The Girl at the Door

I was in my sixth month when the girl came knocking.

The girl came empty handed. On the threshold, her hair down, her jeans tight.

'Are you the professor’s wife?' the girl asked me. 'I have to speak to you,' she said.

'The professor raped me,' the girl said.

°°°

Veronica Raimo is the author of two novels published in Italy and a collection of short stories published in Germany. She wrote the script for Marco Bellocchio's Bella addormentata. She has written for a number of Italian publications and contributes regularly to Rolling Stone. She has translated from English to Italian writers such as F Scott Fitzgerald, Octavia Butler, Iain Sinclair, Vikram Seth, and others. She lives in Rome.