Chapter 6Mariella La Rossa
She has been waiting anxiously for days for the mail to arrive. Sitting in front of the computer monitor, Mariella absent-mindedly pulled out an unfiltered Lucky Strike from the packet, brought it to her mouth, and lit a match. She looked at the flame, which was consuming the wooden stick until it almost reached her fingers. Just before burning her fingertips, she threw the still-lit match in the ashtray and repeated the ceremony from the beginning. This time she lit her cigarette and continued to stare at the flame until, blowing out a cloud of smoke, she extinguished it. In that small flame, she tried to see her past and foresee her future. The audible sound associated with the arrival of a new e-mail jerked her back to reality.
She enlarged the Outlook windo
