Chronicle of a love affair - How I met Mr. B

Chapter 1

Vienna

After an useless bachelor degree and times of poverty, I decided to go another way. I found myself anywhere in Vienna in a small apartment which fulfilled barely my basic needs. In fact I was constantly on the run. From job to job, it was all hire and fire. And there was no chance out. All I had was my talent for languages, where I could wipe my ass with. In the early 90s the life in Vienna felt like unsatisfying unprotected sex without intercouse. Yes exactly this way. The most people I met were the fallen angels of rich families or the broken pieces of middle class dreams. And after a while I discovered that more than 50% of them were living on welfare. As a migrant you need to live at least five years here for going on welfare, so I had to do what I had to do and at the end you earn slightly more than nothing for keeping you alive.

So all in all my situation was not" social acceptable", but in this stage you passed a long time the point where you might could have cared. My life was a constant punishment and then I met Mr.B.

Anywhere between decadence and waste I walked the streets of the first district of Vienna. As usual I returned from one of hundred unsuccessful job interviews. It was a cloudy sunny day and there was less tourism than in the summer season, when a heavy rain shower started to complete my almost perfect day. I had no umbrella and all I was wearing a white blouse, so before I would risk a cold I took the chance and ran into the auction. It was warm inside and I noticed all the beautiful art around me. From the first second I felt an extreme attraction to this environment and even though I saw the clouds disappearing and the streets getting dry, I did not feel any desire to leave this little island of hope. I walked around in the hall and saw my own reflection in the ancien golden mirrors. I liked what I saw. With my suite and white blouse I looked like a young urban professional. Ambitious, focused, successful. I changed my facial expression into a confident smile. In this moment I totally forgot my miserable lifestyle caused by the circumstance of bad decisions in early ages. I noticed that the lady at the entrance looked at me. I went up to her and told her I am waiting for someone then I turned and went over the the painting of the 19th century. A painting of Venice catched immediately my attention and I started to analyze it.

"Nice composition, good contrasts but an awful texture. Isn't it strange that you need all these qualifications to get hired in the art business? Why do the people try to systemize everything. To put things in place, in corners. This world is so square it has a corner for everything, even for art. I switch to the next painting. Beautiful flowers, but they are dead. It's called natura morta, popular in barock. A kind of a dark aesthetic, to portray the dying. By fading youth and fading spirit we realize how the spirit watered us. If you see a flower, you might think It's beautiful, but if the flowers starts to dry out and die , you start to realize how important the water was and what a huge impact the lack of water has. I don't even know if it makes sense, my unqualified statements. In fact I'm maybe an artist without art. Deep thoughts catch my mind. I lose myself totally in the dying flowers, and the fishes and the animals. Yes they even paint dead animals. I think the horses and the fishes are reaching the human soul on a primary level. Dead animals, dead souls. Especially if you see such a powerful being like a horse, laying on the ground with wide-open eyes, you can't deny it's touching"

Even by writing my thoughts from the past, I have a still a clear vision of these paintings I saw on the day at the auction. But sure , I need to continue my story and tell you about the past me from my future perspective. So while I used to stand in front of the painting , questioning human existence, I felt the warmth of another person next to me. I took a look to my left side and saw a decent middle aged man , probably in his 40s standing next to me. Well dressed in a black suit. Brown hair, brown hazel eyes, clear skin, slightly wrinkles. All in all an attractive view. He looked at me, and the pencil he hold in his hand felt to the ground, I reached out for the pencil and he introduced himself to me. " I have a gallery in Milano" he said. "I am an Art Dealer and looking for some paintings here at the auction, what about you". Without a doubt I replied: " I am a journalist. I usually write about Art and Artist, I am here for the 19.th Century paintings. They are amazing". "That's interesting. Have you ever been to Italy" he said and pointed to the painting of Venice. "Not yet, but I heard it's a beautiful country" . "It's full of Art" He said. "You should go there one day" He said. I felt like in another world, not even an hour ago I was miserable on the streets of Vienna and right now I pretend to be a successful art journalist. I must be crazy, I thought but on the other hand, I had no choice things were going too fast. And there was no time to overthink. "So if you want, we could go and eat something at a nice restaurant here in Vienna, I invite you"- He looked at me. "Sure, we have a lot of good restaurants here in Vienna". "Haha alright, so if you want you can give me your expertise about the paintings". We were spending hours and hours at the auction, he told me everything interesting about the paintings, the quality, the art market. I was totally mesmerized. It felt like a door I never knew which excited would be opened and the divine light came up to me. Maybe I exaggerate a bit but in some part, I can tell , it felt close to it. By every hour my self esteem started to grow and grow, I started to believe the lies I told. I started to believe in myself, to believe my own lies. It's sweet in a way to talk about the beginnings. So I will elaborate and tell you guys more about this day. At the elevator he tried to kiss me, I refused. After we left the auction we walked around the first district of Vienna. He told me something about a sculpture of Hercules. Then we went to nice italian restaurant, and I wondered why he picked an italian restaurant if he comes from italy. Did he not wanted to try something new? Or is the austrian kitchen that bad? I for my part wasn't picky at all. Usually I used to cook for myself at my apartment. For Vitamin C I used to eat amounts of oranges and for dinner I cooked spinach and ate some austrian sausages too it. It was cheap , it had vitamins and I was able to cook it on my mini kitchen. But I need to admit as well, that the invitation to the restaurant was an excellent Idea , so I could forget the taste of spinach for a while. At the restaurant he was kind and polite, we had a great meal and he made me some compliments. I asked him about his life, his career and also if he is single. He said he is totally single and he used to study literature and art history, he asked me what I used to study, I this case I did not had to make up something and told him the truth. " I studied arabic language for four years in Germany" I said. "Wow, that's impressive, how many language do you speak". I heard this question all my life and I had no idea that I could determine my fate. I told him I speak seven languages - Which was no lie. Obviously he was impressed by it and he made an offer I could not refuse. "So if you speak seven languages, I would like to invite you to italy, to my gallery, I have a TV show and I would like it if you would represent some paintings in seven languages for me and the clients". These words were like honey and almond to my thirsty soul. "I need to think about it" - I answered. We finished the meal and went to a caféhouse. After it he told me he had to leave and that's a pity he could did not book a hotel and stayed for the night in Vienna. He promised me that we will see each others and gave me his number. After I returned to my apartment I felt confused and still could not get rid of the feeling of being in an extremely surreal situation. The next day I woke up and I check my phone. I still had the number, so I called him and I told him without any doubt, that I was ready to take his offer. He said he was glad and he ordered a flight for me. 12 minutes later I had my tickets, and I had exactly three days to prepare myself for the stay in italy. This were going too fast to reflect them. It was a crazy time and I felt like my life became dynamic. I felt a special form of enthusiasm, something I did not feel for a long time. The fact of being constant broke and the fear of tomorrow took any illusion from me. This offer seemed like a light in darkness, a magical power, fate, destination, karma. It felt like I found the missing part of the puzzle.