Goliarda Sapienza - The Art of Joy

‘If one could talk rationally with you women. Judas Priest!’

‘I talk rationally, Prando, if you speak to me clearly and don’t beat around the bush like you’ve been doing for an hour. What is it you want? Spit it out.’

‘Lucio wants to…’

‘Marry me, you mean?’

‘Because he’s a man of honour.’

‘A man of order, you mean?’

‘What is it you don’t like about Lucio?’

‘A small detail that today is no longer in fashion: I’m not in love with him, my darling Prando.’

‘In love! Haven’t the years, experience taught you anything? Yet they say you’re supposed to grow calmer with age.’

‘That’s what they told me too.’

‘Aren’t we enough for you? Me, your shitty Jacopo, Carluzzu, Bambù? All the women envy you. Carluzzu wants no one but you. He’s always pestering me! Amalia is dying of jealousy because she can’t win over Carluzzu, no matter what.’

‘She’ll get over it, Prando. As soon as your little bride has her baby — I’m certain it’s another boy — she’ll calm down, you’ll see. Amalia is sweet. She just needs to have a child of her own.’

‘I don’t give a damn about Amalia. I want to know what you’ve decided.’

‘Decided? About what?’

‘Lucio is going to call tomorrow. What the hell should I say to him, do you mind telling me?’

‘That he should phone me. I’ll see to Lucio.’

‘Look, if you don’t marry him, you’re coming to live with me in Catania.’

‘And why should I do that?’

‘Why, she says! Villa Suvarita has been sold, right? In three months you have to leave. Where do you intend to go? You don’t have a red cent, Mama, can you get it through your head?’

‘You really want to put me out to pasture, right, Prando? That’s how it is: an old man wants to force you to be eternally young and a young man wants to see you old before your time, out of his way.’

‘What are you talking about? Everyone adores you!’

‘Exactly. You pamper a child, you adore the old man in a corner. You tempt me, Prando! To grow old among books, my grandchildren, taking pride in your beauty and strength. You’re successful in court, right! Not like Lucio or Libero!’

‘Don’t say that name!’

‘Why not surrender to the sublime love a son can give you? I could lord it over your meek Amalia and when your baby is born, effortlessly steal him away from her like I did with Carluzzu.’

‘You’re crazy, Mama, crazy!’

‘Of course, and like all crazy people I’ll repeat what I told you many years ago: just as I did not tolerate being pressured by my elders, so I will never stand for being pressured by you young people. Now go away. I’m going back inside. I need a nice hot bath! It’s incredible, but I will never cease to be amazed at how by effortlessly turning a small tap with two fingers, you can have streams of hot water ready and waiting for you. Do you know that at one time you had to heat water and fill tiny little tubs? That’s if there was any water! Awful times, Prando! The smell of sweat, bedbugs, itching.’

‘Oh no, Mama!’

‘No, what?’

‘No, I know you! When you start digressing, it means you have a specific idea in mind, and I’m not moving until you give me an answer. Judas Priest! I can’t stand this constant worrying! What do you plan to do?’

‘Take a hot bath, Prando. I told you.’

‘What now? Are you smoking, too?’

‘Well yes, to make up for…’

‘Make up for what? That’s all we needed, a cigarette in her mouth…’

‘I started smoking the morning they arrested me and I loved it! Then I realized that it was better not to continue. And it was just as well, because in prison and on the island it would have been an added torment. Now here on the big island with these Americans we have plenty of cigarettes … a cigarette lets you dream and keeps you company.’

‘But it’s not good for you!’

‘When I feel it’s harming me, I’ll quit. Nina is right: acquiring and breaking habits, that’s how we should live. All right, I see you won’t desist. “ The wife would not desist. ” Such amusing language you lawyers use! And to think you got your degree on a whim.’

‘Well, I had to do something!’

‘Yet you’re content and proud of your profession. It shows. That’s the beauty of life. The best things can come to you out of the darkest corner where you never thought to look. So then, dear son, will you let me take my bath or not?’

‘I’m not letting go of you, Mama.’

‘Fine, let’s go in then … Oh, look, Mattia’s here! Come on now, let go of my arm. Will you let me welcome him or not? Mattia, you’re back at last! Give me a hug! I haven’t seen you in a year, you old man! It’s hard to hear ’sta camurria di parola , 114that horror of a word, isn’t it? Who would have said we’d grow old together!’

‘I knew we would, Mody … Hello, Prando … Is it true you’re staying here with us, Mody? Nina told me, and I can’t tell you how happy this makes me. Is it true?’

‘Of course! And you, are you done travelling?’

‘Yes, everything is settled. I sold all those frozen houses … Bambù is right: not much money, but liquid, to use for seed, fertilizer and machinery. We’re better off bolstering what little land we have. I was a little reluctant because of the girls. But Bambù is right: they’ll make their own life. Fortunately, this at least has changed: having two daughters is no longer as worrisome as it was before.’

‘That much at least, Mattia!.. How nice the shade is! Beatrice had that wisteria planted. The building foreman didn’t want to. He said that over time the roots, voracious as beasts, would eat away the walls of the terrace and the house, but Beatrice kept telling him: “This house will live even longer than we will, and I want a plant that will get out of the way like a theatre curtain in winter, and in summer will give me shade: a violet and green canopy.” You won’t believe me, but Beatrice’s eyes were violet in the summer … Thank you, Nina; by now you make tea just like Beatrice did.’

‘Well, by associating with the rich you grow refined and decadent. But how sweet this decadence is!’

‘How come you’re still here? I thought you’d gone to the shop.’

‘It’s Sunday, Mody! Shit, I can tell you’ve never worked!’

‘True. You’ll teach me all about it, won’t you, Nina?’

‘Teach you what, Mama? You’re exasperating! Do you mind telling me what you two have concocted?’

‘What do you say, Mody, shall we tell him? Your mother is opening a shop next door to mine, and since she knows more about books than yarns, it’s a bookshop!’

‘I want to create a bookshop that is also a gathering place, like the one in Rome on Via Veneto. A few select books and someone you can ask for recommendations. At least my reading will be put to some use.’

‘You, behind a counter? Not on your life!’

‘What’s wrong with it, Prando? I told you, Nina: we would have been better off not saying anything to him.’

‘You, a Brandiforti, working as a shopkeeper?’

‘You know, Mattia, sometimes I really feel like creating a domestic revolution and saying what should be said to this caruso .’

‘Drop it, Prando. Leave your mother alone! She knows what she wants to do.’

‘You always side together, you two! But what need is there to work? I earn well, Bambolina is wealthy. With the proceeds…’

‘No, Prando! The proceeds from the sale of this villa have already been invested in books and in the small shop adjacent to Nina’s.’

‘And where will you live?’

‘I’ve paid the Brunos a deposit. I’ll live above the shop.’