Peccatori | Damiano David [ENG]

XXV

Valentine's Day is the most ridiculous and pointless holiday I have ever known. Every year I get more and more the impression that it's one big conspiracy concocted by florists. Let's not hide the fact that florists get a huge injection of cash every year on the fourteenth day of February. Love should be shown to each other every day, not just on festive occasions. We should stop worshipping a holiday that only fuels consumerism unnecessarily. We should also not forget that Saint Valentine was the patron saint of both lovers and the mentally ill.

I can see a great deal of sense in this, as the two are linked. People in love can certainly be classed as crazy. How much we are able to do for another person is crazy. Love disconnects us from reality and switches off rational thinking. We are able to go as far as we have not even thought of before. We will do anything just to please our beloved ones. To protect them and bring a smile to their face, if only for a moment. Love gives a sense of unreality that everyone wants to feel at some point. At some point we want to be so close to the other person that we would like to merge into one organism. Suddenly our minds are occupied solely by our other half. Isn't that how crazy people do things?

There is a fine line between love and obsession.

I'm riding in my purple chariot and the sounds of my recent favourite song - Middle of the night - are making my time pleasant.

Suddenly, my phone, which is lying on the passenger seat, starts ringing. Of course, I'm not going to drive with the phone to my ear, so I lean out and turn on the hands-free mode in my car.

I didn't pay attention to who was calling, so I adopted the most universal formula I have.

- Demonio on the phone, listening. - I said in my corporate voice.

- Hello darling. - my mother's voice spread through the interior of the car.

I automatically clenched in my stomach and felt a strange prick in my heart. I hadn't spoken in a long time, and our conversations tended to converge on courtesy calls or company news. I never had a good relationship with her because she always preferred Eve.

- Don't call me that. - I hissed.

- Why, my daughter? I have always called you that. - she said in a fake, warm voice.

No, she had always said that to Eva.

The silence in the receiver was telling,

- You took the car out of the garage, why do you need it? Is your Mini Cooper not enough anymore? - She asked, but I sensed a hint of attack in her voice.

I rolled my eyes and tightened my grip on the steering wheel.

- It's none of your business what I want my own car for. I don't think I have to explain myself to you. - I said into the receiver. - Did you call me just to pick on me or do you want something else? - I asked, trying to concentrate as much as possible on the road.

- Actually, I called to invite you to a party. - said my mother in her usual emotionless voice. - She and your father are organising a banquet to celebrate the company's thirtieth anniversary.

She with your father?

- What? Are you back together? - I didn't even try to hide the surprise in my voice. - When?

The woman on the phone laughed.

- We're not back together. Don't forget that I'm a partner.

- Ex-partner. - I clarified. - Your father stripped you of any stake in Demonio Inc. when you divorced. - I also like to put a pin in a sensitive spot.