.

Once when some poor bastard had pushed in front of him the thug had broken three of his ribs. Not immediately, though – six months later. All that time he had nursed his grudge and when one day he had happened to meet him in a pub he had first knocked him down with a beer glass and then kicked him in the ribs.

Suddenly he felt his bowels pulsing and his anal sphincter contracting and relaxing. He dropped the phone and rushed into the bathroom. He unleashed a stream of diarrhoea and sat there on the toilet with his elbows on his knees and his hands supporting his feverish forehead.

He was in a bad enough mess already, without getting death threats from Rino Zena.

‘Well, if you want to kill me, go ahead and do it. What can I say …’ he murmured. ‘I was only trying to make you guys rich …’

Another nightmare appeared in his mind. The next day at noon the TV salespeople would be coming round to bring him the painting of the climbing clown.

‘What am I going to say to them? “I’m sorry, I haven’t got any money. I don’t want the picture any more. I made a mistake,”’ he recited, sitting astride the bidet.

He couldn’t let that masterpiece slip through his fingers so easily.

‘Anyway, I’m not scared of you, Rino Zena, my friend. I don’t give a shit about you …’ He curled his lip, baring his teeth like an angry wolf, and gargled with the throat mixture. ‘Don’t fuck with me, do you hear? You’ve got to be very wary about fucking with Danilo Aprea!’

He went back into the sitting room in his underpants and windcheater. A treacherous leer had formed beneath his moustache. He started cackling with laughter. ‘Who’s the drunkard? I’m the drunkard, am I? Well, what are you then, Rino Zena? A pathetic alcoholic Nazi? A failure? A piece of human trash? Which? You decide. Which name would you like to be known by? Take your pick.’ Then he started nodding his head and went on: ‘You and me are finished. I’m not scared of you. Why don’t you come round here so I can …’ he couldn’t think of the word ‘… knock your block off. You’re going to regret the mistake you’ve made, regret it bitterly. Hah! You don’t understand who you’re dealing with!’ He flopped back down on the sofa and concluded, raising his index finger towards the ceiling: ‘Don’t fuck with Danilo Aprea! I must get myself a T-shirt made, with that slogan across the chest.’

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