Upstairs, Downstairs Read online

  “To me it is the end of the world.” she whispers. “There’s nothing that can be done now. I’ve lost Mizuki forever.”

  “Mikuzi? Who’s he?” Giovanna is puzzled now.

  “Mizuki, not Mikuzi.” Matteo intervenes. “But now Anita, you must tell your mother everything.”

  And Anita begins, at first in a breathless way, and then more calmly, to tell the whole story. She tells of her first encounter with Mizuki, their relationship, then Daniel’s appearance, her confusion… she just leaves out the part about London. She can’t talk about it.

  “But what does this Japanese guy do?” asks Giovanna, who has suddenly recovered her mothering role.

  “He works at Toyota.”

  “Is he a mechanic?”

  “No! He’s a manager…”

  “And how old is he?” Giovanna exchanges a glance with Matteo, who doesn’t say anything.

  “Forty-two… almost forty-three years-old.”

  “What?! Forty-threeee!” Giovanna is now pacing the kitchen back and forth like the she-wolf of Campidoglio. “Right! And maybe he also has a wife and a couple of kids waiting for him in Japan!”

  “Mum! Please, don’t make things even worse…”

  At this point Matteo Spina takes charge of the situation. “This calls for more coffee…” he goes to the sink to rinse the coffee pot. “But you, Giovanna, should keep calm. Mizuki is a good person.”

  “How do you know? Do you know him?”

  “No, but Anita has talked to me about him a lot.”

  Giovanna lowers herself into a chair, complaining that she’s always the last to know and that she expected more honesty from her daughter, and also from Matteo…

  “Look who’s talking!” Anita explodes. “And you two? Why didn’t you tell me anything? I had to come home unexpectedly to catch you together…”

  Matteo Spina stays calm. “We’ll talk about this later. The important thing is that I’ve been in love with your mother since I was a young man, even though she didn’t even notice me. It took me a while to win her over…”

  Anita is overwhelmed by a tenderness she never felt before. She suddenly sees her mother as a woman, still young and beautiful, able to fall in love and to make a man fall in love with her.

  The coffee is ready and Matteo fills three cups.

  “Now, can you explain to me what happened with Daniel?”

  “I don’t want to talk about that, Mum. I can just tell you he’s an idiot. Actually, an asshole. I hate him!”

  “You know Anita, I liked Daniel… I could see you two together…”

  “Never! Do you know what he did in Umbria? He answer my phone without telling me! I only found our later that it was a call from Mizuki; I can only imagine what he thought hearing a man’s voice! I tried to call him, but he won’t call me back. He won’t answer… It’s over.”

  “I’m sure you’ll be able to resolve things… to explain everything…” Matteo Spina tries to console her.

  “No, Matteo. It’s over. I know it. See how strange – and cruel – life is… I needed the mess I’ve made to understand that I love him deeply, that he’s the man I want. But it’s too late. Driving back from Umbria, I couldn’t stop thinking how happy I was with him. I’ve been so shallow and immature to get infatuated with Daniel. Mizuki always treated me with respect, as someone very important to him. He asked me to go with him… and I reacted like a silly girl.”

  “Go with him… where?” Giovanna is alarmed again. The poor woman doesn’t understand what’s going on. Matteo, putting his finger to his lips, suggests that she be quiet.

  “He asked me to go with him because he didn’t want to lose me; because he really wanted to be with me. I love him, Mum. The idea of not seeing him any more, of not hearing his voice… it’s devastating.”

  Giovanna takes her daughter’s hand. Now they aren’t only mother and daughter, but also two women, two friends, who open their hearts to each other.

  20

  Such a Good Guy

  From above the sea looks like steel, and Fiumicino beach appears like a strip of gold under the May sun. “Steel and gold.” Thinks Mizuki, looking out of the aeroplane window. Just a few minutes later they land to the timid applause of the passengers.

  Walking towards the baggage carousel, Mizuki turns on his phone and checks his calls. Nothing – just business calls. During the flight he felt conflicting emotions: anticipating the joy of seeing Kyoko again, and unease and anxiety at the idea of seeing Anita face to face. He can’t stop thinking of that male voice that answered her phone. He can’t believe he hung up that way – like an teenager! This isn’t usually his style, but his surprise overwhelmed him. He never thought that Anita could have another relationship… but maybe? This unpleasant idea sticks in his mind, and then he finally realises the real reasson for his feelings: he’s just bloody jealous.

  Mizuki grabs his suitcase and jumps in the first available taxi. He calls Kyoko during the ride to the centre of Rome.

  “How are you? Did you find everything you need, Kyoko?”

  “Obviously! Your house – like always – is obsessively neat… I’ll take care of creating a mess. In fact, I’ve already started.” She laughs.

  “I should’ve anticipated that!”

  “By the way, when will you arrive? Tomorrow?”

  “In about five minutes actually! I’m in a taxi on my way.”

  *

  At the very same moment, about fifteen miles south, another taxi stops in front of the Garbatella building. “Next time I’ll take the subway!” Says Daniel, paying thirty-five euros to the driver.

  “Such a thief!” He whispers, running up the stairs to his apartment.

  “Here he is, our musician friend!” Rudy greets him on the first floor landing.

  “Hi!” Daniel doesn’t stop.

  “So who’s a thief?” Rudy smiles at him.

  “Listen, Rodolfo, I’m in a hurry. Please…” Daniel roughly pushes him out of the way.

  “Where are your manners?” Rodolfo says, offended.

  As soon as he gets in the door, Commodilla walks towards him, meowing.

  “Fuck you! You too!” He goes straight to the bedroom. “All this shitty mess and I didn’t even have sex with her! Olga was better – so much better!” He begins to throw clothes and stuff into his suitcase. “I’ll call Diego tomorrow and cancel this fucking apartment deal for good…”

  He hates the idea that he has to see Giovanna to give her back the keys. He would hate seeing Anita’s damn face even more! With some luck she won’t be there when he goes.

  The want to put this complex of crazy assholes behind him overcomes the anger of paying another thirty-five euros for a taxi. After struggling with his double bass and his suitcase, he calls a cab and hopes that this is for the last time. He closes Diego’s apartment door for the last time, and goes to talk to Giovanna for the last time.

  Anita’s mother is stirring a sauce for dinner.

  “Here are Diego’s keys. Commodilla is in the apartment. Goodbye Mrs Proietti.” Daniel walks away, but like Columbo he comes back. “Ah! And as for Diego’s car keys, ask that crackpot daughter of yours!”

  “This is too much!” Giovanna almost doesn’t recognise him; his eyes are so full of fury. She would like to answer, but she simply slams her door. “Did he just call her a crackpot? Anita certainly had sound intuition about him. I thought he seemed such a nice guy… Thank God he’s gone!”

  “This really is a madhouse! Shitty, tacky place…” Daniel keeps mumbling to himself. The courtyard – thank God – is empty, but a pair of eyes follow him from a third floor window.

  The taxi arrives. He asks the driver, “How much to Hotel Giolitti? It’s the little hotel near Porta Maggiore.”

  “About twenty-five euros.”

  “Of course! Can you wait a minute? I’ll be right back.”

  The driver notices the crazed look on Daniel’s face, as he watches him walk swiftly towards the
vegetable garden.

  Pina sees him enter the garden and start to jump all over their plants. Daniel kicks down the tomato vines, then he tramples wildly on the courgettes, crushing them underfoot. “Serves you all right! And if I had more time… I would burn this place down!”

  Pina can’t believe what she’s seeing. “That polite young man… how is this possible?” Daniel jumps in the taxi and has left before she starts to scream, her face as red as a beetroot. In a few minutes her screams reach all the tenants.

  21

  So Good to See You Again

  Anita stops at the traffic lights on the corner of Porto Fluviale. She stares into space. She didn’t have lunch and didn’t rest. Since she left home on her scooter, she can’t help but obsess over Mizuki. She wants to be outside, driving aimlessly around, just to chase away the sense of loneliness. She continues along Via Ostiense. At the underpass she sees the murals of Shelley, Keats, and Gramsci – a tribute by street artists to the non-Catholic cemetery – which reminds her of the first time she met Mizuki. Almost without realising, she finds herself in front of the Orange Garden. She parks Isotta near the marble and granite fountain by the entrance and walks down the alley. Last time she was here it was with him and they were hand in hand. At the end of the path framed by orange trees is the dome of Saint Peter. It’s massive, but strangely seems to become smaller the closer she gets to the terrace. Mizuki was surprised by the optical illusion and full of admiration for the dome. She’d been happy to share that feeling with him.

  Anita puts her hands on the railings. She takes deep breaths of the fresh air whilst looking at one of the views of Rome that she loves the most.

  “Will I ever be able to give this up?” Then her mind shifts… “Mum and Matteo! Who’d have thought it? I was so afraid to leave her alone after dad died…” She smiles with tenderness and irony, “… but I think she’ll be perfectly fine. Maybe I’m a bit in the way, actually.”

  Suddenly she remembers what Alessandra did to her… but Anita shakes her head as if she wants to dismiss that thought. “I don’t want to think of her, not right now. Mizuki is more important. London? I’ve only been there once but I really liked it. This could give me a chance to know it better; I could fall in love with it. Why not work as a tour guide there? Maybe not immediately, and of course I will need to study its history. Who says it will be forever anyway? I didn’t even let Mizuki finish telling me about his plans, I just freaked out instead!”

  She looks out towards the horizon; her eyes shining with a new determination. This time she knows what she’s going to do. She takes to her scooter, feeling a weight has been lifted.

  *

  Mizuki gets out of the taxi. He takes his key to open the door, but then has second thoughts. He uses the intercom. In the doorway a woman wrapped in a turquoise kimono sprinkled with tiny white flowers waits for him. She looks like a vision. Her long straight dark hair falls back over her shoulders and the belt around her narrow waist reveals a slender but sensual body. Her eyes and lips are both smiling with joy.

  “Let me look at you…” Mizuki stops in front of the door.

  She throws her arms around his neck, embracing him tightly. “So good to see you again!”

  “Ah no, my dear! We’re in Italy, we must speak Italian!”

  “Right! I see your Italian has improved a lot… not mine, unfortunately… but come inside! I’m sure you must be exhausted, Mizuki. Would you like something to drink?”

  “Just some water. I’m really thirsty.”

  Kyoko walks to the kitchen and he collapses on the sofa, looking around as if he’s in someone else’s apartment. He thinks that the only woman who has ever been in his apartment is Anita, and now, seeing Kyoko moving around, he feels a strong sense of displacement.

  Kyoko watches his distracted air in silence for a while before asking, “Something bothering you?”

  “No, nothing important. I just have to resolve some issues before moving to London.”

  “You don’t seem to be jumping up and down with joy… am I wrong?”

  “No, no, I’m happy. It’s an incredible opportunity, but…”

  “But?”

  “Well… I’m sad to leave Rome. This city has grown on me – I’m starting to really love it.”

  “I can understand… I love Rome too… and its wonderful boutiques!” She springs up. “Look what I found yesterday!”

  She disappears into her bedroom, in her tiny white socks that slip on the shiny parquet floor. She’s back in a few minutes, loaded with shopping bags from the most luxurious stores in Rome: Gucci, Chanel, Versace, Prada…

  “What did you do? Rob a bank?” Mizuki laughs.

  Kyoko holds up an elegant ivory linen dress in front of her. Then she shows him a navy jacket paired with a fitted silk skirt with a tiny geometrical pattern. “What do you think?” she asks, giving him a little twirl.

  “Fantastic!”

  The catwalk of handbags, sandals, scarfs, an amazing blush pink evening dress and even sun glasses ends with Mizuki’s applause and Kyoko bowing elegantly.

  Then they talk about how to spend the evening and where to go for dinner. Mizuki suggests the Hotel de Russie, “Where everybody who thinks they are somebody goes!”

  “Ok!” Kyoko is enthusiastic. “I’ve never been there… but now, Mizuki, you need to rest. Riposino? Isn’t that what Italians call a nap?”

  Mizuki drags the suitcase to his bedroom. He opens the closet and sees the yukata that Anita wore so many times. He sees her again, lying on the bed, her breasts and legs glimpsed through the silk. “Anita, where are you?”

  *

  Anita turns right before the Flaminio Stadium that has been deserted in recent years. She recalls the great concerts there in the eighties: Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen… she was too young to go to them, but it’s sad looking at this abandoned place. On the right there is Via San Valentino that she knows soon becomes Via Gramsci. Her heart is racing. She’s forced to pass in front of the Institute of Japanese Culture. It’s painful, but she wants to face those memories even if they hurt her. They’re part of her now.

  She’s almost at Mizuki’s building. She slows down and turns off her scooter.

  But what she sees petrifies her. Sitting on Isotta, Anita stares up at the third floor windows. She just saw someone closing the shutters and her heart leapt to her throat. Only when she feels the pain moving up her arm, does she realise she’s clutching Mizuki’s apartment keys tightly in her hand. Then the massive entrance door onto the street opens and she sees Mizuki holding it to let a woman pass.

  Anita jumps off the scooter and hides behind a parked car. She feels ridiculous, but at the same time entitled to spy. She looks intensely at the young woman in high heeled navy blue sandals who seems to glide as she walks arm in arm with Mizuki. She wears a light skirt that dances above her knees and has a long shiny ponytail down her back. She doesn’t look like a teenager. Anita crouches behind the car and at last she has a clear view. She’s very beautiful. She’s Japanese. And Mizuki is smiling at her.

  Anita feels as if she’s watching a horror movie in slow motion. They approach Mizuki’s car and get in, laughing. The engine starts, the indicator blinks and they are soon out of sight.

  Anita stands up and stays glued to the sidewalk. She feels a salty bitter taste in her mouth and realises she’s crying.

  22

  Pandemonium in Garbatella Condominium

  Every Sunday Pina’s husband Carlo makes dinner. He works six days a week and this ritual relaxes him. Today he’s cooking lamb with cous cous. He’s just taken the minced meat out of the fridge when his wife’s scream make him jumpe out of his skin. He runs to the living room.

  *

  In the meantime, Sunday afternoon seemed almost peaceful in the apartment of Paolo and Rodolfo.

  “Are you listening to me?”

  “Yes, Rudy, I’m listening.”

  “You’re not looking at me…”
r />   “If I don’t look at you it’s because I’m ironing, but I am listening…”

  “Do you realise what just happened? He literally shoved me out of his way!”

  “Yes, that was very rude…” Paolo keeps ironing. He has a fixation with his shirts. He refuses to give them to the dry cleaner. He thinks nobody can iron them like he can. “Wait! What was that? Was it a scream?” He suddenly stops.

  “It came from the other side of the courtyard!”

  “I’m worried something terrible’s happened…” Paolo unplugs his precious iron which lets out its last puff of steam.

  Rudy goes to the terrace and looks out from the railings. “Everyone is in the courtyard! Let’s go down and take a look.”

  *

  They surround the vegetable garden. Pina is hysterically explaining what she just saw.

  “I can’t believe this!”

  “It’s a disaster!”

  “The tomato flowers had just bloomed…”

  “Damn! He’s even trampled the courgettes!”

  The tenants’ voices overlap, while Paolo and Rudy try to understand what’s happened.

  “DANIEL!? Did he do this?” Rudy is incredulous, but he adds, “actually, I just saw him on the stairs and he seemed very, very angry…”

  “I sure didn’t expect anything like this from him!” Paolo sounds shocked, while Matteo Spina and Carlo try to salvage the poor tomato plants.

  As soon as she heard Pina’s screams, Giovanna turned off the stove and rushed outside. “First Anita finds out about my relationship with Matteo, then Daniel appears at my door like a wild man… what else today?” She comes closer to the garden and sees the damage, then says with a gloomy expression, “it wasn’t enough just to insult Anita…”

  Her words spark the tenants curiosity; everyone turns to look at her.

  “Why did he insult her?” asks Pina.

  “When did it happen?” someone else asks.

  Giovanna already regrets what she just said, but it’s her nature to be honest, so she keeps going. “It’s because Anita took Diego’s car… and Daniel had to find another way to return from Umbria.”