The man in the black suit had a quaint and classical Italian look to him
as he sat in his study full of literature. The room was lit only by his green
shaded desk lamp and it gave the entire room an eerie ambience as he snored
softly over a mass of paperwork in front of him.
The red velvet ribbons that had been tied around the
manuscript drifted down from the desk onto the floor as a gentle gust of wind
drifted in through the half-open window. Maurizio Fabrinelli's elbow slipped
off the edge of the dark mahogany desk and his half-lidded eyes flicked wide
open for a second before closing again, shutting out the feverish impulses from
his troubled mind.
At that moment, the door of the office banged violently
open and a small Anglo-American man in his late thirties stumbled into the
room,
"Maurice! MAURICE! I think the shit has started to
fly my man, you may have been right after all. "
"Jimmy! You scared the living Jesus out of me, what the hell are you
going on about now? " Maurizio was finally fully awake from his
sleep-induced stupor.
"Well, Maurice, to put it simply, the collapse we
were discussing in the meeting last week has just about happened. Pretty much
every valuable world commodity is now worth shit. "
Maurice knew all too well that Jimmy 'Shoes' Taylor
was as skilled a practitioner in all worldly matters as one could hope to have
as a confidante and close friend. He was an expert in all fields because of his
first class masters degree in 'hard knocks' from the formidable and unbeatable University
of Life.
School had never done much for Jimmy so he soaked up all the learning he would
ever need on his path to graduation on the quiet streets of Palermo, under the
keen tutelage of his Sicilian foster parents and of course his beloved boss
Maurizio, the infamous business philanthropist and entrepreneur.
Maurice thought for a few moments on this before responding,
"I still have plenty of capital my friend, there is always something that
we can invest in and control. "
"Yeah sure man, like what? "
Maurice put his fingertips together in front of his face and looked up at the
frescoed ceiling of the office as if in some sort of divine prayer before once
again looking Jimmy straight in the eyes.
"I have been doing some very important and relevant research right here my
friend and with the right kind of approach it will net us a fortune forever.
Now is not the time to panic, but time for a sure and steady hand to guide the
right people to the right answers. "
"Ok boss, I get the picture, you give me the ideas and I'll provide the
action! "
Jimmy turned and left the office almost as abruptly as he had entered, nearly
shutting his smart beige trenchcoat in the door as he slammed it shut. Maurice
stared at the door for a moment and then gazed down thoughtfully at his
cluttered desktop.......
