127 Express

Introduction 127 EXPRESS is a book about journeys. As the journey is evasion from everyday life, each story in this collection is a breath of it is a breath of light-heartedness and absolute, crystalline freedom. Of expression, of soul, of body. One leaves to stop thinking about problems, to put difficulties on hold, to forget someone, to find answers. Sometimes a journey can be physical, sometimes dreaming or longing dearly for something is enough. That’s why what matters is the journey, because it is the road, we travel that really changes us and not the final aim, that we may never see. The journey seen as a discovery of ourselves, of our limits, of what is different. Traveling to break fears, to learn silence and sing out loud as we never thought. The journey of the flesh and the spirit. Of low and high things. Of virtues and shame. The protagonists of this book are four friends that share an apartment in downtown Bologna, Italy. They enrolled in university, but saying they are students is too much. Between them, they call themselves Spanky, Zanna, Moobs and Fangio… but at the registry office they are Enrico, Martino, Alex and… Fangio. Spanky, apart from being the main narrator, is the most rational one, the most balanced. It is his perennial undertaking to mediate the strong characters of Fangio and Moobs, resolve the depressive states of Zanna and bring balance to the Force, albeit brief. Zanna lives in a world of his own and that’s why every incursion in the reality is for him a bizarre trip. So when he finds himself dragged by the other three on their pilgrimages full of aperitifs and poor in conscious meanings, he cannot help but gasp in amazement and not lose sight of them for a second. Moobs is the proud link between the human being, the Terminator and a warthog. He is beautiful like a Greek god, he knows no shame and once he smells you, he can find you anywhere. Fangio is by definition "annoying to watch", as ugly as hunger. He's got a ponytail, the bulging buzz of a hard drinker on an otherwise stunted body and a tuft of hair sticking out of his backside. He does not know the elegance in dressing and proclaims himself the Guru of Looove of the other three. The Fiat 127 is the fifth real protagonist, an old lung inherited from Zanna’s dead uncle, Vladimiro Zanetti, which knows how to rescue you when you need it. While in Walkabout you will start to know them, and when you think you understand them, they will go, exactly as a respectable Walkabout evening foresees. MemberKid, a historic friend of Fangio's, will make a brief appearance with news that will leave everyone speechless. You’ll hear about Virginia and Cecilia, sometimes, the two unfortunate girls who share the apartment with the four rowdy. I didn't feel like introducing them to you, however, because they deserve a bigger narrative arc. They will return, in a few months, in “Who more KING than us”. Then it will be the turn of the first "saga" of this collection: four stories (127 Express, Millennium Fart, Wazzapamani showband & Review, Vlady Jones's Locker) during a car trip to Verona and the delivery of a mysterious box, legacy will of Zanna's uncle. The gas stop, nighttime taverns, bar fights, tea and cookies. In the Moobs Saga (Fart by me, I'm a queen!, One Flew Over the Cockoo's Nest, Moobs on a hot tin Roof) you will discover that camping nights can be too long and that scented candles are not always a good buy. You will learn the true purpose of rickshaws and how to set up a tent. You will have to face, along with Spanky and Fangio, a side of Moobs that will make you tremble. Free aperitifs and bodysurf on the house. In The great Endurance you will witness a relentless fight between Moobs and Fangio that could put an end to their friendship. You will know the importance of socks and how beautiful Beach Volleyball is. In the Fangio Saga (Carol, The Snake Charmer, Fangio University, Fastforward), our boy will have to face a truth that has been ignored for too long and will have to painfully decide which path to take on that crossroads called Life. Spanky, Zanna, Moobs and MemberKid will help him in the undertaking, in a completely new role. And this for the moment is all, have a good trip!