History (19 page)

"What? What? Today? Already! We weren't talking about today!
Not

at once!
Not
today!" Ida stammered, almost voiceless in her desperation. "\V then? I told you, he always waits for me by the tobacco shop.

And he was there now, waiting for me! For this whole month I've been

away, he's gone there to look for me every day! And he comes when I call his name, too! Blitz! Blitz! You see? He knows his name! Ah!"

Meanwhile, Giuseppe, who had taken advantage of Nino's absence to

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have a little nap, reopened his eyes. And he proved not only unafraid but even transported, serenely ecstatic at the sight of this fi examplar of dog, indeed of fauna, that had appeared to him from all Creation.

"Giuseppe! You see who's here? Blitz, say something to Giuseppe! The party's in his honor! Hey, Blitz, did you hear me? Say something!"

"Oof! oof!" Blitz said. "uuuuuuhin . . ." Giuseppe said.

It was Nino's triumph. His laughter, fresh and overwhelming as a skyrocket, flung him to the fl in a riot of leaps and somersaults with Blitz. Until he went and sat on the edge of the bed, to rest blissfully, taking a humble, crushed cigarette from the rear pocket of his pants.

"I could only buy two Nazionali," he said, hardly concealing a certain regret, while still puffi on his cigarette with a depraved air, "because I didn't have enough money for a whole pack. I went without the ice cream cones, too. They would of melted on the stairs anyway." ( For himself, actually, he had bought a cone, a small one, and consumed it on the spot. But he skipped this point, which didn't concern Ida.) "With the rest, I paid for his collar and leash," he explained proudly.

And he bent over Blitz ( who had settled at his feet meanwhile ) to take off the leash. "It's real leather, not fake," he boasted. "It's de luxe."

"Then, goodness only knows HOW MUCH it cost . . ."

"Oh, it's not new. I bought it second-hand, from the news-vendor, who gave me a bargain. It belonged to his puppy, who's grown up now and stays in the country at Tivoli. Don't you remember that little dog that used to piss on the newspapers sometimes? What? You don't remember? I showed him to you a hundred thousand times! A purebred! An Alsatian! And here, on the collar-plate, there's still his name : WOLF. But now I'll scratch it out with a nail, otherwise you can tell right off it's second-hand. Blitz doesn't belong to that breed, after all."

"And what breed is he?" "He's a bastard."

The ca word shocked Ida, who blushed at once; and she gave an involuntary look towards the crib, as if the infant might have understood.

In his turn, then, Nino conceived the thought: "Yeah! Giuseppe's a bas tard, too. In this house, there are two bastards," he deduced, highly amused by his discovery.

But in the meanwhile, having put his hand in his pocket to look for

the nail, he found a fi purchase, which he had nearly forgot. "Hey, Blitz!" he cried, "I forgot! I found your supper for you, too! Go on, eat up !" And taking out a revolting package of tripe, he dropped it on the fl

in front of the dog, who, with the skill of a magician, made it vanish immediately.

9 0 H I S T O R Y
. .
. .
. .
1 9 4 1

Nino watched him, with pride : "Blitz's breed," he resumed, smiling at another invention of his that charm him, "is also called the
starred breed.
Blitz! show them the nice star you have!"

And Blitz promptly rolled over on his back, his paws in the air. Below, as above, tail included, he was all a uniform dark brown color : except in the center of his belly, where he had a little white patch, crooked, more or less stellar in shape. This was his sole beauty and distinction, visible, how ever, only when he rolled over. And he was so delighted to display it that he would have remained still, as if ecstatic, in that position, but Nino straightened him up, tickling him with one foot.

Iduzza didn't observ the perform she was still dazed by that word
bastard.
Her mortifi eyes, which hadn't even glanced at Blitz's star, fell on the greasy tripe wrapping, empty on the fl This sight off to sinner Ida another object of diversion, of release . . .

"And now?" she rose up, with dramatic bitterness, "there's another mouth to feed, here in the house! . . . And who's going to give us a ration card for him? . . .
"

Nino became glum, and didn't answer her at all. Instead, he turned to the dog; and with his face close to Blitz's, he said to him, in intimate privacy :

"Don't pay any attenti to what she says. I'll take care of you; me and my friends, we won't let you starv you can count on that. How did you eat till now? You can tell the whole world, we don't need anybody else's shit!"

"Aaah," Iduzza intervened again, with a condemned sigh, "now you're even going to teach the dog your foul, vulgar speech. And you'll be all ready to teach it to your brother . . .
"

At this last fatal word which had escaped her lips, she staggered as if clubbed. And aghast, with the movements of a poor animal, she turned to pick up that greasy paper from the fl no longer daring to address Ninnarieddu.

But the word seemed so natural to him that he didn't even notice it.

Instead, he replied, spirited and glowing :

"\V live in Rome, and we talk Roman! \Vhen we're in Pari ( where I plan to go soon, now that Paris is ours! ) we'll talk Parisian! And when we're in Hong Kong, on our next cruise, we'll talk Konguese. You can be sure I'm not going to stay here in Rome! I'm going to cover the whole world like it was a neighborhood, and in airplanes and racing cars, not on foot! I'll cross the Atlantic and Pacifi and I'll take Blitz along with me! And we'll go around the world, nonstop! We'll go to Chicago, Hollywood, and Greenland, and on to the steppes and play the balalaika ! We'll go to London, to Saint-Moritz, and to Mozambique! We'll go to Honolulu and

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on the Yellow River and . . . and . . . And I'll take Giuseppe along with

me, too! Hey, hey, Giuseppe, I'm taking you, too!"

Giuseppe had fallen asleep again, hearing nothing of this grandiose program. And in the ensuing silence, between Ninnarieddu and Ida, who still had her back turned to him, there was an unspoken, fi dialogue, perhaps unformulated even in their thoughts, but expressed by their per sons with eloquent clari

In her dress of artifi silk, rotted by sweat, Ida's back was thin and hunched like a little old woman's : it said to Nino :

"Are you going to take me?"

And Nino's set, sulky expression, with his darting eyes and his harsh, violent mouth, answered :

"No. I'm leaving you here."

2

Giuseppe, precocious in his birth, proved from the beginning precocious in everyth ing. At the usual natural stages which mark every infant's advance along the itinerary of experience, he always arrived ahead of time, but so far ahead (at least for those days )

that I myself could hardly believe it, if I had not shared, in some ways, his fate. It seemed that his tiny forces were all directed, in a great urgent fervor, towards the spectacle of the world in which he had just appeared.

A few days after the discovery of his existence, Ninnuzzu couldn't resist the temptation to reveal it to two or three of his best friends, boast ing to them that at home he had a little brother who was a champion : so tiny he was actually comical, but with huge eyes that could talk with people. And that same morning, taking advantage of Ida's absence, he led those friends up to the house to introduce them. Five of them climbed the steps, counting Blitz, who now followed Nino everywhere, as if he were half of his soul.

On the stairs, one of the friends, a middle-class boy, expressed his puzzlement about this brother Nino had announced, since it was known that his mother had been a widow for many years. But, with contempt for the other's lack of intelligence, Nino answered : "So what? You think only husbands can make babies?!" with such absolutist naturalness that they all laughed, in chorus, at that ignorant (or malicious? ) boy, shaming him.

In any case, while they were still on the stairs, Nino lowered his voice to warn them this brother was an outlaw, and they shouldn't mention him to anyone, otherwise his mother would raise hell, because she was afraid

92 H I S T O R Y . . . . . . 1941

people would think she was a tramp. At which, his friends, like conspira tors, swore to keep the secret.

Once they were in the bedroom, they were somewhat disappointed;

for Giuseppe at that moment was sleeping, and asleep like that, apart from his tiny size which was authentically pigmy, he showed nothing extraordi nary; on the contrary. His eyelids, like all infants', were still wrinkled; but suddenly he opened them. And on seeing those great widened eyes in his face as small as a fi greeting the fi visitors as if they were a sole marv all were exhilarated. Then, rejoicing in the company, Giuseppe, for the fi time in his life, smiled.

A little later, the visitors ran off, afraid of being caught by the mother. But Nino impa tiently awaited her return on purpose to announce to her the sensational news : "You know what? Giuseppe smiled!" She remained skeptical : Giuseppe, she said, isn't old enough to smile yet; babies don't learn to smile until they're a month and a half, or two months old, at least. "Come and see!" Nino insisted, and he dragged her into the bedroom, plotting some thrilling trick that would induce his brother to repeat his exploit. But there was no need, because just seeing him, Giuseppe, as if by appointment, smiled for a second time. And afterwards whenever he saw Nino, even if he had been cry until then, he would promptly repeat that fraternal little smile, which was soon transformed into real laughter of welcome and content.

By now the schools had been open again for some while, and from early morning the house was left deserted. Blitz himself, in fact, madly in love with Nino as he was, wasn't satisfi just to follow him and his bands always, wherever they went; he even waited for him outside the gates, while he was at school or at pre-military training. So Nino fi him out also with a muzzle, afraid that the dog-catcher, coming by, might arrest him for being nobody's dog. And he had someone engrave on his collar:
BLITZ Nino Mancuso,
with the complete address.

Sometimes, on the ( rather frequent) mornings when he played hookey, Nino, happening to pass near the house, would tum up again with some schoolmate at Giuseppe's crib (also for the pleasure of breaking the maternal veto ). These were rapid visits, because those boys, and especially Nino, were in too great a hurry to run towards the attractions of their illicit holiday; but they were always celebrations, made all the more fascinating by the infracti and by mystery Th season was sti mild, and Giuseppe, in his crib, was completely naked; however, modesty didn't exist for him. His only feeling was the desire to convey to his visitors his pleasure in receiving them. It was infi ite, as if every time, he had the renewed illusion that this very brief festivi would last forever. And in his almost crazy

9 3

need to express that infi e pleasure with his scarce means, Giuseppe

would multiply all at the same time his timid kicks, his enchanted looks, his whimpers, smiles, and laughs; he was rewarded by a devilish display of greetings, wisecracks, and some compliments of little kisses. On these occa sions, Nino never failed to reveal, with pride and glory, his brother's vari ous specialties : pointing out, for example, that, although small, he was already
a
true male, complete with prick and everything. And that he hardly ever cried, but he already made special sounds, diff from one another, all perfectly understood by Blitz. And that on his hands and his feet he had all twenty nails, imperceptible perhaps, but in perfect order, and his mother already had to cut them, etc., etc. Then, as suddenly as they had arrived, the visi tors would rush off, together, recalled in vain by Giuseppe's exceptional crying, which followed them down the stairs and died away, solitary and disconsolate.

At fi as soon as her class was over, Ida had to hurry home, breath less and always late, to nurse him. But he soon learned to manage on his own, with a bottle full of artifi milk, which she left him during her longer absences. And, true to his private determination not to die, he would suck for all he was worth. He didn't grow much; however, he had fi out a bit, and there were some little rings of fat on his arms and thighs. And despite his segregation, he had taken on a pink coloring which enhanced his eyes. These, in the center of the iris, were of a darker blue, like a starry night's; whereas, all around, they were the light
color
of air. His gaze, always intent and eloquent, as if in a universal dialogue, was a joy to see. His toothless mouth, with protruding lips, sought kisses with the same eager demand that it sought milk. And his head was black; but not curly like Nino's; with smooth clumps, moist and shiny, like certain mi grant ducks known to hunters by the name of
morette,
"little blacks." Among his many clumps, already, there was a bolder one, right in the center of his head; it was always erect, like an exclamation point, nor could any combing keep it down.

Very soon he learn the names of the family.: Ida was nu} Nino was

ino
or else
aie
(Ninnarieddu ) and Blitz was
i.

For Blitz, meanwhile, an almost tragic dilemma had begun. As time passed, he and Giuseppe understood each other better and better, convers ing and playing together on the fl with immense amusement, and so he found himself madly in love also with Giuseppe, as well as Nino. But Nino was always out, and Giuseppe always at home: thus it was impossible for him to live constantly in the company of both his loves, as he would have wished. And in consequence, with either one, he was always tortured by regret: and if he was with one, the mere mention of the other's name or a smell that recalled him was enough for his homesickness to stream behind