Partners In Crime

Partners in crime

By: Si

A cool breeze rattled the leaves behind me as I wrote these words with you in mind, for some of you who are more logically, seeing things for the way that they are; a confession can be realised as a fitting label for these writings. To those of you who are on the other end of the spectrum, seeking meaningful connections through all creations under the sun, this can be seen as a letter or perhaps something a little more intimate to match my burning passion – a love letter of such. While this judgement might be as close of an explanation as the human mind can conceive, I am afraid that is not quite it.

My answer to you would be of the heart, a mystery that even the most skilled artist can never clearly articulate as the unpredictability of emotions add to the invigoration of this world, an untapped source of power that can transmit jolts of energy strong enough to bring back the dead. An emotion, nothing more or less; the only fitting title that would be to explain this script of ink splatters on my little black book that I have filled up with alphabetical emotions since I have been blessed with it by winning the Moleskin “Open Innovation Program” on the summer of 2017. But before we get into any of that, let’s start from the beginning.

The operator asked, “Do you feel ready though?”

In an arrogant tone, a reply came from the big shadowy figure which belonged to the 1st finalist standing on the other side of the desk from her “Are you kidding? I am ready to murder this show!”.

The operator’s upper lip curled up in disdain as she silently inspected the registration forms before giving them back to the bald man; you can tell that in her mind there was no shortage of nasty thoughts being aimed at the finalist’s insolence.

A friendly voice shot through the room, “save that energy to the judges I have seen them in all black today, they’re also expecting a funeral; just not sure whose…” Lucille was a beautiful young and light spirit. Even though she was a few years older than me, her contagious energy was that of a joyous little girl.

I have answered “Yes, this can only be done before the announcement is made.”

Before entering the competition, my girlfriend and I were visiting every country in Europe until we came up with an idea inspired by all the walking we have done on our trip across European valleys and peaks.

Our project was to design a shoe that uses Quartz crystals to harness mechanical energy from walking and turn it into electrical energy to charge mobile phones wirelessly through anode terminals and cathode gates. How does this work? My girlfriend tried explaining to me a few times, but not once did I catch it…I was an actor and the only son of two simple Mediterranean olive farmers, I have used my wits to get me by and it was enough for me to make ends meet. While my girlfriend was a rebellious daughter of two university lecturers, she never continued her education but she sure absorber a lot of the information they fed her as a child.

Lucille stood in front of me with her big blue eyes staring at me “if your shoe does not charge, you will lose to the arrogant contender who was aggressive towards that operator you were winking at”

“I did not wink at her!” I exclaimed “And as I told you before, this can only be done before the judges announce my name to the operator when it is time for me to present my idea. These shoes have not been tested; I am not breaking them before I give my pitch.”

“Lucille Simonazzi, please make your way towards the elevator my colleague Martin will escort you to the presentation hall.”

Lucille rushed towards the elevator with a big grin on her face, “I will see you later! Please wish me luck”

My hands fall into my pockets as I look away avoiding eye contact “Good luck Lucille!”

The operator said in an assertive tone “Stay in there for as long as you can while I do my job.”

I smiled at the operator as I was headed to pitch my idea once the 1st finalist and Lucille were done.

While my girlfriend crunched the numbers and came up with the figure needed to turn this idea into reality, we were forced to sell everything we had. Little did we know that in later years we were to understand that this shoe design deemed to be far less efficient in generating useful electricity than expected.

With every step towards the judge’s hall I was getting more and more anxious, my heart started beating fast as I entered the hall while the 5 middle aged seated figures studied me. The lady seated at the far left have noticed that I was not feeling okay, she tried to say something that I could not understand but I cracked a smile instead and directly after collapsed to the floor.

“Do your job and don’t talk to me until I am in the canaries, lets get this money” I said softly.

The crowd around my head laughed as they sat me up.

“Are you okay?” asked the first judge

“Yes, have I lost my privilege to pitch?” I asked hesitantly

“Technically we still have time before we are due to evaluate all 3 pitches, so no” answered the second judge

I downed the water beside me and staggered to my feet so I can start presenting.

“You finally made it across the waters” said the operator

“yes, it wasn’t the best, but I will let the judges do their job” I replied as I went back to my seat in the waiting room.

After my girlfriend and I realised that we will not be able to make this idea happen, we spent a few days drunk until she started looking for work and found a job as an operator. While I could not accept my mediocre fate.

“The $20,000 prize money has disappeared, and the police are on their way” Lucille said

**Read the underlined sentences from the start of this story to the end**

After the first robbery, there was many more to follow and I can assure you that the time spent with you was the one thing worth a lot more than the monetary gains from all these competitions. Watching you leave after a lifetime on the run brings my heart to a stop, so here I am fathoming my emotions into constellations on a little black notebook that you gave me alongside the $20,000 prize money from our first competition and I promise you that before this old age gets me like it got you my darling and I dig a grave beside yours; I will fill this notebook with all of the portraits we plotted and drew together for the world to understand the emotions rather than the actions expressed in every subtle interaction. Once this publication is out after we are both long gone, please do not be afraid of bad publicity from those who were not blessed with a love like ours, for what worries the moon when dogs bark.