ROL

50 Possibilities: I - Clairvoyance

• Leo Talamonti:

  «The next day I came to see him with a photographer, as we had agreed. He was a young employee of a photography studio and often worked for journalists; his work would be used to complete my "report" with dedicated illustrations. My improvised colleague knew nothing of the enigmatic gentleman that we were going to visit; just imagine how his eyes opened wide when Dr. Rol asked him these questions after welcoming us into his study: "You've been married only a few months, right? And your wife is a brunette, with dark eyes?" "Yes, but how on earth..." "Wait. Why do you always feel half asleep? Like right now, for example. You're suffering from a disability, and you know why? I'll tell you. There are many reasons, but the first is the chronic appendicitis that you are suffering from: isn't that true?" "Yes, but how do you know these things? Have you been spying on me?" "You need to get rid of this lingering appendicitis soon: Believe me, I'm telling you for your own good. There's also something else. It is not healthy for two young newlyweds to abandon themselves to certain intimacies late in the evening, when they are tired and stressed; such effort has a negative effect on restful sleep, and your body suffers for it. There's danger of exhaustion in the long run. Better to take care of that business in the morning, when you are well rested. Now tell me: is it true that you won 37,000 Lire [500 Euros in 2015] playing Totocalcio [italian football pool]? But you lost much more, if you take into account all the money you have waged over so many years. Believe me: you shouldn't insist on this point."
  This time his stupor had actually blocked the young man's ability to speak, who no longer turned to Rol but turned to me, with his eyes wide, full of unspeakable questions».

• Pierlorenzo Rappelli:

  «Gustavo and Elna were in Nice for a holiday in the autumn/winter, and Giuliana (my ex-wife) and I used to visit them on the weekends. It was Saturday and after having lunch in a restaurant on the seashore, Gustavo proposed that we go to the casino (if I remember correctly, at the time the old casino was called the Palais de la Méditerranée).
  Giuliana and Elna preferred to take a walk, and I had no desire to close myself up inside of a smoky room, but Gustavo insisted and so I accompanied him to the casino.
  When we went inside the large hall with the roulette tables, I asked Gustavo if he wanted to play. He did not answer me, and I noticed that he was in one of those states that I knew well, as if he was doing something or receiving some kind of message or information, and I knew I had to let him be.
  Gustavo went over to a roulette table around which about ten people were gathered. He positioned himself next to a Frenchman of about fifty years old, well-dressed, seated, apparently quite tense, who was holding the last tokens he had left in his hand. His hand was hesitating before placing them on the numbers.
  Gustavo stretched his finger out and with a commanding yet calm voice said to the man, "Sur le cinq" [On the five]. The man following the orders as if a robot.
  The ball stopped on the 5. The man won the jackpot and was about to remove the fiches placed on the number 5. Gustavo in the same firm voice told him, "Ne touchez pas."[Don't touch them]
  The roulette ball once again landed on the 5. The scene repeated again five times in a row. The man seemed to be in a trance. Only once did he look at Gustavo, who was standing next to him, still as a statue. After the fifth time the number 5 came out, Gustavo ordered him, "Suivez-moi" [Follow me]. The man gathered his chips and stood up. We walked away from the roulette table. The man was pale and could not utter a word. Gustavo looked him straight in the eye with a fearsome expression. Without raising his voice and with a sharp tone, he said, "Vous êtes un idiot. Vous qui êtes le comptable d'une société, et vous êtes un honnête homme, vous avez cru un charlatan qui vous a donné une méthode bidon pour gagner à la roulette. Vous avez osé prendre l'argent de la caisse en espérant de gagner pour vous refaire de la perte de votre argent et vous l'aviez perdu. Au moment où je suis intervenu vous aviez décidé de vous suicider plutôt que de révéler votre honte à votre patron. Vous êtes un idiot. Maintenant vous retournez à la société, vous remettez l'argent dans la caisse et vous ne mettrez plus jamais, j'ai dit plus jamais les pieds dans un Casino. Et MAINTENANT DEHORS!"
  [You are an idiot. You, who are a company accountant and an honest man, believed in a charlatan who gave you a phony method for winning at roulette. You dared to take money from the company reserves hoping to win back the money you lost playing the roulette. When I arrived you had decided to commit suicide before confessing your guilt to your boss. You are an idiot. Now go back to your company, replace the money you took and never – I repeat never – set foot in a casino again. AND NOW GET OUT!]
  The tone of voice he used for the last words were an order. The man began to sweat and tremble as Gustavo spoke to him. He uttered an incomprehensible phrase, which may have been an apology or thanks, turned on his heels and left the casino as if wolves were nipping his heels.
  Gustavo was silent for another thirty seconds, and then he looked at me with a relaxed, smiling expression on his face. I knew from experience that in these cases there was truly nothing else to say. He repeated to me with great sadness, "He was an imbecile. He would have shot himself and left a wife and two children." He then added, "Let's go and meet Elna and Giuliana." When I asked, he told me that the man had recovered the exact amount of money that he had stolen from the company account, but that he did not let him also recover his own money that he had lost, because he needed to learn a lesson. He then told me with a malicious smile, "You better believe that he will never set foot in a casino again."».

• Maria Beatrice di Savoia:

  «During the 1930s [1938] my mother [the queen of Italy, Maria José] challenged Rol to find a matching set of diamonds lost from the Quirinale safe. She called him on the telephone, and he solved the mystery in only a few minutes, "The diamonds are in the third drawer of the desk in your parlor." It was true. Someone, after my mother came back from a visit to the Vatican, had placed the diamonds there with the intention to put them back in the safe later. Then they were forgotten».