Читать книгу Let the Games Begin - Niccolo Ammaniti - Страница 16

9

The leader of the Wilde Beasts of Abaddon was seated at the kitchen table hoeing into a plate of lasagne floating in a lake of reheated Béchamel sauce. It made him feel nauseous, but he had to pretend he hadn't eaten.

Serena, sitting with her feet up against the dishwasher, was painting her nails. As always, she hadn't waited for him for dinner. The television on the Formica worktop was showing Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, Saverio's favourite programme after Mysteries on RAI Tre. But the Wilde Beasts’ leader's mind was far away. He kept thinking back to the phone call with Kurtz Minetti.

I am such a legend. He cleaned his mouth with the serviette. What did I say again? No. I'm not interested. Could he think of any Satanist on the circuit who would have had the guts to turn down an offer to become the manager of Central Italy for the Children of the Apocalypse? He felt like calling Murder to tell him about how he had told Kurtz to fuck off, but Serena might have overheard him, and then he also didn't want them to find out what that shithead Kurtz thought about the WBA. They'd be offended.

He was surprised at how powerfully and confidently he had pronounced that no. He couldn't help himself from pronouncing it again: ‘No!’

‘No what?’ Serena asked, without lifting her gaze from the fingernails she was painting red.

‘Nothing, nothing. I was just thinking . . .’

Saverio felt an urge to tell his wife all about it, but he held back. If she found out that he was the leader of a Satanic sect, the least she would do is file for divorce.

But that no might be the beginning of an existential turning-point. It was a no that would inevitably lead to an avalanche of no's that it was time to enounce. No to working on the weekends. No to having to babysit. No to him always having to take the rubbish out.

‘There's left-over turkey from yesterday. Heat it up in the microwave.’

Serena was standing up and waving her hands.

‘No,’ he answered naturally.

Serena yawned. ‘I'm going to bed. When you're finished, clear the table, take out the rubbish and turn off the lights.’

Saverio looked at her. She was wearing elastic denim shorts covered in rhinestones, patent white-leather cowboy boots and a black t-shirt with an enormous V for Valentino on it.

Not even the girls who hang out at the shopping centres put on that sort of get-up.

Serena Mastrodomenico was forty-three years old, and all those years of sunbathing had dehydrated her like a sundried tomato. She was very skinny, despite having given birth to twins less thank a year ago. From far away she looked great, with her toned physique, those balloon tits and that caffé latte-coloured complexion. But if you moved in closer and took a better look, you discovered that her derma was stretched and leathery like a rhinoceros's, and a tangle of thin wrinkles ran across her neck, the corners of her mouth and her cleavage. Her green eyes, sparkling and lively, sat upon cheekbones that were as shiny and round as two Annurcan apples.

She often wore open-toed shoes that showed off her tapered ankles and delicate feet. She preferred little summer dresses that left room for lacy bras and two synthetic hemispheres to stick out. She covered herself in more ethnic jewellery than a Berber princess at her coronation.

During their long years of marriage, Saverio had noticed that his wife was very popular with men, especially the younger ones. Every time he went down into the factory warehouse the couriers, a pack of letches, would pull him into their banter. They didn't even respect the boss's daughter.

‘Your wife must be something to watch in bed. Forget about these young chicks, she's got experience. She'll open you like a sofa bed.’ ‘Go on, do a sex tape for us.’ ‘Save, how do you keep her satisfied? I reckon she needs a whole team of beasts . . .’ ‘She's the classic type of woman who acts all sophisticated, but in reality she's a total animal . . .’ And other vulgarities it's best not to mention.

If those morons only knew the truth. Serena deplored sex. She said it was crude. She abhorred any type of nudity, and found body fluids and everything that was involved in physical relationships repellent (except for massages, and those only to be done by a woman).

But something in all of this didn't make sense to Saverio Moneta. If sex disgusted her so much, why did she dress like a playmate? And why, of all the vacant spots, did she always park the car right in front of the storeroom?

* * *

Saverio got up from the table and began putting things away. He didn't feel ready for bed, he was too excited. Luckily, the twins were asleep. The time was right to concentrate on the idea that would shake up the WBA and the rest of the world. He took out a note pad and a pen, and grabbed the remote control to turn off the television when he heard Gerry Scotti say: ‘Unbelievable! Friendly Francesco from Sabaudia has made it, all hush-hush, to the question worth a million euro . . .’

The contestant was a fidgety little man with a sneer pulled across his mouth. It looked like he was sitting on a hedgehog. Gerry, instead, had the satisfied expression of a tabby cat who's just scoffed a tin of tuna. As if he was about to sprout claws and start scratching the couch. ‘So, dear Francesco, are you ready?’

The little man swallowed and adjusted his collar. ‘Pretty much . . .’

Gerry puffed out his chest and turned towards the audience, enjoying himself. ‘Pretty much? Do you hear what he says?’ Then, suddenly serious, he spoke to the people at home. ‘Which of you wouldn't be nervous in his place? Put yourselves in his shoes. One million euro can change your life.’ He began talking to Francesco. ‘You said your dream was to pay off your house loan. And now what? If you won, in addition to your loan, what would you do?’

‘Well, I'd buy my mum a car and then . . .’ The contestant was suffocating. He gasped and managed to answer. ‘I'd like to make a donation to the San Bartolomeo Institute of Gallarate.’

Gerry studied him down his nose. ‘And what do they do, if I may ask?’

‘They help the homeless.’

‘Well done.’ The presenter encouraged the audience to clap their hands and the audience responded with an uproarious applause. ‘You're a philanthropist. Are you sure we won't see you zooming around in a Ferrari? No, you can see that you're a good man.’

Saverio shook his head. If he won that sum of money, he would buy a medieval castle in the Marche region and turn it into the headquarters of the Beasts.

‘Now, let's take a look at the question. Ready?’ Gerry tightened the knot in his tie, cleared his throat and, while the question and the four answers appeared on the screen, he recited:

WHO WAS ABADDON?

A)	AN ANGLICAN PREACHER OF THE 18TH CENTURY
B)	A DEMON CITED IN THE APOCALYPSE
C)	AN ASSYRIAN DIVINITY
D)	A MAYAN RELIGIOUS FESTIVAL

Saverio Moneta almost fell off his chair.