Overwhelmed, he was carried away by the waves. “Hello, hello! Yes, it’s me, your Excellency, I’m immensely grateful! But of course, right away, yes General, I will provide it in no time, my infinite thanks. Hello, hello! Certainly, your Majesty, at once, with undying devotion…” The pen, abandoned, slowly rolled to the edge of the desk, stopped for a moment, poised there, then plummeted to the ground, breaking its nib, and there it lay.) “Please make yourself at home, come right in, no, if you permit me, it might be better if you sat in that very comfortable armchair, but what an unexpected honor, absolutely, oh thank you, a coffee, cigarette?”
How long did the whirlwind last? Hours, days, months, millennia? As night fell he found himself alone, finally.
But before leaving the office, he wanted to bring a semblance of order to the pamphlets, folders, projects and protocols that had accumulated on his desk. Under the immense pile he found a sheet of paper with someone’s handwriting on it. He recognized it as his own.
Out of curiosity, he read it. “What nonsense, what idiotic phrases. Who knows when I might have written this?” he asked himself, searching his memory in vain, with a sense of annoyance and confusion that he had never felt before, and he passed his hand through his now-gray hair. “When could I have written this sort of rubbish? And who is this Ornella?”