EPISODE 6
“I have allergy, I can´t go fetch it.”
Outrage: Abuse of the universal common sense.
Valentina blamed the allergy attacks [she was having] on the exposure to long dancing nights at the Carnival; staying up late, going out to parties was something she was not used to. Because of her general health condition she got stranded at her parent´s home, undergoing a slow recovery process under the supervision of her mother, a stout sweet lady who was approaching her fifties. Her father had already called the Doctor, who failed to detect the cause of the allergy; the trigger of it remained unidentified despite of several tests that Valentina went through. Valentina´s father freaked out while she, undaunted, combated the illness with a smile, relying on her youth and strength of spirit to succeed. The continuity of the allergy brought a radical change in the atmosphere within the family, unsettling even her seven years old sister, Alejandra. Yet the situation was causing considerable anxiety, it disappeared when Valentina sent off the house the ghosts that easily seized the bunch. “Healing is coming soon” –she encouraged herself every time she put her pyjama on.
Cali, Colombia, January 4th 2018
The resignation of The Loser Titan to Bio-Rasta cleared him the path to a boundless world of expressions. When he decided to quit the job he was considerably furious, which helped turn into reality his will to resign in a few substantial nanoseconds. The Loser Titan´s outburst occurred in the wake of a request from his boss regarding the preparation of financial statements to be submitted to the European Community, in the frame of a Project conceived to support the Peace Process in Colombia. A subsidy of funds was at hand for the eligible companies. According to its Top Banana, Bio-Rasta was in the race with an ancient self-sufficiency project designed to supply renewable energy to a remote village located in the Colombian Amazonia, which apparently met the requirements imposed by The European Community. However, at reading more thoroughly the conditions of eligibility, the CEO of Bio-Rasta realized that the Amazonian Project did not conform to the European parameters. He arrived at this conclusion after putting the whole staff to work on the subject during the last days of 2017. The feelings of The Loser Titan were flooded by a wave of loss when the staff was informed about the mistake making the point with a lack of seriousness, minimising the effort made by the group. Nevertheless, a wicked sense of humour pierced the outraged mode The Loser Titan was in. In order to avoid a face-to-face meeting with the staff, The CEO of Bio-Rasta escaped to Kuala Lumpur, even though he could not escape from a Skype meeting The Loser Titan called him to, scheduled for 5 am Colombian time, during which his resignation to Bio-Rasta took place.
“He is a motherfucker –The Loser Titan protested -, how could it be possible for this Johnny not to listen to anyone. To put things worse, he lives in a bubble where the major stupidity lies in the belief that by reading some basic accounting books someone would be in capacity to manage a Company. His awkwardness goes that far as to be convinced to be in the frontline of corporate financial recovery. Poor creep. I foresee no significant changes as well as I`m wary of his shitty leadership”.
- Hey you, Monsieur the Unmentionable – shouted The Loser Titan to whom it still was his boss, preventing in that way from pronouncing his non-holy name-, this is like a dialogue with a deaf. Forty minutes of this meeting have passed and no agreement was reached between us, we have nothing more to say to each other. Or you believe not? You and I have hit bottom. I got involved in the fucking European Community affair in vain, I was constrained to, and then you, the coward of the county, fled to Kuala Lumpur like a rat would. It is not by fleeing to Malaysia how your incompetence should be sorted out. You, fucking asshole, what else than void is there in your mind? Or maybe you think I am a jerk that has nothing else to do at the office? Receive my resignation to the position of Financial Manager. I am done with you.
- What are you talking about? Have you gone crazy? What is happening to you? You have a lot of responsibilities, which I acknowledge to be a burden on your shoulders. But to resign all of a sudden? We should agree on a six month transition – proposed the CEO of Bio-Rasta to The Loser Titan, in fluent Spanish.
- I do not deny that I´ve probably gone crazy, but…You have the nerve to talk to me about a transition? ¡Snap back into reality! For your information the transition finished a second ago. I´ve been working for you without getting paid for two years, as if I´d been awarded a leave for no fee. Or don´t you realize that I have been the adjustable valve of the Company you are apparently running? Come on my friend, stop leading the “top one” of people victim of neurons disappearance, you´ve been the King of the chart for so long. Be humble, drop it and keep it simple: your misconduct carries one unavoidable destination: bankruptcy. At short notice. You are wrong if you think that I am going to sink together with Bio-Rasta. Watch out, because time has come to burn you at the stake –the Loser Titan yelled at him like an evil.
And the Skype meeting abruptly came to an end.
The anger of The Loser Titan, which lasted all the while online, had the Skype cameras as its only witness. When offline, he was blessed with a monastic quietness, even though a turmoil established inside him with no visible outward sign. Other than leaving the Company, The Loser Titan had resolved to empty his desk and take home all the paper works, utilities, appliances, regardless whether or not were them of his property. This initiative of expropriation, however, obliged him to set himself in motion as fast as an eagle descending from the heights to catch its prey. The recordings of the embezzlement, gotten from the Surveillance Cameras records, reported a computer, pencils, tokens of Banks, folders, stamps, letterhead documents, plus an array of useful and useless stuff missing, until the desk looked like a denuded space abandoned during the last fifty years. Cosmic symphony of arabesques embellished the realm of unrestricted labour freedom. The Loser Titan gestured a farewell wave to the helpless Surveillance Cameras, impersonating Hollywood movie stars after having stamped their hands on the Hall of Fame.
With the car loaded to the top, he drove home.
Nugaró, Colombia, January 19th 2018
Two weeks after his resignation, The Loser Titan took a bus to the small town where Valentina´s parents lived. As soon as he got off he called her on the phone; a couple of seconds passed before Valentina finally answered.
- Hi Valen, how are you?
- So, so. In rare occasions you make me a phone call, you rather text me –she said, half-annoyed, half-pleased.
- Well –The Loser Titan sighed-, to surprise someone or be surprised is part of the flexibility of life, isn´t it? Look, I´ve just arrived in Nugaró, if you give me your address I can give you your birthday´s present in person, or you could come to the hotel I am staying at to pick it up. It´s your choice. Oops, I almost forgot, there´s also a present for your mother.
The said present for Valentina´s mother was a shoulder bag The Loser Titan had bought in Thailand two years back from a countrywoman who made a living out of selling them to western tourists. It suited much better to women than men, because it was coloured way too loud. Anyway, that purchase was for The Loser Titan kind of charity work. Every time he had used it, nasty people singled him out as a faggot. That´s why he got rid of the souvenir by gifting it to the mother of the most important lady he had ever met. Inside the shoulder bag was the present for Valentina.
- I have allergy, I can´t go fetch it –Valentina alleged. Where are you right now?
- I´m at the hotel. I hope you are not allergic to Argentine-born citizens.
She laughed nervously.
- Are you at the E.S.P.I.?
- Correct, Valen. Strange name for a hotel, ah?
- The truth is –Valentina projected her voice in an attempt to show off serenity, disregarding at the same time his comment on the strangeness of the name of the accommodation- that the E.S.P.I.´s owner, Gloria, is a friend of my mother. Please leave the presents with her; she will consign them home later.
The Loser Titan called Valentina back again after handing the presents over to Gloria. He told her:
- Package delivered. Shoulder bag and present on board, Honey. Gloria is expected to put them in your mother´s hands at sharp seven in the evening. Your mother keeps hers and, if you want it, you keep yours.
- I´m sure that´s the way it´ll be –she answered, fearful of the moment of glory, of the moment when Gloria shows up.
Valentina stopped smiling.
