An urban novel by R. P. Browne

The Worm

When Mr G bought the apt 4C of No.1375 Larrea street, adjacent to his own, he decided to not disclose the acquisition. He didn't have a reason for this, he thought, but neither one to do so. The possession of a little secret seemed to him almost liked a kids game, such as seeing who holds on longer under the water without breathing or who blinks first. The flavour of this innocent roguery served him to mitigate the guilt of his marital conscience which had quickly become present. At the end of the day, he reasoned, he could announce the recent investment later or even present it as an anniversary gift to his wife. The reality was that Mr G didn’t have even a remote idea as to why he had bought the apartment. Being a prominent member in the field of real estate, he knew that he was not doing, this time, a sound business. What is more, his years of experience in the market were telling him against investing in a property that had nothing of special and was slightly overvalued. The area wasn’t booming and the demand for units to date was actually concentrated in districts less consolidated of the city with better medium term potential. Conversely, by projecting this kind of speculation over his rich clientele he had managed to increase the business flow in the family firm that now belonged to him, and, of course, his own capital. The transaction was carried out in the usual terms for anonymous groups of investors, through a ghost company which in this case only grouped him. And all the paperwork that could’ve been an annoying maze of clauses, signatures and stamps for anyone else, was easily bypassed to a secretary and to the firm’s solicitor. To them it was just another folder in a file that already had many pages for limited companies that mentioned Mr G as representative.

please click on image below to download pages 1 to 15