"Eclipse" movie script
(1962)
Translation/Fu Lan
"eclipse"
(L'eclisse)
Produced by Interopa-Cineriz Film Studio (1962, black-and-white film)
Original work and script: Michelangelo Antonioni, Tonino Guera
Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Photography: Gianni di Venenzo
Producers: Robert Hakim, Raymond Hakim
Main actors: Alain Delon, Monica Witty, Francisco Rabarlila Brigno
The lights in Ricardo's apartment were still on. Although it was almost dawn at this time, the dawn of dawn shone in through the open windows. In the suburbs of contemporary Rome, a cool summer began. The room was messy, the tables were messy, and the ashtray was full of cigarette butts. The doors of the living room are all wide open, and other rooms can be seen from here.
Ricardo sits in an armchair, wearing a shirt with an open neckline. He stared intently at Victoria, who was pacing back and forth in the room. She had a tired face and a restless look, unsure of what to do next. Ricardo looked at her with affectionate eyes, looking at her face, her eyes, her mouth, her waist, her legs, her breasts. She noticed the gaze he cast at her, and she felt ashamed as if she was naked. She continued to walk back and forth indoors. Then she turned to look at Ricardo, who was lost.
Victoria: How about, Ricardo?
Ricardo: What are you thinking?
Victoria: Think of everything we talked about last night.
Ricardo: I understand...then let us decide.
Victoria: The matter has been decided.
Victoria's tone was full of fatigue, as if she had reached the limit of patience.
Victoria: Ricardo, I'm leaving now.
Ricardo: Do you have a place to go?
Victoria waved her hand to express her annoyance at Ricardo's suggestive tone. She gathered up the empty cup, an ashtray, and a napkin, then picked up the fragments of the vase from the floor and took them to the kitchen. When she returned to the living room, she saw Ricardo still sitting motionless in the armchair. He stared blankly at a place in front of him, obviously not hearing Victoria come back indoors. She looked at the stupid indifferent expression on his face in surprise. She turned and looked at herself in the mirror, and she saw her tight, tired face. Then she walked across the room again and walked to where Ricardo's gaze was watching. Now he was looking directly at Victoria—the gaze was so empty that he looked like a lunatic. Victoria suddenly felt a panic of fear. She quickly turned and walked towards the window. The morning light was getting brighter and brighter into the room, making the lights dimmed. Victoria looked out the window: a ray of sunlight had hit the roof of the house opposite. She was immediately seized by a deep excitement, as if she was nearing something that had been longing for and was not available.
Suddenly, she was taken aback. Ricardo walked over the carpet silently. Standing beside her unexpectedly. He took her arm to hug her, but Victoria blocked it. Ricardo defended his actions and said softly.
Ricardo: Let me last...
Victoria: No, Ricardo. No. do not do that.
Ricardo: (Angry) What do you want me to do? You say, you tell me what you want me to do, and I will do. I assure you that I will do everything you say. After you leave, let me do something for you.
There was an embarrassing silence. Then Ricardo continued to speak, but this time there was a bit of cowardice in his tone.
Ricardo: I wanted to make you happy.
Victoria: When we first met, I was twenty years old. I was happy then.
Ricardo walked away from her in frustration and out of the room. Victoria was still looking out the window. A maid downstairs was spraying the sidewalk with a watering can. Several passers-by passed by. A burst of laughter can be heard, followed by a loud voice. Victoria touched the switch on the wall and turned the light off. The room is still dim. Only a ray of sunlight shines above the dining table. Victoria sorted the things on the table and placed them in a sunny place. Various objects form an abstract graphic, forming a mysterious pattern on the table. Victoria seemed completely bewitched by the magic of this pattern. After a while, she suddenly realized that she had gone away at an extremely unsuitable moment. She cheered herself up, cast out her confusion, and looked towards the room where Ricardo had walked. There was no sound there, and she went into the bedroom to see that there was no one inside. Victoria looked around the room in surprise. Suddenly, she heard the sound of a razor from the bathroom. She turned and walked to the bathroom, and stopped at the door. Ricardo was shaving in the bathroom in front of the mirror. He heard Victoria approaching, but ignored her.
Victoria: Listen to me.
Ricardo put down the razor. Then he hurriedly brushed his hair with a comb and followed her into the living room. Both are standing. Victoria said anxiously in a blunt and hasty tone.
Victoria: I wanted to tell you last night that I brought you the translation of that German article.
She pointed to a foreign language magazine on the table, which contained several pages of typed manuscript paper.
Victoria: I'm sorry, but I can't do this job for you anymore. But I know someone who can do it for you. If you are willing, I will ask you. Besides, it doesn't seem appropriate for me to do it like this... But if you have to ask me to do it, I can finish it for you.
Ricardo: Are you just trying to tell me this?
Victoria ignored his question, as if he hadn't heard it at all. She looked around and found her handbag.
Victoria: (Resolutely) Ricardo, I'm leaving.
Depressed by her determination to leave, he hurriedly reached out his hand to hold her.
Ricardo: Wait a minute...
Victoria: What are you waiting for?
Ricardo: Wait...Please wait...
Victoria: Listen to me. We have always avoided saying some emotional things to each other. Why do you have to force me to say it now?
Ricardo: No, there are some things you won't say to me, you are not so cold.
Victoria: But I am cruel to you.
Ricardo: Maybe it is, but it doesn't matter. Please be nice to me now, and finally tell me, is it because you don’t love me anymore... or you don’t want to marry me?
Victoria: I don't know.
Ricardo: Tell me... Since when did you not love me?
Victoria: I don't know.
Ricardo: But...do you really love me at all?
Victoria: Yes.
Ricardo: There must be a reason...- There must be a reason... I know this kind of thing very well.
Victoria: Yes, I know you can understand... but I don't know.
Once again Ricardo was overwhelmed and speechless. His tone was full of despair.
Ricardo: I thought...
Victoria: (Interrupting him) I know... You wanted to make me happy. You have already told me. But in order to maintain our relationship, I tried my best to make myself happy.
Seeing this obvious concession from Victoria, Ricardo felt confident again, and he immediately tried to hug her again, hoping to accidentally restore her feelings.
Victoria: No... we don't want to do this again.
Ricardo saw that Victoria's determination was irretrievable, so he was really at a loss. He flicked his hair desperately with his hands, pulled the neckline apart, and suddenly burst into flames. He grabbed a bottle from the table and threw it on the floor to smash it to pieces.
Ricardo: Did you fall in love with someone else?
Victoria: No, I've told you a hundred times, it's not that.
Ricardo seemed to feel a little confidence in her answer, seeing that he still had a glimmer of hope. He said imploringly in a more humble tone.
Ricardo: So...in a few days, can I call you?
Victoria: No.
She had already made up her mind to leave, but hesitated again, she didn't know why. Ricardo leaned against the wall and turned his face away from her. Victoria walked slowly to the door, then turned around and looked at Ricardo; he still stood motionless, not looking at her. She finally walked out, and gently covered the door.
Victoria came out of the building door and hurried down the street. Then she suddenly stopped and stared at the street square: the morning sun shining on the surrounding houses, it looked so fresh and refreshing. Several boys dressed in American fashion styles and walked by with tennis rackets in hand. Victoria felt a sense of relief at last from the stress of enduring all night. She continued to walk forward, but not too far away, a car suddenly drove to her side. It turned out that it was Ricardo.
Ricardo: I think... You should forgive me for not even mentioning to send you home. Get in the car, I'll take you there.
Victoria: (Angry) Ricardo, leave me alone.
Ricardo: Are you just walking like this?
Victoria glared at him with sullen eyes, as if saying: "Why are you always pestering me?" But Ricardo ignored her at all and insisted.
Ricardo: Then, I will walk with you.
He got out of the car, and Victoria continued to stare at him.
Victoria: What are you doing with me?
Ricardo: In the past, I always wanted to give it to you, why not today?
Victoria was really annoyed, but Ricardo's expression was so hearty and calm, it made her feel helpless. She simply ignored his words, turned around and continued to walk forward. Ricardo caught up and walked beside her. Then he grabbed her arm and squeezed it gently. A few early pedestrians passed by them. Ricardo continued to walk on her arm, almost indifferent, as if suddenly feeling a joy.
Ricardo: We've never walked out together so early in the past, haven't we, Victoria?
Victoria didn't answer, but speeded up.
Victoria: Ricardo, you see, I am very anxious now, I have to go home quickly.
Ricardo: Is there someone waiting for you?
Although Ricardo seemed to ask casually, both of them knew very well how unspeakable pain was hidden behind this seemingly unintentional questioning.
Victoria: No one is waiting for me, I just want to go home soon.
Later, they walked along a road. When they passed a bar, Ricardo told her.
Ricardo: Would you like to eat earlier here?
Victoria: No, I'm not hungry, Ricardo. I am not hungry at all.
There was not much irritation in her tone, but a feeling of self-pity and despair for herself and him. When they approached Victoria's home, a rather luxurious modern apartment house, he was still holding her arm, and she almost dragged him towards the door. At the entrance of the building, she turned to face him, and watched him silently for a while, hoping that his stubborn attitude would change. However, Ricardo smiled at her. Victoria wanted this farewell not to be so stupid, but to be more sad and dramatic, so that it might be more decisive.
Victoria: Okay, goodbye... This night was also very uncomfortable for me.
She wanted to say something more, but only said one sentence.
Victoria: I'm sorry...
Ricardo didn't seem to want to ask why she felt sorry. In fact, he didn't pay attention to her at all, but just stood stupidly, his face still had that stupid, as if indifferent expression. He reached out to her and said.
Ricardo: Goodbye...no, let's not say goodbye...let's talk on the phone often...no, it's better not to call either. That's it.
He turned around and left without looking back. Victoria continued to stand at the door for a while, looking at his back, thinking that his farewell gesture might explain how many years she spent with him, and the fast passing years. Thinking like this, she raised her eyes and looked around: It was late, and people were walking out of their homes to go to work. Victoria turned around abruptly and walked into the building, looking exhausted.
The business district of Rome, around noon. A taxi stopped in front of the Rome Stock Exchange, and Victoria got out of the car. When she paid the driver, another car in the back blew its horn, urging them to give way. Victoria waved to the driver of that car, as if to say: "Wait a minute, don't be so anxious." Then she walked into the exchange building through the gate for general public access.
As soon as she walked into the exchange, she immediately stopped and froze there. She was stunned by the loud noise coming from the trading floor.
It's almost noon, and stock trading is entering a climax. The brokers, clerks, and brokers all yelled one by one, ran from the lobby to the long telephone booth against the wall, and then hurried back to the lobby from there. Customers holding admission badges, sitting on the seats at the back of the hall, were equally excited and intoxicated with excitement. Many people stared at the bulletin board intently, watching the company name displayed on it and the stock quotations of each company that morning. Some people looked with small binoculars, some people squinted anxiously, trying to see the numbers on the sign at a distance. Victoria walked towards the railing. There was a bench next to the railing. Two men knelt on the bench, leaned out of the railing, and waved desperately to the nearby telephone room, trying to summon an agent in the hall, but The man was running around there in a hurry, ignoring the two of them at all.
Victoria looked around with anxious eyes, looking for her mother among the rows of people gathered in the customer seats. Finally, she finally saw her: this was a woman in her fifties, holding a white embroidered purse in her hand. She was looking at the sign intently, turning around from time to time to talk to a woman standing next to her. When she was talking, she raised her glasses above her eyes and put her mouth close to the ear of the woman next to her.
Victoria waved to her mother to make her see herself, but to no avail. My mother was standing up and discussing something with the young man in a telephone booth not far from the customer table. The young man’s name was Piero, because we heard a servant running towards him from the hall calling his name. Piero interrupted the conversation with Victoria's mother, and then called him. He is a twenty-seven-year-old young man, with a blunt, attentive air, but with a beautiful, smart face.
Piero: (speaking to the phone) Hey... GM has never made a deal... the market is bearish... it has been falling yesterday...
His voice came to Victoria's ears intermittently. At this moment, she no longer waved to her mother, but watched Piero in the phone room curiously. At this moment Pierrot picked up another phone.
Pierrot: How much is Fenside? eighty?
Obviously excited by the news he just heard, he suddenly handed the phone to an assistant standing next to him and ran towards the trading floor where the price was being shouted.
Piero: (screaming) Fenside... Fenside... Fenside. Buy Finside, bid fifty-five...
A speculator: (then bidding) Sixty...
Pierrot: I bought five thousand shares...
The other speculators raised their hands.
Another speculator: buy one thousand more shares of mine, right?
Piero made a sign of approval, and then raised the price.
Piero: The bid is sixty-five.
Another speculator: (gesturing to Piero) Two thousand shots.
Suddenly, these people scattered all of a sudden, and hurriedly ran to the sign on the side of the hall where the market of Finside stock was being revealed. Piero dashed through the hall like a racehorse, stopped in front of his boss, agent Alcoli, grabbed his arm and whispered into his ear.
Piero: Sixty bought two thousand shares, sixty five bought two thousand shares.
Al Curry wrote the number on the pad of paper, and then yelled toward the center of the hall.
Al Curry: Finside...Finside shot...
There was a man at the trading desk who offered seventy...and then another eighty...El Curry raised two fingers to the broker who bid eighty, indicating that he had sold two thousand shares. Then he continued to shout the name of the Finnish company. Someone bid eighty-two, then ninety. Alcoli gesticulated and sold 3,000 shares at 82, and another 3,000 shares at 90. Then he left the trading desk, walked to Pierrot, who was waiting anxiously, and sat down on a bench next to him, extremely satisfied with the deal just made.
El Curry: It's done.
Piero let out a long sigh of relief, then stood up and ran to the telephone room to answer his call. At this time, Victoria's mother finally found her daughter greeted her. Victoria came over here, and her mother looked up at her and said.
Mother: What are you doing here?
Victoria was about to say something, but before she could speak, her mother turned around, put her glasses from her forehead to the bridge of her nose, and watched the market just announced on the sign in the distance. After a while she turned back to look at her daughter, but then Piero suddenly ran up to her and leaned over to whisper to her.
Pierrot: I bought Fenside for sixty. Look at what the price is now! Today it seems to be a straight rise.
Mother: I also bought two thousand shares.
Piero: Don't let go... but also bullish...
Suddenly, the mother felt that she shouldn't neglect her daughter in this way, so she turned to Victoria again, and as if to make up for the mistakes she had just made, she talked to Victoria about things that she thought might interest her.
Mother: "Money" means that a certain stock can make money... "Word" means that that kind of stock is not good...
Victoria looked at her mother with a disinterested look, as if the words her mother explained belonged to another planet. Piero, who had been watching her from the side, walked up to Victoria and introduced himself.
Piero: You don't know me, but I know you. Hello!
He said this, but he was obviously thinking of something else in his heart, so Victoria felt that there was no need to answer him at all.
Suddenly the bell in the hall rang loudly, and the agents immediately stopped yelling and quieted down. After a while, the entire trading floor fell into silence. Everyone's face showed an expression of amazement at this extremely unusual thing. A dignified gentleman walked to the microphone in the middle of the hall and began to announce an obviously important news. In the silence of the entire trading floor, only his voice could be heard. In addition, only the ringing of the phone is still ringing. This is a call from major Italian cities. Obviously, those places do not know that the Rome stock market is about to suddenly weaken.
Mr. Standing: I am very sad to announce to you an extremely unfortunate news. Our esteemed colleague Vitrotti Dominico, unfortunately passed away this morning in misfortune.
Pierrot, Victoria and her mother were all listening attentively. The embarrassing scene, the voice announcing bad news, and the continuous ringing of the telephone were all reflected in the expression on Victoria's face.
Mr. Standing: (Voiceover) My current grief prevents me from finding suitable words and expressions to express our feelings for this respectable colleague... I now ask everyone to stand in silence for the dead...
At this time, there was no sound in the hall, only the phone ringing continued to ring. Piero leaned close to Victoria's ear and whispered.
Piero: You see, it's like a timeout in the middle of a football match...
Piero's disrespectful interruption made Victoria startled, and she raised her eyes to look at him and said.
Victoria: Do you know the deceased?
Piero: Of course...but do you know how many liras are lost for every minute of time here?
Suddenly, people started yelling again, even Pierrot’s voice was drowned in the noise, and people ran to the phone room madly to answer the incoming calls.
Victoria's mother looked very anxious. She turned to her daughter, as if she had just made up her mind at the moment, and said to her daughter.
Mother: Wouldn't it be okay for you to wait for me for a while? It's about to close soon...just a few more minutes...
Before Victoria could answer, she walked away from her, stopped to chat again with a waiter, and then chatted with an old man who was standing by the big column.
Victoria stood there for a while, staring at people who she thought belonged to another world, a world that seemed ridiculous and incomprehensible to her. She saw Piero making another call in a nearby telephone room. He yelled loudly from time to time, and talked mysteriously with a group of men with an ambiguous intimacy. Victoria walked boringly a few steps in the porch next to the customer seat, and then walked slowly to the door.
Out of the exchange building, she stopped under the colonnade. She regretted that she shouldn't have come to the exchange to find her mother. In her sense, the short time spent there seemed to be very long. At this time, some people came out from inside, and then Victoria's mother also came out. She walked to her daughter's side, took her arm, and walked with her into the sunny street.
Mother: Do you want to know how much money I made today?
Victoria made an irresistible expression. After walking in silence for a while, she finally determined to disturb her mother's tightly locked world with her own personal questions.
Victoria: Okay, I want to tell you something...
Victoria's mother stopped, looked up at her, waiting to hear what she had to say. But she was immediately attracted by a fruit stand next to her. She picked a few peaches and put them on the weighing pan, and said to Victoria.
Mother: Go ahead, honey... Go ahead, what's going on...
However, Victoria was in a daze and didn't want to say any more. She turned around and said nothing. The stall owner took the peaches off the weighing pan and put them in a yellow paper bag.
Fruit stall owner: 20 grams per kilogram, two hundred and twenty lire...
Mother: Why, do the twenty grams still count as money?
Victoria interrupted, angry and annoyed.
Victoria: Quickly give the money and go... why bargain for twenty lire.
Victoria's mother took the bag of peaches, and the two continued to walk down the street.
Mother: But you have to know that Wanguan family wealth is also accumulated every cent and every cent... Not all of them are big bills of one thousand li.
One could see Pierrot standing there with a group of exchange staff. They are enthusiastically discussing the stock market today on the exchange. When Victoria and her mother passed by the group of people, Piero nodded slightly to greet them. Victoria's mother took her daughter's hand again and asked as she walked.
Mother: Listen to me... Where are you going to eat today? Eat with Ricardo?
Victoria stared at her mother and simply lied to her.
Victoria: Well, eat with Ricardo.
The mother looked at her daughter with gentle caressing eyes, which was a bit disgusting. Then she gave her daughter a light hug, fiddled with her hair, and finally raised her cheek to let Victoria kiss her. Of course, before that, she sighed slightly, just like normal parents who treat the children. Always make this expression when something is not satisfactory.
Victoria couldn't bear this kind of gentle expression from her mother, especially in the big crowd, but she felt unable to refuse, so she hurriedly kissed her mother on the cheek and hurried away.
That night, Victoria walked into her suite room and turned on the light. She threw an open-air theater show on the small table in the bedroom, apparently, she had just returned from watching the show. She was holding a bag of things in her hand, and now she began to open it carefully. She appeared unusually awake, not sleepy. In general, this past day was too unusual for her. The thing in the bag seemed to interest her very much. It was a piece of rock, about twenty centimeters wide and thirty centimeters long. It seemed to have a branch and a long leaf painted on it. Take a closer look, and you will find that it is not painted on the stone, but a real branch-like object seems to be embedded in the stone, which seems to be formed by the erosion of wind and rain for an unknown period of time. Exquisite playthings. That is a fossil.
Victoria looked at the fossil carefully like a very favorite piece of art she had just bought, then put it on the dressing table, and went to the kitchen to find a hammer and nails. She nailed a nail into the wall, but the wall was too hard to get in. She changed two or three places, and finally nailed the nail. The fossil is contained in a wooden frame and can be hung like a painting. When she was hanging on the wall, the doorbell rang. She walked over in surprise and opened the door. There was a young woman standing outside the door, wearing a nightgown, a little too fat, not suitable for her height. She was smiling, seeming a little sorry for knocking on someone's door so late.
Anita: I'm sorry, it's me.
Victoria: Anita, what's the matter?
Anita: It's okay. I heard you knocking on the wall...you don't know how loud it was. Nando woke up and complained to me, saying that my friend was still up so late.
Victoria: Oh, I'm so sorry.
Anita: He will deliver an airplane tomorrow. He kept nagging about his plane these two days.
Anita sat down in an armchair. The belt around her waist made her breathless, so she loosened the belt.
Anita: Gosh, I'm getting fatter... If I don't eat sweets... Look at you, I'm getting slimmer... I don't know how you did it.
Victoria: No: I'm much thinner, it's because of my inner problems. (Anita laughs) I didn't sleep all night yesterday, but now I don't feel sleepy at all.
Anita: Did you have a good time?
Victoria: Well...we talked all night...what's the use? Let me tell you, you don’t know how bored I am, how tired, how sad, how distressed...
Her tone became more and more harsh, as if she was afraid of saying something ugly, she stopped talking.
Victoria: What do I tell you? Sometimes it feels like a piece of cloth, a needle and thread, a book, or a man, it’s all the same.
The phone rang. Victoria hesitated again just as she was about to pick it up. She looked at Anita, and Anita immediately understood what she meant.
Anita: Let me pick it up for you?
Victoria: Just say I'm not here.
Anita picked up the receiver.
Anita: Hello.
For a while, Anita listened to the other party in silence. Then she laughed and walked to the window to look outside. On the third floor of the other wing of the same apartment, there is a window with a light on. A young woman is standing in front of the window and calling. She is looking down and gesturing to Anita. Victoria also went to the window and looked out. Anita turned her face and said to Victoria.
Anita: She asked if we would like to go upstairs to play with her,
Victoria: But I don't know her very much...
Anita: What does that matter? (To the phone) We will go up right away.
Anita hung up the phone and walked out of the suite, and Victoria followed.
Victoria and Anita walked into Marta's suite together. Marta welcomed them with a smile. The furnishings of this suite have an exotic atmosphere: the four walls are decorated with various prey, muskets, swords, Mexican tapestries, many tourist posters, and pictures of African and Indonesian countryside scenery.
Victoria: What a coincidence today, I have made several new friends in the course of this day.
Marta invited them to another room, so Victoria and Anita followed her into the bedroom.
Anita: Why don't you sleep so late?
Marta: Every time my husband goes out, I don’t sleep well... the weather is so hot again...
Anita: Ordinarily you should be able to adapt to this kind of weather. Isn't it very hot in Kenya?
Marta did not answer, but made a noncommittal expression. Anita spread her limbs on the bed, stroking the fat of her arms, as if she herself was surprised to find that those arms were so plump and round.
Anita: I'm not like this. When my husband is not at home, I sleep better.
Victoria looked at the big bed with fond eyes for a while, and then lay down on the bed.
Victoria: Your bed is so comfortable...so low and so big.
Now the three women are lying on the big bed in a position that they feel comfortable with. Suddenly Victoria noticed that there was a big picture on the wall opposite where she was lying. The picture showed a view of a lake.
Victoria: What lake is that?
Marta: That is a lake near Nairobi, named Lake Neivasha. Do you see the person in the distance? That's us. There are many tropical birds and many hippos in that place.
Marta has a foreign accent in her speech, and is often mixed with French and English words.
Anita: Isn't hippos very ferocious?
Marta: No, no. They only ran out to eat at night. A hippopotamus can eat up an acre of grass in one fell swoop. We often go out to beat hippos.
Victoria pointed to a small table made of elephant legs.
Victoria: That elephant...Did you kill it?
Marta: No, it was my father. But I was also by the side at the time.
Anita: Don't you feel scared?
Marta: I was born there. It’s like I’m asking you now, are you afraid of cars? What should you say?
Victoria got up from the bed and looked more closely at the various objects in the room: the photos, all kinds of knick-knacks, statuettes. She picked up a scarf and tried to wrap it around, then picked up a mask and put it on her face. She stood in front of another photo on the wall and looked carefully. It was a mountain with several snow-covered peaks.
Marta: That is Mount Kilimanjaro.
Victoria: Oh, this is the Mount Kilimanjaro in "Snow Mountain Love".
Marta: Kenya is the most beautiful country in Africa. It is more beautiful than Tanganyika, Uganda, Congo, and Rhodesia... Kenya has everything: snow-capped mountains, deserts, jungles, and grasslands... Look at this, this is the Kenyan grasslands... …
She said that she pointed to a picture on the wall, which showed a vast grassland scene. Victoria stroked the photo with her finger, as if she had really touched the lush weeds; then she touched the top of the photo with her hand again, as if she had touched the blue sky dotted with long white clouds. So a solemn, free, and noble feeling arose in her heart.
At this time, Anita also got up from the bed. She and Victoria took those exotic masks and costumes and put them on themselves. Victoria blackened her face and put on various African accessories, and then, accompanied by the exotic drums from a record, she performed a wild, topless African dance. After a while, Marta was tired of this romping and interrupted the carnival rudely.
Then the three women returned to the bedroom and continued to talk about Africa and Marta's experience in Kenya.
Anita: Why didn't your father return to China?
Marta: He has a farm in Kenya with a herd of horses, and he still grows flowers there...but maybe he will come back. I am afraid that something will happen in Kenya before long. They are all ready to pick up guns again.
She stood up, poured some whiskey into a glass, and put a small piece of ice. She turned to Victoria and Anita and asked.
Marta: Would you like something too?
Victoria and Anita both shook their heads and said they didn't want to drink whiskey, then Marta went on.
Marta: We have 60,000 whites there, but you know that there are more than 6 million blacks, and they are thinking about driving us out all day. Fortunately, they are still living in trees until now, and their tails have just degenerated. Otherwise, they would have driven us out a long time ago.
Anita: Oh, they are still trying to get rid of the white people despite this!
Marta: The actual situation is: there are about a dozen leaders who have studied in Oxford; the rest are about the same as monkeys, with more than six million monkeys.
Victoria: Didn't you say that you like to go there? That is to say, they must be some very cute monkeys.
Marta: Well, just talk about Congo! As soon as the people there go to elementary school, they feel that they are already amazing people...
Victoria: Then we should find a way to get them to finish middle school.
Anita: I'm sorry, then please tell me, why are you going back to Kenya to have a baby?
Marta: Because that is my home. Besides, the hospital is very modern and the equipment is up-to-date.
There was a short silence, and in the silence heard the door of the front room rang softly. Marta stood up abruptly and ran out, then heard her yelling.
Marta: (Voiceover) The dog is gone!
Victoria and Anita came to the doorway together, and they saw that the door to the front room was open.
Anita: Why did you run away?
Marta: If the door chain is not locked, the dog will open the door by himself... This thing is really...
She walked out into the corridor and looked downstairs.
Marta: Oh, my goodness... My husband will go crazy when he comes back and sees the dog lost.
Victoria and Marta walked out of the doorway of the apartment building and walked down the street to look for the dog. Anita didn't walk out the door because she was only wearing her dressing gown.
Marta: Giorgio and I are always together and do not want to separate, but there is a boundary between us, this place. You know, if it wasn't for the need to go shopping outside, I wouldn't go anywhere.
Victoria: Do you hate dealing with others so much?
Marta: No, it's not that I hate dealing with people, it's just that there are no people around me.
Victoria: Your own people are those monkeys.
The two laughed together. Then they walked to the middle of the street and continued to look for the dog. Suddenly there was the bark of another dog. Marta listened, but the dog stopped barking.
Victoria: Maybe the people there don't think so much about happiness. As long as everything goes as usual, they will be content. is this correct?
Marta: Yes.
Victoria: But everything here is so complicated, even love. (She is silent for a while) Look, look there!
Eight or nine dogs ran out from the front corner. Marta's dog also mixed in. The group of dogs is running towards another street, as if they are going to a special place to gather.
Marta: (calling) Zeus! ...Zeus! ...
Hearing the call of the owner, the dog seemed to hesitate, but immediately turned and ran away and continued to walk with the group of dogs. The group of dogs originally ran towards one street, but suddenly changed their mind and ran towards another street.
Marta: (to Victoria) You go from there, I go around here...
Victoria turned in the other direction to intercept, and Marta chased it down the street where they were running. For a while they chased like this. At first, the group of dogs dispersed, and then they gathered again, stopped to urinate, sniffed everywhere, and wagged their tails. They look very happy like that, as if satisfied because they can run freely in the street at night. Marta ran up to the group of dogs, but they spread out again. Zeus fled to another street. Victoria was waiting for it behind a tree hiding there. At this time, the dog came closer to her, and it stopped and looked back to see if anyone was chasing it. Another dog ran to it, as if they were exchanging opinions, discussing what to do next. At this moment, Victoria leaped at the dog and grabbed its tail. The dog howled twice, but Victoria caught it.
It was late at night, and Victoria was sleeping in her suite room. There was silence around, but occasionally the night sounds of the city could be heard in the distance. Suddenly, footsteps approached under the window. The sound of footsteps walked closer and farther, approached again, and then faded away. For a while, it seemed that he had completely calmed down, but then he walked back and stopped under the window. A voice called softly. That was Ricardo's voice.
Ricardo: Victoria! ...Victoria!
Victoria woke up. After a while, Ricardo called again.
Ricardo: Victoria!
Victoria quietly approached the window and looked out through the blinds. She saw Ricardo walk away from the window a little, and then he sat down on the curb, holding his head in both hands. Victoria ran away from the window quickly.
Ricardo looked depressed. After a while, he stood up again, walked to the window, raised his voice slightly, and called again.
Ricardo: Victoria!
In the room, Victoria hurriedly put on a jacket and skirt. She was a little scared for some reason, and felt that it seemed best to find someone to help her. She opened the door of the suite, walked into the porch, and walked upstairs. She stopped at the door of Anita's house and knocked gently on the door two or three times. She put her ear close to the door and listened, only to hear violent but intense quarrels that lowered her voice. Apparently Anita was arguing with her husband. Victoria hesitated for a moment, wondering if she wanted to knock on the door again. Later she decided not to knock anymore, and went downstairs again.
She returned to her room carefully and quietly. She felt as if she was caught by an emotion approaching from all directions. She picked up the telephone with a long line, walked into the bathroom, closed the door tightly, and dialed a number.
Victoria: I'm sorry, Giorgio...I'm Victoria...Don't be kidding...I'm telling you something serious...I'm leaving with Ricardo, he...
Giorgio laughed and interrupted her.
Giorgio: (voice on the phone) You broke up with Ricardo!
Victoria: I beg you, listen to me seriously. Now Ricardo is downstairs, just under my window, I don’t know what he is going to do... No, it’s not that I need you to come, if I really need you, I’ll call you again... I just I want to tell you that now is a very painful time for him... Please try to get close to him...
Giorgio: (voice on the phone) I would rather be closer to you.
Giorgio continued to say something, but Victoria was disappointed and didn't want to listen anymore. She took the receiver away from her ear, and the voice on the phone turned into a meaningless murmur. Victoria hung up the phone. When she returned to the bedroom, silence had returned outside the window. She walked to the window again and opened it. There was no one on the street. Ricardo has gone.
A small private plane is flying towards the airport near Verona. The weather is clear, and the blue sky is floating with white clouds. Sitting in the plane were Victoria, Anita, Anita's husband Nando (about thirty-seven years old) and the pilot (a little younger than Nan). The cabin is very comfortable, even luxurious.
Victoria looked out from the porthole, and the city of Rome under the plane was quickly disappearing into the gray background-a small spot in the vast field that gradually stretched out under the wings. Victoria looked away from the fast-going city, breathed a sigh of relief, and began to look inside the cabin. She looked at the front instrument panel, and the pilot pressed a lever to activate the automatic flight system.
Victoria: What is the most difficult thing for a pilot to fly an airplane?
Driver: Arrived at the destination.
Victoria laughed, and then she looked out the porthole again. The scenery below is very beautiful: a winding river, a few sparse villages, endless fields, and mountains approaching. Victoria felt an emotional emptiness, so she was now completely at the mercy of any new feelings. She was very happy that Anita invited her to take a flight. Except for a little bit of fear, she felt very happy now.
The plane passed through a cloud layer, and after a while, it flew out of the cloud layer and entered the clear and calm blue sky again. Victoria looked down again and saw a city gradually appear in front of him.
Victoria: Is that Verona?
Nando: Yes, that is Verona.
A river, dotted with villages on both sides, gradually came into view. The plane began to circle and descend, and it was on the runway in an instant, landing smoothly. A group of American planes are flying overhead, and several planes are landing on the airport. This is obviously an air force flight training school.
Everything on the ground is calm and serene. There are people sitting around watching the plane take off and land. The atmosphere was completely different from that in Rome. When Victoria lay down stretched on a recliner, she felt that everything around her was so refreshing. Anita ran to the neighboring bar. It was crowded with American soldiers. The automatic gramophone was playing popular American music. Anita returned to Victoria and sat down side by side with her.
Victoria: Everything here is great!
At this time in Rome, the door of the stock exchange had just opened, and a busy day of trading was about to begin. Piero and his boss and agent Al Curry walked into the exchange building and hurriedly walked across the corridor to the trading floor.
Al Curry: Be careful when you come out. The market is a bit shaky... At first, I should pay less... I don't like the attitude of those Russians... Besides, the weather is hot, and people probably want to get rid of before vacation.
As if suddenly remembering something, Piero put his hand in his pocket and took out a miniature electric fan from it. He handed it to Al Curry and said.
Piero: Do you feel hot? You try this.
El Curry pointed the small object at his face, pressed the small button, and the fan turned.
Alcoli: It's fun...like an electric razor. But if people see me holding this toy, what will it look like!
He returned the small electric fan to Piero.
Alcoli: Go and give it to Dino. He loves to play with these things.
After arriving at the lobby, they split up to do the preparation work before the start of the afternoon trading.
The customer seats are actually empty. There was only one person there, a gentleman in his fifties, sitting on a bench behind the wooden railing surrounding the trading floor. This is a fair-skinned, calm-eyed person, obviously an experienced speculator, who seems to have a good idea of this upcoming transaction. On the railing in front of him, there was a metal cigarette case with paper cigarettes cut in half, and a white cigarette holder, about silver, beside it was a black notebook and a pencil.
Piero had already arrived in the lobby, gathered together with a group of young brokers in the securities trading area, leaning on a column and shouting.
Piero: Rossi... Rossi...
Immediately a young broker came to him with a stack of securities delivery documents. Piero removed the rubber band from the stack of receipts in his own hand, and the two of them began to deliver the stocks that had already been traded.
Piero: Fenside 1,000 shares, 17 per share... I also want to sell 500 Fiat shares, 550 per share.
Pierrot then immediately squeezed into another group of buyers, where they were shouting the names of various stocks.
Piero: Delfino...Delfino...
A sixteen or seventeen-year-old servant, with a nonchalant and shrewd air, came to Pierrot.
Servant: I will serve you now.
Piero: I'm about to sell General Motors, 172,000.
The servant pulled out a few from the stack of receipts in his hand, when Piero teased him.
Piero: Seriously, you have to find a woman if you want to lift your spirits up.
The servant handed him the documents, then ran away in a hurry, slipped on the floor and ran to the other end of the hall.
A bald foreign national came over and shouted in a feminine voice.
Foreign nationals: Who wants me? Who wants me?
Piero approached him and said.
Piero: Oh, you are such an incurable parasite! I want five hundred shares of liquefied gas, four hundred and fifty, three hundred shares of Annick, sixty-seven...
The two exchanged documents, and Piero shouted as he walked away.
Piero: Who saw Foscoro?
Foscoro: I'm here, I want to buy a cellulose company, two hundred and fifteen...
Piero checked his documents.
Piero: Forty-five, not fifteen...
Foscolo issued his documents.
Foscoro: But the number I wrote down is fifteen.
Piero took out his notebook to check the market.
Piero: (Showing him the Laughing Notebook) Look, forty-five... I wrote these clearly.
Foscoro: So what shall we do?
Piero: There is no good way, let's make a compromise.
The two corrected the amount and exchanged documents. At this time, the exchange staff in charge of the stock market came out from behind the railing of the trading floor and walked to the center of the hall. All the investment brokers followed him and took their positions around the railing. He sat down behind a table and put a few sheets of paper in front of him. An assistant stood on his right. Behind him was the employee responsible for publishing the market information on the sign, and on the left was another employee responsible for the daily market information. The man sat down and looked at his watch, then leaned forward and spoke into the microphone.
Exchange broker: Bank of Mediterranean, 1345,000.
As if shocked by a sudden explosion, the whole hall suddenly rang out the shouts of the brokers. While they hurriedly and intermittently yelled some unintelligible words, they were gesticulating desperately, sometimes raising their arms and sometimes extending their fingers. These were more clearly seen. But all of this only lasted a short time. Then some people hurriedly wrote something on the paper. At this time, the assistant pressed the button, and the new stock quotation was displayed on the big sign: Mediterranean Bank 134,700.
In an instant, all the brokers read this number from their mouths, and the aliens who relayed the news, as well as various assistants all rushed to the phone room to spread the news to the whole of Italy.
Pierrot was making a long-distance call with a broker's office in Florence.
Piero: Hey...hey...Bank of the Mediterranean opens seven hundred...Do you want me to buy it for you? Try to buy a few hundred shares, right?
He covered the microphone with his hand and waved to a person outside the phone booth.
Piero: (Shouting) Dino...Dino...cough...cough...
Dino was at the trading desk at this time, squeezing from a group of brokers gathered by the railing, wanting to hear what Piero had to say. As he walked, he fanned himself with a small electric fan-it was obviously given to him by Piero. Piero reached out to him, three fingers down, made a gesture, and then turned back to continue calling him.
Piero: (eyes at the reveal sign) Ninety...Finside opens... Ninety-two... Ninety-four...
He listened to the quotes from the loudspeaker while repeating the quotes to the phone. Then he covered one ear with his hand, so as not to be disturbed by the voice of an assistant next to him, who was using another phone to talk to a person on Luca's side.
Piero: Tell me...How about the Cellulose Company in Milan...Hey...Hey...Vita company opened for 50,000 yuan.
He motioned to the assistant next to him to give him the call from Luca. He covered the call from Florence with his hand and started talking with Luca. He moved into the depths of the phone room, trying to avoid the constant noise in the hall.
Piero: Luca? ...Yes...There is a little room for maneuver...Mediterranean Bank 700...Finside 94...Vita Fifty Thousand...
Then he let go of the two earpieces together, let them hang around, and ran to the corner of the lobby where small customers were busy doing sporadic transactions. He leaned forward and shouted at a small group of speculators.
Piero: Vita, Vita, Vita...
He stood in front of a group of customers with a cardboard and pencil, but no one paid any attention to his invitation. Several other brokers came over and shouted: "Finside, Finside...Bank of the Mediterranean, Bank of the Mediterranean, Bank of the Mediterranean..."
Pierrot: (Beckoning to a broker who does the stocks of Mediterranean Bank) Let's look at the Mediterranean Bank. What market?
Agent: 702.
Piero made a disdainful gesture to the agent's offer and yelled back.
Piero: Seven hundred and three.
He showed a bored and disappointed look, and left this place. Then he slid for a long time on the smooth marble floor, ran to his telephone room, and picked up the receiver.
At this time, Victoria's mother walked into the trading floor and walked to the customer table. She stood in front of the trading desk for a while, looked at the status of the transaction today, and then muttered in a suspicious tone as if talking to herself.
Mother: It doesn't seem to be very interesting today.
She walked slowly to the long table in the middle of the hall, fanning herself with a postcard as she walked. At this time, an employee of the exchange passed by her, and she glanced at the employee and said.
Mother: Why don't you put some perfume on here? That always makes the air look fresher.
The clerk froze for a moment and made a gesture to show that he didn't quite understand what she meant.
Clerk: What air?
Mother: (with an emphatic gesture to aggravate the tone of her answer) It's the air coming out of the sprayer.
At this moment, a woman with a black hairnet came over to greet her. As the woman walked, she was shaking a hand to loosen the bracelet on her wrist.
Woman: Do you have any good ideas today, Nina?
Victoria's mother didn't even look at her, while avoiding her, she gave her a sharp tone.
Mother: Yes, I have, but I won't tell you.
Then she stopped in front of a solemn gentleman standing nearby and said to him.
Mother: This woman is really cheeky! It's like a rattlesnake... How are you doing?
Gentleman: I feel bad luck today. The stocks I sold yesterday have all gone up today.
Victoria's mother approached the railing surrounding the hall and stood still in the corner on the right. She took a small cellophane bag from her handbag, opened it, shaken out some white powder and sprinkled it on the floor, and then spread it out with her feet.
Mother: (to the other person next to her) Step on it, come on, you step on it too. Stepping on this salt will bring us some good luck.
The man accepted her kindness and wiped the salt on the floor with his feet. At this time, Victoria's mother writhed in her handbag again, took out her glasses and put them on, and began to look closely at the stock quotes announced on the big sign.
Mother: (muttering to herself) This Katani stock is almost like a snail's tentacles-it rises for a while, then falls.
She pushed the glasses to the forehead, approached a nervous old woman standing beside her sideways, and asked.
Mother: Did you do something?
Old woman: Yes, shot some Marelli.
Mother: You are so astute. It's just a second-rate stock... You know, I didn't close my eyes last night... I stayed up all night alone.
Then she returned to the place in front of the railing, which was only a few steps away from Piero's phone booth. Not far from the side, in a corner leaning on the railing, is the lone gentleman with a white cigarette holder that we have seen before the opening of the exchange. He was turning his face to an agent and made a gesture that he would never reveal the secret agreement between them to anyone. Victoria's mother knelt on the bench and leaned close to Pierrot who was calling loudly.
Piero: Hey, hello...what...Svirubo 4,060...Hey, I'm thinking of a way to buy two thousand Fiat shares...about five hundred.
He suddenly noticed that someone was pulling his sleeve. It turned out to be Victoria's mother. He nodded to her in a hurry and ignored her. At this moment Al Curry came to him, his expression very calm.
Al Curry: Let me talk to the manager.
Piero: (On the phone) Marco, please ask the manager to answer the phone.
Piero handed the receiver to Al Corey. Al Curry walked into the phone booth and talked secretly with the other party.
At this time, Victoria's mother finally caught Piero, and she whispered something into his ear, and they discussed together for a while. Because the hall was very noisy, we could only hear their first few words.
Mother: Do you see how good the rumianka stock market is today?
Piero: It seems that they have created a new type of soap.
At this time, El Curry was still talking quietly to the phone in a lowered voice.
Alcoli: They relax occasionally. The market is weak...a bit unstable...Did you get some inside information from the congressman? ...
After Alcoli finished the call, he walked out of the phone room and walked to the lobby. An assistant uncomfortably untied the messy phone line. At this time, another phone rang. The assistant picked up the receiver and listened, then handed it to Piero.
Assistant: Milan's phone.
Piero: Hey...hey...talk. What? Cellulose company? Just opened...how much? Below one hundred?
Piero rushed out of the phone booth to a group of speculators who were busy buying and selling. Some other agents also ran out of their telephone booths, rushing in front of him to the people. Together they yelled the name of the cellulose company... the cellulose company... the cellulose company... Piero squeezed around there with the cardboard.
Piero: Shot the Cellulose Company, seventy-seven...
Another agent: Shot, seventy...
Piero: Shot, fifty.
No one paid any attention to his solicitation, so he turned around and rushed to the hall, shouting loudly.
Piero: Dino...Dino...
He found Dino, grabbed his neck, and said to him.
Piero: The cellulosic company in Milan fell horribly...below a hundred points...
Dino hurried to the hall to inform Al Curry. At this moment, the exchange broker announced in the microphone the new quotation of the Cellulose Company stock on the Rome Stock Market.
Stock Exchange Broker: Cellulose Company 8999.
All the brokers in the hall gathered around the railing and started bargaining enthusiastically. All people want to sell, no one buys. The price of this stock is falling and getting lower. Even some small customers desperately sold the stocks of the cellulose company.
A voice came from the hall: eighty...seventy...sixty...fifty-two...forty...30...
Mother: (muttering to herself) This time I just pit him!
A group of people gathered in front of the railing, some of them were gesturing desperately to their agent. A tall, thin man grabbed his agent's coat lapel abruptly and asked eagerly.
Man: Should I stretch for a while, or just throw it out now?
The agent broke away from the customer, and then said in a high voice that the group could hear.
Agent: Please be quiet and don't get excited. If we all sell our stocks together, there will be trouble.
Then he turned and walked away. The lanky man stood in front of Victoria's mother anxiously. Victoria's mother looked up at him and said.
Mother: You have to act in the exact opposite way to what they said... They are all opposed to us. They just wish they could shoot us in the back.
Liquefied Gas Company's stock also began to plummet, and soon fell below one hundred points. When the new quotation was displayed on the signboard, it caused a panic shout from the customers in the trading floor. Alcoli was standing by the phone booth at this moment, talking to Piero.
Alcoli: I told you to stay steady when buying. Don't enter anything now, stop immediately. If you think your brain doesn't work anymore, go back and rest as early as possible and take an aspirin.
Piero walked into the telephone room and dialed a number. His appearance was extremely irritable and depressed.
Piero: Hello, operator? Pick me up from Florence right away...
At this time, El Curry returned to the trading desk, where the selling price reached an astonishing level. The broker in charge of announcing the market leaned over the microphone on the table and was making an announcement.
Broker: Central Corporation 225,000.
Al Curry raised his hand.
Al Curry: I shot 22 thousand.
Another agent: Twenty-one, I will shoot.
Al Curry: Twenty thousand I shot.
At this time, the whole transaction suddenly turned into a scream.
A few hours later, every department of the entire stock exchange was full of people. There was a wave of excitement and anxiety everywhere. The noise in the lobby was getting louder and louder, gradually turning into chaos. All those small customers all opened their voices and yelled, complained to their agents, and begged—they yelled and consulted each other. While discussing with each other, gesturing anger and frustration with each other. The restless faces yelled at their agents and buyers. The women excitedly wrote something in their notebooks. Piero clung to the phone, still talking to Milan. He looked restless and exhausted.
Piero: Please stop insisting. No one sells anything here...no problem.
Someone grabbed his sleeve. It turned out to be Victoria's mother. She appeared extremely annoyed and depressed.
Mother: Tell me, what's the matter? what should we do? Should we sell too?
Piero slammed her hand away, he was obviously very annoyed. He handed the phone to an assistant.
Piero: Come, you give me three, five, eight, two, sixty-nine... (then turn to Victoria's mother) If you sell, you can only make the market fall worse,... or let you come Tell me what to do...
Mother: No, no, I didn’t mean that...I mean, try selling in Milan or Genoa...that is, change the place...
Piero: It's the same throughout Italy. What can I tell them?
The assistant handed the phone to Piero.
Assistant: Zinaro is connected.
Piero: Hey, I can find you... You are such an amazing genius! After you did that, the market really fell down... What was the price of the cellulose company when you started? Nine thousand? It might rise to 20,000...Yes, yes, whatever you want, anyway, from last night to this morning, it is more than enough for you to get everything back... Very good, every two hundred points , I'll make up for you... from five hundred o'clock.
Piero hung up the phone, rushed out of the phone booth, and hurried to the place where some small customers gathered in the big deal.
Pierrot: (screaming loudly) Buy a cellulose company... a cellulose company... a cellulose company...
Several agents turned their heads and looked around. Victoria's mother squeezed a way from the crowd gathered in front of the trading desk, struggling to walk towards several people who were talking enthusiastically. She heard fragments of conversation coming from everywhere, but she couldn't figure out why the market fell so suddenly. She raised her eyes and saw a man yelling at his agent with a desperate expression waving her hands.
That person: Sell...sell...It doesn't matter anyway...
There was another group of people talking about something further forward. She passed by these people, stopped, and saw an old pensioner approaching several small clients gathered by a column.
Elderly pensioners: The New York stock market is also weak...
Another man: Frankfurt also sold...
Victoria's mother made a face of disgust. She murmured to herself as she walked away from the people.
Miscellaneous: Yes, Frankfurt, Main.
Then she approached a person who was watching the sign with a small telescope.
Mother: What those people over there are talking about Frankfurt, they are actually people like them, it's always these socialists who mess up everything.
She continued to walk forward, passing by a distraught woman who was wiping the sweat from her forehead while talking excitedly to a young servant who was passing by.
Woman: I have an hour to greet you! ...
Then, she suddenly saw Victoria's mother, so she turned to talk to her.
Woman: What are you talking about, Nini?
Mother: Where do I know what's going on, dear. Anything that happens in the world can cause a reaction here... even the Pope can make a wrong move.
She looked back and saw an old man with white hair walking by. She ran to catch up, took his arm, and talked to him in a lowered, excited voice.
In another place in the exchange, a gentleman who seemed to be standing beckoned a clerk to come over, and the man hurried to him. They talked a few words in a low voice, then the clerk ran to Pierrot’s phone booth and said a few words to Pierrot. Pierrot hurried to a secluded corner next to the cloakroom, the gentleman Was waiting for him there.
Pierrot: Do you have any orders for me, sir?
The gentleman showed a cold, arrogant air.
Gentleman: Go and tell El Curry, I don't plan to pay more. If necessary, find a way to make a compromise.
Piero: (Somewhat flatteringly) Is there anything else?
Gentleman: Is there a talk about issuing bonds?
Pierrot: It seems to be about the issuance of 300,000 Treasury bonds... But this may also be just a rumor...
The stock quotation board showed that the quotations of Shang Diyong, Marelli, State, and Bastog were all falling. In the hall, the agents were still screaming desperately. Some small customers gathered around the railing to try to catch the aliens who lived by remittances and the servants who shuttled through the hall. The whole hall was in chaos. Many people can no longer control their anger. One person threw an empty cigarette case to the trading desk in anger. Others followed his example and threw papers and pencils at the agents who were in the circle. A woman threw a paper fan over. The staff were trying to stop those who made the most trouble. At this moment, Victoria's mother picked up two phone books and threw them among a group of brokers. Fortunately, she didn't hit anyone. A clerk came to her immediately angrily.
Clerk: Madam, it was you who threw the phone book...
Mother: (irritatedly) No, I threw two copies!
Then she walked to another group of people, cursing loudly as she walked.
Mother: These greedy villains... They made money by sucking our blood... The whole thing is a big scam... It's horrible...
In the customer seat, the sense of despair is even more tragic. A woman stood alone with tears on her face. The other person sat there foolishly, staring at the void with blank eyes.
At this moment, Victoria walked into the exchange. Apparently she had heard the news that the stock market had plummeted, and immediately rushed to see her mother. She walked into the hall and stopped next to an angry woman who was rumbling frantically for something in her handbag.
Victoria: What happened?
Woman: What happened here is that some of us took a lesson with the money we lost today. From now on, we must take care of our housework.
Victoria looked around, then glanced at the customer table, which was in chaos. She also found that Piero's telephone room was empty, only a telephone receiver dangling from the doorknob. She saw a person in the customer seat pushed away the staff who was desperately blocking him beyond the railing, and walked into a place where only authorized people can enter. Victoria followed in and got mixed in with the crowd inside the railing.
She looked for her mother with her eyes, and gradually approached the railing separating the customer from the trading floor, when Piero just came to her.
Victoria: Have you seen my mother?
Pierorio stopped slightly, only shrugging his shoulders, as if to say that he was busy with more important things now. Victoria felt more and more disturbed, so she wandered around the hall looking for it, and finally she came to an exit. She stopped and looked at the group of people gathered around the pillar. Then she suddenly noticed that a staff member was very anxiously running to the table in the center of the hall with a glass of water. The clerk handed the water to a young man sitting by the table. The young man giggled, took the water and drank it dry,
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