The Bad Thing | | Gianluca Gaudino

The bad thing

January, 2018 - Central London, England

"Where is Aurelia, miss Adler?" Mr Andersson was a tall, broad shoulder man, he was in his 50's although the excess of work made him look much older.

"She's printing a file, boss" She answered quickly before she could irritate the man. The office was usually a quiet place, as translators they worked partly in the office and partly in their homes if they wished. There were two general reunions, one on monday were everybody got together to discuss and assign the new projects and the other was on friday, that was the usual deadline. Sometimes they did jobs as interpreters in conferences, interviews, tv shows, etc. From the last room in the hall appeared a dark haired lady, so much writing and reading had affected her vision, so she usually wore glasses when she was working.

"There you are, miss San Martin" The older man said kindly, it was a known fact she was the favorite in the office, not because she didn't deserve it, in fact she had a strange dedication to her job, almost an obsession over it.

"I was just printing the handbook" Her tone was always an enthusiastic one when it referred to work.

"It's fine... I need you all in the meeting room right now" After Mr Andersson walked away, Aurelia approached to her colleague and asked curious:

"Did something happen?"

"I don't know, let's see"

"I have very exciting news to tell you, specially to the football lovers. As you now the World Cup will be held in Russia this year, and we have been chosen to participate in the translators and interpreters team of FIFA. Only a few of you will be travelling with me to Zurich in May to start working with the work team and then we'll move to Russia for different activities in which we'll be needed"

"Who is going then?" Aurelia deared to ask

"We have already selected the staff that'll travel with us. Mr Jones, miss Adler, mrs Hoffman and you, miss San Martin"

*//*

After the meeting, Aurelia went straight to look for her phone and let her family know about this awesome opportunity. Her family had a big tradition with football, her father used to play when he was younger and now he is in charge of an important football academy in the north of London; her brother plays in the youth leagues of Chelsea FC, while her sister played in college until she graduated. In fact, Aurelia was the only one who hadn't really played the sport, is not that she didn't like to play, but her abilities were almost none at the time of kicking a ball. Her parents came from South America, they suffered from political persecution due to a civil war, which ended with them exiled in Europe. After living a few years in Brussels, they emigrated to England thanks to a family friend who helped them established until they were back on their feet. To remember their traditions, although they don't have many, they taught their children both English and Spanish, always remembering them how important and difficult had been to leave all behind, and how there were people ready to help them when they asked. So they spoke mostly in spanish when they were all together on sundays.

Aurelia had been thankful of her parents when she decided to study Translation and Interpretation, it had been easier for her because she had been taught spanish since she was a little girl. I guess you can say she was a successful woman, with her 24 years old she lived alone in a comfortable flat in London, in an "upcoming" area as they liked to call it, she worked very hard in the most important translation agency in England, and she was going to be part of the staff of FIFA, what else could you ask for? Maybe someone to share that with...