“Of course I do. He’s the one who gives us our jobs.”
“As for the other two, one stout and the other skinny, they’re Sesto and Toscani, one half-bald and the other full bald. People call them the Fox and the Cat, and they’re Romani’s two longtime slaves. At one point, they tried to do a program of their own. It went off the air after just two episodes, and ever since then, we’ve renamed them the Cat and the Cat. In that little group, the only real fox is Romani, and he’s a sly fox. Then, aside from the Cat and the Cat, you have Renzo Micheli, the Serpent. He’s from Salerno, and he’s got his hands in operations all over the place. Romani has been carrying him around with him for the past year. They call him the Serpent because he has nothing good to say about anyone, not even Romani, in fact.”
“Serpent, nice nickname.”
“Step, look out for him. He has lots of friends in powerful positions, and he’s always coming on to every woman who enters his line of sight, especially young girls.”
“In that case, you’re giving the wrong guy advice, Mazzocca, if that’s the way things are. In that case,he’sthe one who needs to look out forme.”
***
I emerge on the street with some gelato after eating lunch with Marcantonio, and I see Gin. I can’t believe it.Here, too, of all people. I feel like laughing. I walk over. “Well, well, look who’s shown up. Hold on, now I get it. You want me to buy you lunch too.”
“What, are you kidding me? Dinner was more than I needed,” Gin says. “No, I have a question for you. Namely, what areyoudoing here at Da Vanni? Hold on. Wait. Now I get it, you followed me.”
“Calm down, just calm down. Why do you think everything always revolves around you? Can’t you see? I’m getting a frozen yogurt with a friend.”
“Strange. I’ve been coming here, like, all my life, and I’ve never seen you before.”
“I very much doubt you’ve been coming here all your life. Maybe you’ve been coming here for the past two years while I was out of the country.”
Marcantonio weighs in. “Excuse me, I hope you won’t object if, while you all explore your biographical details, I go inside. And don’t take too long, Step. We have an important appointment.”
Marcantonio goes back into Da Vanni shaking his head.
The woman with Gin shrugs. “What a jerk your friend is. He didn’t even introduce himself.”
I turn to address Gin. “Well, so what’s up? What are you two doing around here?”
Gin’s friend replies, “We’re here to audition.” Gin elbows her in the ribs. “Ouch!”
“Don’t talk so much. You don’t even know this guy, and now you’re letting him in on all our private business.”
I take a taste of my gelato. “And who would you be, a new band? The Spy Girls?”
“Ha, ha, that’s rich. You know, Ele, he’s great for his phenomenal wisecracks. The whole problem is figuring out when they’re jokes and when they’re not.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Well, that wasn’t a joke. Just like last night when you were coming on to me—”
“You didn’t tell me about that!” Ele looks at us both in surprise.
Gin smiles as she glances at me. “It was something so unimportant that it slipped my mind completely!”
I take my spoon out of my mouth and peer into the bottom of the cup to see if I can scrape out a little more gelato. “Did you tell her that, at a certain point in the proceedings, you were sighing dreamily?”
“Fuck off, you!”
“I don’t remember you saying that last night.”
“Well, let me say it to you today, not once but twice: Fuck off and re-fuck off!”
I smile. “I just adore your sophisticated elegance.”
“Too bad you’re not capable of appreciating it in all its charm. Well, we need to be on our way.”
They head off. I watch them as they go. Gin, the tough girl, and her friend, a little shorter. Ele, as she calls her, short for Elena, Eleonora, or who knows what other name. They make me laugh.