I am a lucky man. Everyone says it. I live in a small village of a thousand souls, far from the smog and frenetic pace of the city. I have a beautiful wife, blonde and blue-eyed, and I work at home, in the butcher shop I inherited from my father. In fact, despite what it might seem (I'm over 1,90'XNUMX"), I'm not really cut out for the job. I'm too good. My father always told me that before he died. I've never been able to kill those poor creatures. Before my father did it, now, after he died, my mother takes care of the slaughterhouse. But it's my job and I adapt. I can't complain, basically everything went well for me. Especially with Alexandra, my wife. I've always wanted a beautiful woman, the kind you see in magazines, and I've found her. In Russia. Not that I went to Russia. I met her via the internet, we started writing to each other and then I invited her here to me. A few months later we got married. Mom wasn't so happy, she would have preferred me to marry Betty, the pharmacist's daughter. But I didn't like Betty very much. She's a bit ugly in the face and then she's too skinny for my taste. Alexandra, on the other hand, my wife, is really well equipped. I like chubby women. My mother told me that Betty was a good girl, a local, and not to meddle with women who don't know what they are or where they come from. But I replied that I knew where she came from, from Russia. And that she was definitely a good girl too, that she couldn't be mean, she was too beautiful.
Alexandra immediately started working as soon as she arrived in the village. She teaches Russian, gives private lessons. She placed an ad in the paper. My mom said she wouldn't find anyone, but she was right Alexandra. It's amazing how many people are interested in culture and learning new languages, even in our small country. Now she is busy every day. Unfortunately, since she gives lessons at home, she is forced to stay away from home almost always, also because they also come from neighboring villages, now they stop in front of the shop, ask for her and take her to their home for an hour or two. There is a constant coming and going of cars on our street, almost always beautiful and expensive. Yes, there are so many people who want to learn Russian. Especially men. In fact, now that I think about it, I've never seen a woman pick her up. But we know that now, especially with the opening of markets in Eastern Europe, there are many businessmen who need to know Russian.
But Mum still can't get along with Alexandra. Yesterday I heard they were arguing upstairs. I think Alexandra said she wanted to leave. Then they must have made peace, because I never heard anything again. But I haven't seen Alexandra since yesterday, I hope she hasn't really gone away. I don't know what I would do without her.
Betty came to the shop this morning. She asked for three ounces of meat to make the roast. She smiled at me as before. I was taking a piece of meat to cut it for him when his mother, from the back room, told me to give him another one. "Give her that to Betty," said her mother, pointing to a slice of pink meat, "it's very fresh, imported."
"But can we be trusted? With all the diseases that foreign cows have…”
«Yes, don't worry, I butchered her yesterday evening, she was perfectly healthy. She's a Russian cow » replied the mother with a smile.
Betty's smile widened as she looked at her mom. She then she looked at me. Always smiling.
"Then give me six ounces of that Russian cow," he said pointing at it. "I'm inviting you to dinner tonight."
Pierluigi Porazzi
He was born in 1966 and, already as a teenager, he began writing short stories, often very short, of a symbolic-existential genre. He graduated in Law from the University of Milan and currently works at the Regional Council of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region. He has never stopped writing and some of his stories have been published in literary magazines and Internet sites; they were then collected by Campanotto Editore in the volume The Scorpion Syndrome. His first novel The shadow of the hawk, was among the finalists of the 2008 Tedeschi Prize and was published in 2010 by Marsilio Editori, with a second edition a month after its release. After having published several volumes with Marsilio, he landed at La Corte Editore with The girl who sold revenge.
