anything, which will be better for me, but if I discover the slightest thing, I’ll come here and bring it to you on a silver platter and resign from this job. I don’t want to have anything to do with people or things that are outside the law. That’s not an excessive demand, is it?’
Instead of the shouting he was expecting, silence. For a long time. Then Carrua stood up abruptly and at last screamed, ‘You must have a reason to think there’s something there that’s outside the law.’
‘I didn’t want to tell you, because maybe it isn’t a reason,’ he replied loud and clear, ‘but last night your friend’s son tried to kill himself by slitting his wrists. I found him just in time. He’s outside right now, alive and well, waiting forme. But a young man that age doesn’t try to die if there isn’t some underlying cause.’
‘And didn’t he tell you why?’
‘No, just as for the past year he hasn’t told his father why he drinks like that, without any friends or acquaintances driving him to it. And the more I asked him, the less he would tell me.’
‘A lot of people kill themselves for no reason.’
‘Davide Auseri isn’t a young girl who’s been seduced. He may be young, but he’s a man. And he isn’t backward, as you think, or as his father thinks. If he wants to die he has a serious reason, and serious reasons, for a man, always have something to do with the law. I’ve already had enough dealings with the law. Which is why I’ve come here to tell you that, if there’s something not right about this, I’m dropping everything.’
No shouting. Carrua sat down again. ‘You’re right.’ He had grown sad. He had done everything he could to help Duca, to protect him, to avoid him being put on trial and going to prison. There had been nothing he could do: the wheels had got jammed. ‘I don’t think you’ll find anything, but if you do, come and tell me straight away and I’ll find you another job.’ Before opening the door, he gave him a hug. ‘Try to hold on. Another year or two, and they’ll let you back on the register, everything will be the way it was before, you’re still young.’
He let Carrua believe that was what he was hoping for, even though he knew that hope was a kind of secret vice that nobody ever managed to rid themselves of completely.‘Thank you for everything you’ve done for Lorenza,’ he said, hugging him tight.
When he came out into the Via Fatebenefratelli, into the damp sunlight that was as hot as shaving cream from a luxury hairdresser, it struck him that if he didn’t find Davide and the Giulietta in the Via dei Giardini, then he had really messed up. But he had had to take the risk: otherwise he would never have known whether he could trust the young man, or what he was made of.
Davide was in his place, walking up and down next to the Giulietta in the incipient shade given by the trees at that hour. Duca saw him from the back, tall, monumental, and felt sorry for him. Whatever the reason, he must be very unhappy. ‘Thank you,’ he said to him, getting behind the wheel. ‘Let’s just drop by the bank, and then I’m sorry if I take you somewhere a little sad, but I’m going to see my father’s grave.’
At the bank, which was his father’s bank, they cashed the cheque he had been given by Engineer Auseri, which was for quite a large amount. They cashed it without any problem, even though they knew he had been in prison and even though his father, with his small savings account, had never done much to boost the institution’s profits.
‘After we’ve been to Musocco, we’ll stop for a drink,’ he told him encouragingly. For the first week he couldn’t reduce to less than a third the dose of alcohol Davide was used to drinking, for psychological reasons if for nothing else: he wanted him to stay a normal man, not become a thirsty man who thought of nothing but whisky.
Country graveyards, surrounded by greenery and tall cypresses, are
Instead of the shouting he was expecting, silence. For a long time. Then Carrua stood up abruptly and at last screamed, ‘You must have a reason to think there’s something there that’s outside the law.’
‘I didn’t want to tell you, because maybe it isn’t a reason,’ he replied loud and clear, ‘but last night your friend’s son tried to kill himself by slitting his wrists. I found him just in time. He’s outside right now, alive and well, waiting forme. But a young man that age doesn’t try to die if there isn’t some underlying cause.’
‘And didn’t he tell you why?’
‘No, just as for the past year he hasn’t told his father why he drinks like that, without any friends or acquaintances driving him to it. And the more I asked him, the less he would tell me.’
‘A lot of people kill themselves for no reason.’
‘Davide Auseri isn’t a young girl who’s been seduced. He may be young, but he’s a man. And he isn’t backward, as you think, or as his father thinks. If he wants to die he has a serious reason, and serious reasons, for a man, always have something to do with the law. I’ve already had enough dealings with the law. Which is why I’ve come here to tell you that, if there’s something not right about this, I’m dropping everything.’
No shouting. Carrua sat down again. ‘You’re right.’ He had grown sad. He had done everything he could to help Duca, to protect him, to avoid him being put on trial and going to prison. There had been nothing he could do: the wheels had got jammed. ‘I don’t think you’ll find anything, but if you do, come and tell me straight away and I’ll find you another job.’ Before opening the door, he gave him a hug. ‘Try to hold on. Another year or two, and they’ll let you back on the register, everything will be the way it was before, you’re still young.’
He let Carrua believe that was what he was hoping for, even though he knew that hope was a kind of secret vice that nobody ever managed to rid themselves of completely.‘Thank you for everything you’ve done for Lorenza,’ he said, hugging him tight.
When he came out into the Via Fatebenefratelli, into the damp sunlight that was as hot as shaving cream from a luxury hairdresser, it struck him that if he didn’t find Davide and the Giulietta in the Via dei Giardini, then he had really messed up. But he had had to take the risk: otherwise he would never have known whether he could trust the young man, or what he was made of.
Davide was in his place, walking up and down next to the Giulietta in the incipient shade given by the trees at that hour. Duca saw him from the back, tall, monumental, and felt sorry for him. Whatever the reason, he must be very unhappy. ‘Thank you,’ he said to him, getting behind the wheel. ‘Let’s just drop by the bank, and then I’m sorry if I take you somewhere a little sad, but I’m going to see my father’s grave.’
At the bank, which was his father’s bank, they cashed the cheque he had been given by Engineer Auseri, which was for quite a large amount. They cashed it without any problem, even though they knew he had been in prison and even though his father, with his small savings account, had never done much to boost the institution’s profits.
‘After we’ve been to Musocco, we’ll stop for a drink,’ he told him encouragingly. For the first week he couldn’t reduce to less than a third the dose of alcohol Davide was used to drinking, for psychological reasons if for nothing else: he wanted him to stay a normal man, not become a thirsty man who thought of nothing but whisky.
Country graveyards, surrounded by greenery and tall cypresses, are
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