But in Milan it’s not hard to find another solution, so already, after a few weeks, I had another address, in the Viale Bianca di Savoia neighbourhood (an area I know because I went there once to put in some ads in the popular magazine Epoca), and a meeting with Signora Andreina. I never learned her surname and the number doesn’t appear in the telephone book. Anyway, there, too, it was ten thousand lire each time, half, as always, to the girl, and half to the landlady.

Now, I usually go once a week, and that adds up to forty thousand lire a month. I don’t deny that the madam has the right to take care of her own affairs, but I think that the right to look after my interests is up to me. So, I thought, if I could cut the expense of the five thousand lire I give Signora Andreina and spend only five thousand on the girl, I would save twenty thousand lire every month, which I could use to rent a pied-à-terre somewhere. In fact I found one, with two rooms, for fifteen thousand a month, which I shared with a friend: even including the expenses for the cleaning woman, electricity and heat, it came to no more than ten thousand a month, and, once the minor expenses of setting things up were paid off, there was still money left over.

So when at Signora Andreina’s I met a certain Linda, a girl of about twenty-five who worked as an operator at Stipel, the telephone company, whom I liked, and who also seemed to me intelligent, I asked for her number, and we agreed to meet outside. With her I inaugurated the pied-à-terre in the Bianca di Savoia neighbourhood: I had a record player there and a small bar, so that we could get in the mood first with a drink and a slow foxtrot.

I like to start by taking the woman standing up, which is uncomfortable but exciting. We dance a little, then when I feel ready I break away and untie my shoes, while she takes off her dress. But I want to take off the slip or the girdle myself. I tell her: ‘Hold on, little girl. Let me do it,’ and I unhook her bra. Then I start to take her like that, standing up. Then I break away again and finish undressing, lie on the bed, invite her discreetly to take over, but not for long, because I like intercourse best. I tuck the five thousand lire in her purse while she’s washing up in the other room.

With Linda, the telephone operator from Stipel, there was the beginning of an affair. One Thursday she was free, and since I had called her for the usual appointment she asked me to take her in the car to buy a few things and do some errands. It was June, and she was already planning her next vacation, and wanted to buy a bikini, a straw bag, sandals and other things I no longer remember. I drove, and we looked in several boutiques, and she even asked my opinion, before choosing the suit. We agreed that the one with white and green polka dots would look good. But there was no way to try it on, because the fitting room was occupied by a fat lady, so the salesgirl agreed to let us take the bathing suit home. If it fits when she tries it, she said, you can pay tomorrow, no trouble.