The Parrots by Filippo Bologna

Author:Filippo Bologna [Bologna, Filippo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
ISBN: 9781782270386
Publisher: Pushkin Press
Published: 2013-07-04T04:00:00+00:00

Between an action and a reaction, between a gesture and its consequences, everybody agrees that there is an exact relationship, but not necessarily a proportionate one. As an example of a gesture, let’s take the simple light pressure of a right index finger (with the nail painted scarlet red) on a plastic surface, and indicate that gesture with the onomatopoeia “click” or “double click”. As an example of a consequence, on the other hand, let’s take the page of the website maps.google.it that appeared to The Beginner’s Girlfriend as she tried to visualize the façade of the Old England Hotel, the hotel which the young secretary had booked for her boss on The Beginner’s recommendation. Or rather, what appeared on the screen when, because of her harmless but unfortunate desire to check everything down to the smallest detail—which we should never be do: let what follows serve as a warning—The Girlfriend clicked on the street view option offered by Google Maps; and she did so, not because she didn’t trust her boyfriend but, on the contrary, precisely because she trusted him, in order to go down those streets, with the charitable illusion of being there, of escaping her desk and the air-conditioning for a few moments; she did so in order to see the hotel and its aristocratic façade, without any ulterior motive, without any second thoughts; she did so to give her pride a polish, her pride at having sent her boss to an important hotel, that contemporary luxury hotel where the City meets the West End, as its website said, a really elegant place in which her boyfriend had been put up when he had gone to London to present his book. That was why she did so.

And precisely because she was not prepared, because she did not deserve it, because certain things are best not known about, and if you really have to know about them there are many ways of finding out about them, there are no cures for her disappointment or alibis for her anger.

When, off-centre in relation to the limp flags outside the hotel, to the left of the glittering entrance, next to a stone planter, almost at the edge of the image, she saw a rucksack placed on the pavement, a rucksack she thought she knew, and next to the rucksack the entire figure of a man, or rather, a boy she thought she knew but for reasons other than the rucksack, a boy who was holding between his hands the head of a blonde woman, a woman who on the other hand she was certain she did not know, a tall, slim woman with prominent breasts beneath her dark dress, her face up against his face, as if they were looking each other in the eyes before—or as if they had just moved apart after—a languid kiss (this was impossible to establish), and his head appeared—though it might only have been a suggestion—to have been caught in a slight, lazy rotation towards

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.