The Geese That Lay The Golden Eggs. Nicola Maria Vitola

scams.

      The little alarm bells

      Luciana starts adding all the information in her possession together. The alleged Vincent pretends he is French because Ivory Coast, a former colony, uses French as its official language. He’s never left Abidjan and has pretended to go there, to be able to receive the cash payment in his homeland.

      Luciana doesn’t send him the money and she’s clever to realise, in time, that it’s a scam. The request for money sets off a little alarm bell inside her. Intuition and reason prevail over her emotions, and the scammer loses the match he has so laboriously played.

      Any woman, anybody - when asked for money - should awake from their romantic obfuscation. The automatic reaction should be: Money = Wake up!

      Then tell the unscrupulous looter to sod off. But it’s not easy to let go of the dream. Luciana cries for days on end, after reporting the scam. She says she felt completely stupid, an idiot:

      Â«He used such psychological violence - Luciana explains during an interview - as to literally bring me to my knees. He even used to ask me if I’d slept well, if I’d eaten and if I’d had a good day at work! It’s obvious that if I’d been thinking straight I would have understood that it was impossible that there was such a nice polite man who was going to fall in love with someone like me, neither beautiful, nor young; but unfortunately, as the saying goes, love is blind»⁶.

      Mary

      Mary’s story is told by her son Lucien. A nasty story, but with a happy ending, if it can be called that when you get your own money back.

      Mary has just turned 59 when she’s contacted by an American sailor who wishes her a happy birthday and asks her to be friends. The man says his name is Michael Miller and he’s 53.

      She’s been living in Italy for a decade. French by birth, she used to be married to an Italian journalist from whom she’s divorced. She has a son Lucien, born of her marriage, who is a high school mathematics teacher and who lives in Rome, like his mother.

      Michael’s first contact happens on her birthday. He asks her to be friends, she accepts. He sends her (a photo of) an enormous bouquet of red roses with a happy birthday message in English.

      Â«What did you do for your birthday?» Michael asks her the following day, in bad Italian.

      Â«It was nice! I had dinner with my friends and we had a lovely evening.»

      Â«Do you have a lot of friends? Who do you like? I'm jealous.»

      Â«Do you speak French? - asks Mary - my English is not very good.»

      Â«Avez vous beaucoup d'amis? Qui aimez-vous? je suis jaloux,» he repeats admitting he’s translated the phrase on Google, then he continues the conversation with copy and paste from an online translator.

      Â«Well if you’re using Google just choose Italian - Mary urges him - because in French I feel like I want to correct all your mistakes.»

      Â«Do you have many friends? Who do you like? I’m jealous.»

      Â«Don’t talk nonsense!»

      Â«I can’t stop thinking about you. I saw your photo a month ago, but I’m shy and I only found the courage to contact you with it being your birthday!»

      Â«Really?» asks Mary flattered. «What did you find so attractive in me? I’m just a normal woman.»

      Â«Normal? Say normal is false. Saying you’re normal is just not true. You’re beautiful.»

      Â«How old did you say you are?»

      Â«53, and you?»

      Â«I’m 59, I’m older than you. Men always look for young girls. What attracts you to such a mature person?»

      Â«Your photo shows me an elegant lady, you're a beautiful woman. Mary, you mustn’t underestimate yourself Mary. Look at yourself with love’s eyes, as I see you, and you’ll see you’re beautiful!»

      Â«Love? You’re going rather fast now!»

      Â«Yes, I’m going fast, but I’m following my heart that’s going even faster than me!»

      A week after her birthday Mary has the sensation she’s known Michael for a long time. He contacts her every day at the same time, and his requests to love her are increasingly persistent. He says nice things, and although his Italian is only approximate, he confesses to her that he’s never felt such overwhelming feelings before. He’s had other affairs, but nothing important, because he’s always believed that to build a sincere relationship he had to find his soul mate. He believes that God has created an ideal lover for every being on earth, and he’s lucky to have managed to find her and fulfil his dream.

      To live together, get married and lay together one beside the other as a single body; this is human happiness. There’s nothing more beautiful!

      Mary is intoxicated by these words, by Michael’s attentions, as he floods her with pictures of beautiful scenes at sunset, flowers, mostly red roses, with the phrase «Je t’aime,» or «Je t’aime beaucoup,» or alternatively «I love you.»

      Strangely he doesn’t send her any pictures of himself in other poses or moments of his daily life. Mary only has two pictures of Michael, one close-up and another full-length view. Both pictures show him in uniform and are of an attractive man, with a high forehead, a proud gaze and just a hint of a smile. Not much to fall in love with. However, Mary is so enraptured by his words, promises, allusions to perfect sentimental and sexual happiness, that she doesn’t ask for more. To share the dream of a soul mate is what she wants too. She believes in it. She wants nothing else. Michael’s words are a daily dose of pleasure, a spoken and virtual intuition that is the premise to their real-life meeting, which will happen very soon. Michael wants that, Mary wants it, especially after messages like this:

      Â«Darling I miss you so much, you’ve become necessary for my soul, my heart. You’re my day and night.

      You’re the sun and the moon to me. You’re my queen. I miss you so much and the days separating me from you are much too long and cruel. Oh, how I would like to cut the ribbon of time which separates us from our first meeting! Love me Mary! Make me happy and never betray our dream!».

      Finally, our meeting, but first I’m going to Abidjan!

      Strange the coincidences in life, because Mary’s story also has links with Ivory Coast. And quite by chance, Michael needs to go precisely to Abidjan to clinch a deal. He intends to leave the marines and plans to set up a diamond import-export business with his severance pay.

      A million carats worth of diamonds a year are extracted in Ivory Coast. So, Michael, who is planning his future business and success, has an appointment with a manager from the mines who will suggest the right quantities of precious stones to export, the purchase prices and the sales prices on the European markets.

      The forecast is for huge profits, so the Marine has ploughed all his savings into getting together the sum to be paid in advance to start his export business to Europe. He has a lot of money set aside because he earns more than eight thousand dollars a month. Then he’ll pay the manager of the mines the contractual balance with his military service severance pay.

      Mind you! The most exciting part of the plan, as told by Michael, is that he’ll start his journey towards Europe with Italy, Rome, where he’ll stop off to embrace Mary, and plan their future together; to crown their dream of a happy union and looking ahead - why not - even get married.