The store was beautiful. It was so for new customers and it looked more and more beautiful to those who returned there, because every time they were surprised to discover strange objects that had nothing to do with the items for sale. There was a display case dedicated to small items, souvenirs for friends and family.
If Damien’s store was his business card, his house was his curriculum vitae and the world exhibition of his trophies...
That Saturday night, as many other times, it was late. Usually at seven-thirty, Damien pulled down the shutter, whereas that night it was past eight o’clock and inside the store were still two customers: Massimo and Sonia.
Massimo had returned to stock up on liquids; it was already the third time he came back on a Saturday. A bottle of ten millilitres of liquid lasted only three days; therefore he bought at least two at a time.
Sonia, instead, returned that afternoon, following her morning visit. Damien had sold her an electronic cigarette complete with cord to carry it around her neck, while Sonia would have preferred a small pouch to store it in her handbag, so she decided to return to the store to make that second purchase. That’s how the two of them met by chance in the shop and Damien was happy to present them to each other.
At first, Massimo seemed rather intimidated by Sonia’s beauty; luckily Damien was able to act as a link between them, involving both in the matters that were brought up during that late afternoon in the store, also encompassing the other customers.
Damien asked Massimo what how he felt about using the steam cigarette and Sonia was very interested in his experience, therefore, from a simple question and answer, he started a conversation between several people that lasted until the evening, and by then they felt at ease in speaking to each other.
When Damien noticed that the two of them already got along well together, although he had just presented them, he was reminded of a scene that he’d already seen several times, during his Sunday walks in the tree-lined streets, particularly in the fall. He had observed a fallen leaf on the ground that was being carried away by a gust of wind, until it reached another leaf that was very far from it, and then, a small whirlwind, suddenly created by the atmospheric conditions, sent the two leaves dancing in a circle, and eventually they fell to the ground, sometimes overlapping each other.
It wasn’t essential for those two leaves to be of the same kind or the same size. It was irrelevant how and why they had fallen off the tree, or if they had fallen from different trees. Also irrelevant was their colour and shape. The small whirlwind took them both and lifted them from the ground and, although one of them was blown sideways, while the other was blown from below, they both received the same force to which they resisted in different ways, still meeting at the same height, on the same level.
Just like those two leaves, Massimo and Sonia met, spoke to each other, jumping from one subject to another, then they said goodbye to Damien, who could finally close the store.
Once they left the store and had already walked a few steps away from it, Massimo stopped to looked back at the store and saw that he was lowering the shutter.
“Sonia, wait a minute. - He said to the girl who was still at his side, who also turned to look back - See? Damien closed the store but he’s still inside!”
“Of course, - she said – he said he had to finish his accounting, tidy up and check his stocks.”
“Okay, - said Massimo - but last Saturday I stopped out here to talk to another customer of his, we were out here for at least a half hour, yet he didn’t come out. In my opinion, - Massimo’s tone became suspicious - Damien will spend the night in there!”
Sonia was baffled by Massimo’s words. However she wanted to support him and decided to wait a little longer to see if he was right.
They waited another twenty minutes, chatting about this and that and keeping an eye on the store, mainly keeping their eyes on the thin line of light shining from under the shutter.
After a while the light went off and they waited for the shutter to be raised and for Damien to come out. Instead no one came out. They waited another five minutes, looking at each other drawing their lips and chin together in an expression that in Italy means “beats me!”
Sonia finally decided to go home; she decided to order a pizza. She said goodbye to Massimo, so he shrugged and went on his way, still wondering about that strange behaviour.
Part ten (closing time)
Damien turned off the store lights from the switches in the rear of the hall, near the small bathroom, which he sometimes let his customers use, if needed.
He pressed his hand against a specific point of the mirror frame, which was attached to the wall at the end of the hallway. After a few seconds, something snapped from behind the mirror and this opened as a door.
“Good evening Damien – Giovanni greeted him, still holding his hand on the handle of the door which was a mirror on one side and a walnut door on the other – you had to work overtime again tonight?”
“Yes Giovanni, the last customers just left, Massimo and Sonia”.
“I know, I saw them. I followed everything from the kitchen monitors, while I was preparing dinner.”
Giovanni proceeded to open the faucets of the hot tub that was encased in a stone base, about one metre high from the ground, surrounded by scented candles which had already been lit.
“Dinner will be ready in thirty minutes. – Giovanni informed him, handing Damien a bathrobe and flip-flops and while heading towards the kitchen, he added – Massimo and Sonia seemed glad to meet each other!”
“Right! - Damien answered as he undressed - Between the two of them, Massimo was the happiest! Ahahahahahahahahaha!” And he let out a big laugh.
The walls of the room with the hot tub were made of stone; the ceiling was clad with beams, the floor around the tub in terracotta tiles and on a wall in front of the bath tub was a fake fireplace, one of those with a LED screen that makes that typical play of light of a burning fire.
This room opened onto a living room with coloured plastered walls, with sides in contrasting colours between them, and spot lights in the plasterboard ceiling. The play of light, very striking, created a warm and friendly environment in the winter and a cool one in the summer. The air conditioners were also recessed into the walls and not noticeable, being masked by fans of the same colour as the walls.
From the living room you could access the kitchen through a large opening in the dividing wall, panelled in wood. On one side of the room, in front of the bath tub, an iron and wooden staircase led to the upper floor, where there were two double bedrooms, two cloakrooms and two bathrooms.
A third bathroom, a guest bathroom, was between the kitchen and the dining room. From a window wall in the living room, one could see the garden, covered by a large pergola on which were woven red vine leaves, which blocked the view of the garden to the surrounding neighbours.
The house was a villa built in the 40s, who had undergone several renovations and some expansions, but which, however, over time had been surrounded and then hidden by more recent buildings, which now conformed to the urban facade of the outskirts of Florence. The shop was once the coach house of the villa, then it became its garage, then a laboratory and finally the business premises that had had more than one sign and type of business.
Just
