bit.
He
pretends not to remember that he himself has got no one waiting for him at
home.
'No
one heard anything, as usual, I suppose?' he asks, turning to Tommasi.
'It's
a cul-de-sac, as you can see. There's only that old falling-down building and
then at the end there's a wire fence that backs on to an abandoned field. On
the other side, at the far end of the street, there's a bar, a kind of social
club. One of those places that plays strange music - I don't know what you call
it - where strange people go, with weird hair, all dressed in black.' He tries
to explain what he means by waving his hands.
'Has
anyone been into the club to ask questions?'
'No,
it was too late. It was almost dawn when the boy found them both. He says he
came out of there to throw up and then he started to walk about to get a breath
of fresh air. He's a minor, so they took him to the station. Someone will have
taken his statement before his parents came to fetch him.'
'Nothing
else unusual?'
'Do
you mean erections? Because, if you do, you'll have to ask them. But I think
they'll only be able to tell you after they've examined the bodies.'
'What
are you talking about? No. What I meant was is there any souvenir left this
time?'
'I
don't think so. But then they haven't talked to me yet,' and he indicates the
two people dressed like astronauts, who are now showing signs of having
finished.
'Thanks
for calling me. I hate being at home when these things happen.'
'I
did what you told me. Even if Frolli didn't like it much.'
----
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Eva looks
out of the car window. She's driving slowly, with music playing in the
background. She's slightly tense but she was expecting to feel worse. For the
first time in six months she's going home, to Ravenna.
To
face her fears she has to visualise them. She's doing that now. The terror she
feels making that journey again is like facing one of her partners at training:
a potential aggressor that she has to keep at a distance. As she has learned to
do. Today her coach told her that she's ready to fight in a match, if she wants
to.
Perhaps
because, during the exercises in pairs, she knocked Brando over. She gave him
such a powerful kick that everyone turned to look. The feeling she had when she
saw him on the ground, at her feet, holding his side because of the pain was
tremendous. She felt alive, excited, carried away by a new fire burning inside
her.
Tomorrow
is her birthday and Giulia has asked what she'd like for it. Nothing. She
doesn't want anything. But that's not really true: she would like the only
present she can never have. To forget.
'Come
on, open mine first,' says Elisa, 'I can't wait for you to see what it is.
Hurry up.'
The
small rectangular parcel from her sister has a pink flower on it; her mother's
is larger and conceals something soft, probably a hand-knitted jumper, her
usual present. Occasionally she rings the changes with a scarf, always
painstakingly knitted by hand.
It's
her bad luck to have her birthday in the winter and to have a mother obsessed
with making things…
Then
there's an envelope from her father. Every year he prefers to give her money,
adding, without fail, 'So you can buy something you'd like'.
'Hurry
up. Open mine.'
'OK.'
Eva tears off the paper. A silver-coloured box. 'Red Passion' in embossed
letters.
'But
it's a lipstick. I don't wear lipstick.'
'Exactly.
You're twenty-four and it's time you started to, otherwise you'll never find a
boyfriend,' Elisa says, beaming.
Her
sister loves lipsticks, make-up, face creams and everything else that's
supposed to make a woman beautiful. Their mother used to tell her off when she
was small, because she would steal her lipstick. Her mother she never used it
herself, anyway, except
He
pretends not to remember that he himself has got no one waiting for him at
home.
'No
one heard anything, as usual, I suppose?' he asks, turning to Tommasi.
'It's
a cul-de-sac, as you can see. There's only that old falling-down building and
then at the end there's a wire fence that backs on to an abandoned field. On
the other side, at the far end of the street, there's a bar, a kind of social
club. One of those places that plays strange music - I don't know what you call
it - where strange people go, with weird hair, all dressed in black.' He tries
to explain what he means by waving his hands.
'Has
anyone been into the club to ask questions?'
'No,
it was too late. It was almost dawn when the boy found them both. He says he
came out of there to throw up and then he started to walk about to get a breath
of fresh air. He's a minor, so they took him to the station. Someone will have
taken his statement before his parents came to fetch him.'
'Nothing
else unusual?'
'Do
you mean erections? Because, if you do, you'll have to ask them. But I think
they'll only be able to tell you after they've examined the bodies.'
'What
are you talking about? No. What I meant was is there any souvenir left this
time?'
'I
don't think so. But then they haven't talked to me yet,' and he indicates the
two people dressed like astronauts, who are now showing signs of having
finished.
'Thanks
for calling me. I hate being at home when these things happen.'
'I
did what you told me. Even if Frolli didn't like it much.'
----
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Eva looks
out of the car window. She's driving slowly, with music playing in the
background. She's slightly tense but she was expecting to feel worse. For the
first time in six months she's going home, to Ravenna.
To
face her fears she has to visualise them. She's doing that now. The terror she
feels making that journey again is like facing one of her partners at training:
a potential aggressor that she has to keep at a distance. As she has learned to
do. Today her coach told her that she's ready to fight in a match, if she wants
to.
Perhaps
because, during the exercises in pairs, she knocked Brando over. She gave him
such a powerful kick that everyone turned to look. The feeling she had when she
saw him on the ground, at her feet, holding his side because of the pain was
tremendous. She felt alive, excited, carried away by a new fire burning inside
her.
Tomorrow
is her birthday and Giulia has asked what she'd like for it. Nothing. She
doesn't want anything. But that's not really true: she would like the only
present she can never have. To forget.
'Come
on, open mine first,' says Elisa, 'I can't wait for you to see what it is.
Hurry up.'
The
small rectangular parcel from her sister has a pink flower on it; her mother's
is larger and conceals something soft, probably a hand-knitted jumper, her
usual present. Occasionally she rings the changes with a scarf, always
painstakingly knitted by hand.
It's
her bad luck to have her birthday in the winter and to have a mother obsessed
with making things…
Then
there's an envelope from her father. Every year he prefers to give her money,
adding, without fail, 'So you can buy something you'd like'.
'Hurry
up. Open mine.'
'OK.'
Eva tears off the paper. A silver-coloured box. 'Red Passion' in embossed
letters.
'But
it's a lipstick. I don't wear lipstick.'
'Exactly.
You're twenty-four and it's time you started to, otherwise you'll never find a
boyfriend,' Elisa says, beaming.
Her
sister loves lipsticks, make-up, face creams and everything else that's
supposed to make a woman beautiful. Their mother used to tell her off when she
was small, because she would steal her lipstick. Her mother she never used it
herself, anyway, except
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