DADA8 - RACCONTI

"SHORT STORIES"

by Vittorio Curtoni


Pisciando il mio vino Pissing my wine Death of a pie Some shit in my backyard

"PISCIANDO IL MIO VINO"

by Vittorio Curtoni Ero a Milano. Piazza Duomo, il cuore della citta'. Avevo appena consegnato una traduzione a un editore. E' il mio lavoro produrre e consegnare traduzioni. Il mio fulgido destino. Erano le undici e venti di mattina. Avevo un appuntamento a mezzogiorno con mia moglie, Lucia: pranzo assieme. Splendido. E dovevo pisciare. Pisciare o morire. Cosi' entrai in questo bar della Galleria. Ordinai un caffe'. Lo bevvi. Poi chiesi al barista: "Posso usare la toilette, per favore?" Il barista mi scruto' con aria grave. "No, non puo'" disse. "Per usare la toilette deve ordinare una bottiglia di vino. Cosa preferisce? Rosso o bianco?" "Come?" Non potevo credere alle mie orecchie. "Una bottiglia di vino per fare pipi'? Ma non ho ancora mangiato!" "Lei mi sembra il tipo che puo' mandare giu' una bottiglia prima di pranzo" disse il barista. "Comunque, non facciamo eccezioni. Nuovi regolamenti comunali. Allora? Rosso o bianco? Un rose', magari?" Sospirai. La mia vescica stava per esplodere. "Va bene. Bianco. Adesso posso avere la chiave della toilette?" Il barista si mise a ridere. "Divertente. Molto divertente. Non ha ancora pagato e vuole la chiave? Naaa." Una lunga pausa pensosa. "Cosa preferisce? Merlot? Pinot? Muller Thurgau? Ortrugo? O..." "Trebbianino" lo interruppi. Pagai una cifra folle per la bottiglia di vino, ebbi la chiave, corsi alla toilette (un buco nel terreno, probabilmente un residuo della seconda guerra mondiale), e pisciai. Aaah! Rientrai nel bar, restituii la chiave, e mi avviai alla porta. Venni fermato da un tizio robusto, in una specie di uniforme da poliziotto. "Servizio di sicurezza" disse. "Lei non ha bevuto la sua bottiglia di Trebbianino." "Ma l'ho pagata" ribattei. "Il punto non e' questo. Lei non ha bevuto. Faccia il suo dovere." Nuovi regolamenti comunali, probabilmente. Be', in effetti io sono il tipo che puo' bersi una bottiglia prima di pranzo. E mancava ancora mezz'ora all'appuntamento con Lucia. Quando il fato e' troppo forte, il forte applica l'antica arte del piegarsi. D'altra parte, il Trebbianino mi piace. Molto. Stavo dando il dolce addio al quarto bicchiere di vino, e avevo ancora diciamo un quinto della bottiglia da uccidere, quando la mia vescica interruppe le mie cupe riflessioni sulla triste situazione della citta'. Se mai mi ero chiesto perche' non avessi mai voluto vivere a Milano, adesso lo sapevo. E la vescica disse: "Ti suggerisco caldamente di dare un'altra occhiata a quel buco che chiamano toilette, socio. In caso contrario, te ne pentirai amaramente, compagno." E compresi all'istante che la mia vescica aveva perfettamente ragione. Cosi' mi alzai dal tavolo, raggiunsi il banco su gambe piuttosto salde, e chiesi la chiave. Il barista, debbo dire, era uomo di poche parole. Una qualita' che a volte so apprezzare, quando le circostanze sono giuste. "Un altro Trebbianino?" disse. "Contanti, per favore." E pagai in contanti. Non feci discussioni. Pero', essendo un traduttore, un uomo di cultura, lo guardai diritto negli occhi e dissi: "Sicuro che questa sia Milano? Che non sia Praga?" "Praga?" fece eco lui, prendendo i miei soldi. "Sarebbe a dire Kafka." "Kafka?" Era forte sui regolamenti comunali, ma debole su altri piu' raffinati punti del nostro beneamato mondo. Era il barista perfetto. Chi vuole un barista capace di citare Kafka e incapace di preparare un Bloody Mary? Cominciavo a vedere le cose a modo suo. Sono un essere umano molto empatico. E poi ho sempre avuto questa meravigliosa tendenza a pisciare. I miei reni sono un monumento alla laurea magna cum laude in ingegneria genetica di Dio Onnipotente. Per me e' come una reazione a catena: bere e pisciare, pisciare e bere. Dopo un po' diventa un tutt'uno. Un unicum. Una visione filosofica dell'universo basata sul continuo fluire di fluidi organici. Cosi' pisciai. E assassinai la mia prima bottiglia di vino. E attaccai la seconda. Ormai era mezzogiorno. Mia moglie, probabilmente, mi stava cercando tra i piccioni di Piazza Duomo. Non mi avrebbe trovato. Altri clienti entrarono e uscirono. Bevvero il loro caffe', il loro aperitivo, e se ne andarono. Nessuno aveva bisogno di pisciare. Tutti sapevano, senza dubbio. Lanciavano occhiate all'infelice ubriacone che sedeva da solo a un tavolo con una bottiglia di Trebbianino. Alcuni parevano dispiaciuti, altri molto divertiti. Chissa' come se la godevano. Implorare aiuto era fuori discussione. Il cipiglio della guardia della sicurezza era molto esplicito. Non sono mai stato in galera, e non sento la mancanza di questa esperienza. E la mia vescica era molto loquace, in quel giorno fatale. Lucia mi trovo' poco dopo l'una del pomeriggio. Io ero alla quarta bottiglia di Trebbianino, e avevo una voglia micidiale di pisciare. Il che significava la bottiglia numero cinque. Avevo anche ordinato, e mangiato, un paio di panini per dare una mano allo stomaco, ma il mio cervello era piuttosto confuso. Incoerente, se volete. E avevo finito i contanti. Il barista, a quanto sembrava, era disposto ad accettare una carta di credito. Sia resa lode al cielo per i piccoli miracoli. Lucia entro' nel bar. Era una furia vivente. "Figlio di puttana!" urlo'. "Schifoso porco traditore! Dov'eri? Dove..." Si interruppe. Mi guardo' in faccia. Io cercai di alzarmi e di andarle incontro, da buon marito fedele, ma le gambe mi tradirono. O la gravita', chi lo sa? Comunque, ricaddi goffamente sulla sedia. L'effetto Trebbianino. Lei socchiuse gli occhi. "Sei ubriaco" sibilo'. E credetemi, quando Lucia sibila potete leggere guai nei suoi occhi. "Ero sottosopra, preoccupata per te, e ti trovo qui con una bottiglia di vino!" Si avvicino'. Non avevo difese. Il mio cervello era in stato d'attesa. La mia bocca si rifiutava di aprirsi. "Ti disprezzo" sussurro'. "Sei la feccia del mondo. Sei..." Le successe qualcosa. Una piccola convulsione. Un movimento non troppo placido dei suoi fianchi. "Non ho fatto altro che cercarti, pezzo di merda. Mi sono persino dimenticata di andare alla toilette. Non muoverti. Torno subito." Raggiunse il banco. Il barista. Io levai il mio bicchiere in un brindisi. "Bemvenuta al club" pensai. O cercai di pensare. "Adesso te ne accorgerai." E se ne accorse. Ragazzi, se se ne accorse!
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"PISSING MY WINE"

by Vittorio Curtoni I was in Milano. Piazza Duomo, the very heart of the city. I had just delivered a translation to a publisher. My job, making and delivering translations. My royal destiny. It was eleven twenty in the morning. I had an appointment with my wife, Lucia, at twelve: a lunch together. Very nice. And I had to piss. It was piss or die. So I entered this bar in the Galleria. I ordered a coffee. Drank it up. Then asked the bartender: "May I use the toilet, please?" The bartender scrutinized me gravely. "No, you can't" he said. "To use the toilet you must order a bottle of wine. What will it be? Red or white?" "What?" I couldn't believe my ears. "A bottle of wine for pissing? But I haven't lunched yet!" "You look like the kind of guy who can take a bottle of wine before lunch" said the bartender. "Anyway, we make no exceptions. New city rules. So? Red or white? A rose', perhaps?" I sighed. My bladder was on the verge of exploding. "Okay" I said. "White. Now may I have the key to the toilet?" The bartender laughed. "That's funny. Really funny. You don't pay and you want the key? Naaa." A long, thoughtful pause. "What do you desire? Merlot? Pinot? Muller Thurgau? Ortrugo? Or..." "Trebbianino" I cut him short. I payed a crazy amount for the bottle of wine, obtained the key, ran to the toilet (a hole in the soil, probably left from World War Two), and pissed. Aaaah! I reentered the bar, returned the key, and started for the door. I was blocked by a huge guy in a sort of police uniform. "Security Service" he said. "You didn't drink your bottle of Trebbianino." "But I paid" I said. "This is not the matter we are discussing here" he said. "You didn't drink it. Go back and do your duty." New city rules, I supposed. Well, I am the kind of guy who can take a bottle of wine before lunch. And I still had half an hour before meeting Lucia. When fate is too strong, the strong apply the ancient art of bending. Besides, I like Trebbianino. Very much. I was saying farewell my lovely to my fourth glass of wine, and still had let's say a fifth of the bottle to kill, when my bladder interrupted my moody reflections about the sad state of city affairs. If I had ever wondered why I didn't choose to live in Milano, now I knew. And the bladder said: "My strong suggestion is that you take another look at that hole they call toilet, buddy. Or you will badly regret a decision to the contrary, comrade." And I instantly understood that my bladder was perfectly right. So I rose up from the table, walked on rather straight legs to the bar, and asked for the key. The bartender, I must say, was a man of few words. This is a quality I sometimes appreciate, when the circumstances are right. "Another Trebbianino, then?" he said. "Cash, please." And cash it was. I didn't quarrel. But, being a translator, a man of culture, I looked him straight in the eyes and said: "Sure this is Milano? Sure it's not Prague?" "Prague?" echoed the man, taking my money. "I mean Kafka." "Kafka?" Well, he was strong on city rules, but weak on other fine points of our beloved world. He was the perfect bartender. Who wants a bartender who can quote Kafka and does not know how to mix a Bloody Mary? I was beginning to see things his way. I'm a most empathic human being. Furthemore, I have always had this wonderful tendency to piss. My kidneys are a monument to the magna cum laude degree in genetic engineering of God Almighty. It's like a chain reaction to me: drink and piss, piss and drink. After a while, it becomes one. A whole. A philosophical vision of the universe based upon the continuous flowing of organic liquids. So I pissed. And drank to death my first bottle of white whine, and started on the second one. By now it was noon. My wife was probably looking for me among the pigeons of Piazza Duomo. She would not find me. Other customers came and went. Drank their coffees, their aperitifs, and left. Nobody had to piss. They all knew, no doubt. They cast glances to the unhappy drunkard sitting alone at a table with a bottle of Trebbianino. Some of them were sorry, others quite amused. The fun they must have had. Begging for help was out of the question. The scowl on the face of the security guard was quite explicit. I've never been to jail, and it's an experience I don't miss. And my bladder was very loquacious, that fateful day. Lucia found me a little after one in the afternoon. I was at my fourth bottle of Trebbianino, and much in need of pissing. Which meant number five. I had also ordered, and eaten, a couple of good sandwiches to help the stomach, but I was rather fuzzy. Incoherent, if you like. And I was out of cash. The bartender, it seemed, was willing to accept a card. Thank you heaven for small blessings. Lucia stormed into the bar. She was a living fury. "You son of a bitch!" she screamed. "You filthy disgusting traitor! Where have you been? What..." She stopped. She looked at my face. I tried to rise and meet her like the faithful husband I am, but my legs failed me. Or gravity, who knows? Anyway, I fell down clumsily on the chair. The Trebbianino effect. She narrowed her eyes. "You're drunk" she hissed. And believe me, when she hisses you can see your troubles in her irises. "I was all upset, all worried about you, and here you are with a bottle of wine!" She approached. I had no defense. My brain was on the perennial stand-by. My mouth seemed to have closed up for the day. "I despise you" she whispered. "You're the scum of the world. You..." Something struck her. A sort of small convulsion. A not so placid movement of her hips. "I've been looking for you. You shit. I even forgot to go to the toilet. Just a minute. I'll be back." She approached the bar. The bartender. I raised my glass in a toast. "Welcome to the club" I thought. Or tried to think. "Now you'll find out." And she found out. Boy, did she find out!
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"DEATH OF A PIE"

Before Rupert could say a word, somebody stopped him at the other end of the line. "Good afternoon to you, lady or gentleman, gay or lesbian" said a kind male voice. "We hope everything is going very well. And what can we do for you?" Rupert, contrary to most characters in most stories, didn't hesitate. "It's my brother Jack. He had a stroke or something like that, we think." "Ah." The kind voice sounded very saddened. "Terrible. How's the situation?" "We were celebrating his birthday. His fortieth birthday. He fell face down on the pie." "Boy!" The voice whistled. "How's the pie?" "Dead, no doubt" replied Rupert. "What a shame. We'll immediately send an ambulance. What's your address, please?" Rupert gave the voice his Internet address. But he soon recovered. "Okay. The ambulance will be there in fifteen minutes, hour more, hour less. And don't try mouth-to-mouth breathing on the pie. It could be very dangerous. Thank you for calling your friendly National Health Assistance Center." Rupert hang up. The children were very upset. "Uncle Jack shouldn't have done this to me" wailed little Nemo. "No decency! Couldn't he wait half an hour?" Camilla was older, and much more versed in the ways of the world. "He was an ass at thirty-nine, he's still an ass at forty" she declared. "What did you expect?" Judas, the family teenager, had been fucking his girlfiend Anjelica in his room. Distracted by the sudden commotion, he lost his momentum and had an unfortunate ejaculatio praecox. Anjelica didn't like it. Not at all. She planted a knee in his balls, then a fist slightly to the right. Breathless, in his underwear, Judas stumbled into the living room. "My balls!" he cried. And fell on the couch, the same couch where somebody had put Jack to lie. So he fell on Jack. Jack didn't seem to notice. In fact, he wore a silly grin on his face. "Look at him" said Mabel, Jack's wife. "He's grinning, the sonofabitch. Happy as hell for fucking up our party, eh?" "I always told you you shouldn't have married him" said Emilia, Mabel's sister. "But no, you said lesbian is wrong. It serves you right, you stupid cunt." "Stop bitching" ordered Rupert. "The guy said the ambulance will be here in fifteen minutes, hour more, hour less. What do we do in the meantime?" "Monopoly!" cried little Nemo. "Poker" said older Camilla. They settled for a strip poker. Judas was already half naked, so his participation to the game was vetoed. Anyway, absorbed as he was in his solipstistic appreciation of the pain in his balls, he didn't give a damn. When the ambulance arrived, about fifty minutes later, Rupert, with the excuse of a fallen card, was under the table and ogling Mabel's vagina: he had always hoped the day would come when he could fuck his sister-in-law, but actually he had become a full time practitioner of masturbation, and the moment seemed full of promises. Emilia was teaching Camilla one pleasure or two of lesbism. Little Nemo had been called to help alleviate Judas's pain and was now vigorously blowing on his cousin's balls. "How d'ya do fellas!" said the first paramedic. He looked around. "Nice afternoon, I see. And where is our beloved one?" "On the couch. Under Judas" answered Rupert. He was really pissed off at the turn of events. Fuck them! Now that he had Mabel practically naked... "Hi Judas. Nice balls you've got" said the paramedic. "A little reddened, if you want my opinion. Measles?" The second paramedic approached Rupert. "Hello mister. Nice hard on you've got." He took a look at Mabel's tits and swallowed. "Not that I don't understand... Now, what exactly is your degree of relationship to the beloved one?" "Jack is my brother. Or was, if he's dead" said Rupert. "Wonderful. Maybe you've heard of this new fantastic service offered by our caring National Health..." The second paramedic produced from a pocket of his paramedic uniform a single sheet of paper, neatly typed. "We understand you suffered the loss of a birthday pie. We can replace it with a delicious strawberry-and-banana freshly caked pie, especially made for you. What do you say?" "Okay" said Rupert. His voice was tired. "Where's the swindle?" "Nossir." The second paramedic was really indignant. "No swindle. It's all perfectly legal. If you sign here, at the bottom, you have your pie AND at the same time give a full demonstration of your altruistic soul by making a present to medical science in the form of the corpse of your beloved brother." Rupert turned, took a look at the couch. Under Judas's balls, Jack was still breathing. Of course he had seen better moments, but was still breathing. "He's alive" said Rupert. "He's not a corpse." "Not yet" replied the first paramedic. "Our modern medical science will take care of this momentary accident. Nothing to worry about." "Also" said the second paramedic "we offer a special Month of Cremation deal to anybody who..." "Okay, okay" interrupted Rupert. "What the fuck. He should have been more considerate of his relatives. Give me that paper." And he signed.
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"SOME SHIT IN MY BACKYARD"

Eric was shitting again in my backyard. The smell, full and aromatic, tickled my nostrils while I was reading the latest KKK newsletter. Somebody had put it in my coat pocket on the bus home. Worst things have been known to happen on buses. As for Eric, that was the third time in one week. Well, I can take some shit, but enough is enough. I rose up, crossed the living room, entered the kitchen and opened the back window. There he was, crouched in a semi-fetal position, arms around his knees, a sort of stupefied pleasure on his face. His dick, old and wizened, was spitting the last tears of fetid piss on my beloved weeds. "Hei, Eric" I shouted "what do you think you're doing?" "I'm shitting" he replied. "Bad case of diarrhea." I nodded. "I know. The stink is unmistakable. I mean, why here in my backyard? This is the third time in a week." "The plumber never came" said Eric. "My water-closet is dead. What should I do? Explode?" "Not a bad idea" I informed him. "Really, this has to stop. I don't mean to..." "I saved your life" he declared, with a face full of the same shit he was so liberally shooting around in my yard. Here we go again, I thought. Same old story. It will never end. "I saved your life" Eric repeated, growing very serious. "If only the motherfucker had pressed the trigger before I stuck that knife into his back..." He let the sentence hang in the air, along with the fumes of his shitting and pissing. Sweet aroma. "The moterfucker" I reminded him "aimed his gun at me because I distracted him so that he wouldn't shoot YOU." "Doesn't matter. I saved your life." "You saved my life because I was trying to save YOUR life. And if you remember correctly, the motherfucker was YOUR uncle and he was in a rage because he found out that you were screwing his daughter. Your cousin. I had never seen him before. He had no reason to be angry at me. Right?" Eric pondered. Projecting himself towards the soil, he pulled out some weeds and began cleaning his ass. Disgusting. "My uncle" he said "was a close friend of Joey Automatic. Same personality. He could have killed ANYBODY at first sight, just for fun. Now I don't want to be disrespectful of my dear uncle. He was a good fella and all, but something here in his head..." He tapped his temple with a forefinger; and, having finished his cleaning, he began putting on his pants. We had had the same discussion a number of times. At least all the times he'd been shitting in my backyard. Useless. In a way, I loved that old man, who was already old when I was a child; in another way I could have murdered him for his uncle and for the shitting. I tried the kind approach. "I'll lend you the money for the plumber. No, wait. I'll call my plumber and send him to your home. Is that all right with you?" He was zipping his pants. He shook his head. The shit on his face was spreading like the thirst for blood in Dracula's coffin. "I'm afraid the matter is not so simple" he said. "All of my plumbing is rotten. The water-closet is just a surface problem. When you dig deeper..." It was then that I saw the light. "In other words" I said, slowly "you like shitting in my backyard. Just to remember me that you saved my life. Just to punish me because I was trying to save your life and instead you saved mine. Is that so, old man?" He grinned. Now he was fully erect, and dressed. He had recovered his dignity. "My son, if you prefer your subjective view to the pure truth that..." "I'm not your son!" I interrupted him. I was barking. "And please, spare me the metaphysical shit. It is better than the shit that comes out of your ass, but I don't like it. Wait a minute. I'll be back." I ran to the living room, took the newsletter from the chair, sprinted to the back window, and showed him what I had in my hand. "What's that?" he called from below. "I can't see from here." "This is the KKK newsletter. Nice reading, for a white fella." He seemed perplexed. "Now what do you mean?" "I mean, my dear old man, that you have a slight handicap. I am white, and you're black. So it goes. And I have all these KKK friends, and they take no shit from no nigger." He laughed. "I've known you all my life. You're white, okay, but you're not full of shit like..." "YOU are full of shit" I said. "And I'm tired of seeing it in my backyard. And I could have changed my mind. It happens, you know." He got the message. At once. I've always loved Eric for his bright brain. "Okay" he said, starting back toward his home, not very far from mine. "Send your plumber. Friday morning should be all right. No need to alarm your friends, I think." "Bye, Eric." I waved my hand. "Bye, Jonathan" he said. He looked up at me. "By the way, thank you. I'll save a lot of money in prunes and purgatives. Do you think it's so easy getting diarrhea?"
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