Sleeping With The Enemy (2 page)

‘Okay.’

She began to walk
away.

‘Have a
productive day,’ he said to her back.

She faltered in
her step and half turned back. ‘Thank you. Goodbye.’

‘You’re
forgetting something.’

She frowned her
question at him.

He held up the
book to her:
Great Expectations
.

She came and
took it. Her eyes locked with his for a second but she quickly looked away. She
turned and walked away without another word.

He waved at her
back, even though she didn’t see it. ‘Yeah, goodbye, Miss Ameliano,’ he
whispered to her departing back.

Six

Feeling drowsy and
hungry, she woke up and went to the kitchen, where she fetched some yoghurt
from the fridge. She then went to her younger sister’s bedroom. She stood at
the door and leaned against the doorframe. Paulina was sorting out her clothes,
readying them for the laundry.

‘Hey Paulie, what’s
up?’

‘Hey Rosie.’

‘Didn’t see you
last night when I got home.’

‘Yeah, I was away
with this guy I met recently. He’s sexy, fun and—.’

‘Get outta
here!’ laughed Rosina, folding her arms cross her chest and staring at her
sister in wonder. ‘It’s number what already this year?’

‘Four, and
counting.’

Rosina took a
generous sip of her yoghurt, forgetting her scooping spoon. ‘You do lead an
interesting life, Lil’ sis.’

‘What? Are we
getting jealous?’

‘No,’ Rosina
replied and looked down, her disheveled locks falling down and covering her face.

‘Rosie, you got
something to tell me?’

‘What makes you
say that?’ she shot back with her head still facing down.

‘I hear it in
your voice.’

‘Yeah.’ Rosina walked
to the bed and perched herself on it. She looked at Paulina. ‘I met a guy—.’

‘Woo-hoo! It’s about
time you had a real dick inside your—.’

‘Paulie!’ Rosina
warned sternly.

‘I mean it; you
cannot depend on a vibrator all your life. Sometimes there’s gotta be a man in
there.’

‘Paulie!’
raising her voice and screwing her eyes at her impertinent younger sister.

‘Okay,’ Paulina
raised her hands apologetically. ‘Sorry. Tell me about this guy,’ she said eagerly,
coming to sit on the bed next to her sister.

‘I don’t know
much really about him, except that I suspect that he’s a serious type, with a love
for books; he’s kind and he’s got a generous heart.’

‘You realize what
you’ve just said, don’t you?’ Paulina asked, her face becoming serious.

Rosina stared at
her questioningly.

‘You just
described yourself. In other words you’ve just met your soul-mate.’

‘I didn’t say that.’
She got up and paced away from her sister, yoghurt forgotten.

‘Yippee!’ yelled
Paulina ecstatically. ‘You’ve met a real cock to please you—.’

‘Please don’t call
him that,’ Rosina begged earnestly. ‘I really like this guy.’

‘Sorry again,’ Paulina
apologized. ‘Is he gonna call?’

‘I hope so.’ Her
eyes lit up as she remembered something. ‘He doesn’t have my number.’

‘Uh-oh,’ said Paulina
quietly. ‘Make sure he gets it,’ she said after a moment of silence.

‘I’ll try.’

Seven

He had an
exercise bar fastened from one wall to the other just below the ceiling. The
exercise bar had a place where he could fasten his feet and hang up-side-down
from the steel bar. Presently, he did thirty stomach crunches before coming
down and doing fifty press-ups. He used a skipping rope to exercise for a while
before taking a quick shower.

He had a
breakfast of cereal, pancakes, bacon and toast bread, which he washed down with
some apple juice and finished it with a succulent apple. He came with the apple
and sat before the sewing machine he had at one corner of his living room.

* *
* * *

When Rosina
arrived at work there was a high-powered meeting.

The channel’s
Programme Coordinator, Eric Sheindlin, addressed the people gathered around the
table. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, as was already discussed in previous meetings;
I’m hereby presenting you with the final proposals for our new 30-minute show.
Issues were raised in the last meeting about the structure of the show as well
as time considerations in connection with advertisers. After a careful and
diligent study of our programme schedule, I hereby propose that the new show be
on Sundays at 16.30—.’

Rosina
interjected, ‘But that’s my time.’

‘That’s why
you’re here, Miss Ameliano,’ said the Chairman of the meeting quietly.

Sheindlin
continued. ‘After pre-screening reviews were conducted with prospective
advertisers all advertising space of the show have been sold out, and we also
have a long list of bidders for advertising space if the show is a success with
audiences. I can safely say, ladies and gentlemen,’ he permitted a smug smile
to come to his face, ‘we have a potential hit in our hands.’

Nods everywhere.

Rosina hated the
obsequious bastards. ‘Excuse me,’ she cleared her throat. ‘Where will my show
be accommodated?’

‘We’re shelving
it,’ responded Sheindlin.

Rosina was
positively shocked. ‘You are scraping my show!’ She had intended it to come out
as a question, but the words managed to turn themselves into an exclamation of
astonishment.

‘There is no
funding for
The Book Show
, Miss Ameliano. Advertisers are scarce, and
frankly, for the past six months the show has met challenges…audience-wise.’

‘Bullshit!’
Rosina exploded heatedly and leapt to her feet. ‘From its inception,
The Book
Show
was and has never been about generating money. It is bout engendering
a culture of reading among our youth, who are faced on a daily basis with other
less tiresome but more stimulating activities to divert their minds to. It is a
public service—.’

‘Sit down, Miss
Ameliano,’ the Chairman ordered calmly.

She complied.

‘I agree with
Mr. Sheindlin,’ said the Chairman. ‘We are operating on a string budget, and to
be quite frank, we cannot afford the luxury of a show that taxes heavily on our
resources.’

‘Excuse me, Sir,
to be quite frank, my show needs only minimal funding from the studio, and statistics
elsewhere will show that it is the most watched show at that time on any given
Sunday across all the major TV networks.’

The Chairman
stared at her thoughtfully for a long moment and then made his decision. ‘Let’s
go for a vote.’

The members of
the meeting cast their votes, and when the votes were counted it was revealed
that the members had voted 7-1 to scrap Rosina’s book show and begin a new,
totally different one as its replacement.

‘I’m sorry, Miss
Ameliano,’ said the Chairman. ‘Congratulations, Mr. Sheindlin.’

The spineless bastard.
Rosina could have castrated him right then and there. But she held on to the rapidly
thinning shred of sanity inside her and swallowed her pride.

The Chairman
left, followed by the other people who had been part of the meeting. As if to add
salt to injury, Sheindlin held back, such that there remained only him and
Rosina in the conference room.

With a
disappointed sigh, Rosina gathered her things and went to the door. Sheindlin walked
round the table and met her at the door. Rosina gave up all pretenses at
decency and charged at him. ‘What grudge do you have against me, Eric? Is it
because I beat you in the seniority race?’

‘I shall not be
tempted to make a comment on the subject of your baseless conjectures, Miss
Ameliano.’

‘I hope you rot
in hell, you bastard,’ she said strongly.

He smiled
contemptuously t her. ‘One’s triumph is always a loss to another.’

He walked away and
she leaned against the door and sobbed bitterly.

Eight

Cambiaso was having
breakfast in the dining room of his heavily guarded mansion. Dressed in a white
morning gown, he ate clumsily with his hands. He licked his hands and barked an
order. His ever-present bodyguard jumped and came closer. ‘Get me Terry.’

The bodyguard
rushed out to carry out his boss’ wish. Shortly he returned with the said
Terry, a character of average build and good looks, which were currently
spoiled by his unsightly blue-black eye and a plaster on his nose. He looked
like someone who was in excruciating pain. Cambiaso stared disdainfully at the
man and was reminded by the cast in his right hand that the fool had also
suffered a broken finger.

‘Come on over
here, Terry. Come sit down.’

Terry didn’t
respond. He went silently and did as his boss had ordered. The bodyguard took a
position a distance behind Terry.

‘Hey, grab a
bite, Terry. You had something to eat yet?’

‘No, thanks, Mr.
Cambiaso, but I’m okay.’

‘How’re you
feeling, Terry?’ Cambiaso asked in a voice of one who was really concerned and
sympathetic about the injuries of the man opposite him.

‘Better, Mr. C.’

‘How’s your
finger, Terry?’

‘It’s healing,
boss.’

Cambiaso stared at
the man, who could not hold his gaze and looked down. Cambiaso gave a nod at
the bodyguard and this latter came forward quickly and noiselessly behind
Terry. The bodyguard grabbed Terry in an arm-lock and forced his right hand palm
down onto the table.

Cambiaso slowly,
with a dispassionate expression on his face, got up and picked up a chopping
knife from the table. Slowly he came round the table to where Terry was now
trying to break free of the hold of the strong bodyguard. Terror seized his face
as Cambiaso approached closer.

‘I sent you to
watch a man, Terry, ‘said Cambiaso quietly. ‘There’s nothing in the world as
simple as that. But what did you do?’ He quickly answered himself. ‘You not
only let him see you, but he hit you, and even elicited some information from
your filthy mouth. By doing that, he was asking if you’ve got balls.’

Cambiaso stopped
talking and breathed heavily in anger. ‘Do you have balls, Terry?’

The terrified man
nodded quickly.

Cambiaso smiled.
‘Well, we’ll just have to see, won’t we? Spread your fingers, Terry,’ he said
softly, but the menace was heavy in his voice.

Terry did the
opposite. He knotted his hand firmly into a tight fist.

Unperturbed, Cambiaso
stared at the frightened man. ‘You have two choices, Terry. You close your
fingers, you lose your whole hand. You spread your fingers, you lose only one
of them.’

Reluctantly,
Terry opened his hand and spread his fingers. He closed his eyes firmly, unable
to watch the atrocity that was about to be meted out on him.

Cambiaso’s face
twisted into a malicious and violent rage as he raised up the chopping knife.
He slashed it down and Terry hollered like a pig on the slaughter. He grabbed
his bloody hand in the other and cried aloud in agony.

Mr. Cambiaso
went back to his chair and picked up a slice of bacon. He stuffed it into his
mouth and ate silently for a moment, and then stared lazily at the crying man.
‘Quiet!’ he barked.

Terry
immediately shut up.

Cambiaso licked
his fingers and pushed away the plate in front of him. Without prompting, the
bodyguard came forward and cleared the table.

Cambiaso
stretched his fingers, pulling their sockets and making them produce a
crackling sound in turn. ‘We’ve been lions, Terry,’ he said to the whimpering man.
‘We’ve been lions, and that has been our weakness. Lions re hunters, but 70% of
their hunting missions end in failure. The leopard is a much more diligent and
efficient hunter. It hunts during the day, when most other predators are hiding
from the heat of the sun. It hunts alone, eliminating mistakes and
cross-referencing. And most of its hunting missions will more often than not
result in a kill.’ He closed his eyes, a menacing grin on his face. ‘Our prey
has hidden himself in a populous place. He’s like a needle in a haystack. To
sift him out and get to him, we have to be leopards. And I promise you, Terry,
we’ll get him.’

He opened his
eyes and looked at Terry, the smile disappearing from his face. ‘We’ll get
him.’

Nine

When Paulina
arrived at the apartment her sister sat with her legs crossed on the floor in
the living room, leaning against the wall and drinking from a bottle of
Budweiser with a sad expression on her face. Sad soulful music came softly from
the music system. Concerned, Paulina quietly went and sat before her sister on
the floor.