Ugarte in Casablanca
5. Two for tea
Statement by Signor Enrico Ferrare [fragment]:
“Ugarte would sometimes invite me over for a cup of tea. I am never quite sure how to describe those sessions: a privilege, an ordeal, or perhaps with what we know now... an honour? Suffice to say that signor Ugarte was not exactly the sort of colleague you’d expect in my line of work. No, he hid it well, signori, but it was clear that he was still a romantic at heart. In other words, a man not to be trifled with. I dislike romantics. They make me nervous. It is never quite certain if, upon drinking tea with the likes of them, I might not exit their premises in, shall we say, the horizontal position.”
“And what exactly is your line of work, signor Ferrare?”
“Stamp collecting, signori.”