Between Enemies (35 page)
Authors: Andrea Molesini
‘The syntax of things could kill us,’ Grandpa had written in one of his rough drafts, which Grandma hadn’t had the heart to burn, ‘but it won’t; we’ll take care of it ourselves, crickets venturing out into the snow.’
Coda
September 1929
G
RANDMA DIED OF
S
PANISH FLU A FEW MONTHS AFTER THE
war ended, a war that left traces – fading over the years – of half a dozen mortar shells in the park. When I have time, in the summer, I make it a point to call on Aunt Maria. She’s a woman who lives alone, intense, still beautiful. I try to stay for a couple of weeks when I go. We talk about the latest books we’ve read, and now and then about ‘that character’, our Duce who just won’t stop rinsing the laundry of his Socialism in the holy water font. There’s a tacit understanding between us: we never talk about the war, about what happened at the Villa, about the gallows poles with their hooks. But a few days ago I asked her if she ever has occasion to think about that major from Vienna, Baron von Feilitzsch. Without glancing at me, she ran her forefinger over the rim of her cup, making it sing, as Teresa’s grunt moved off into the distance. Then, her eyes focused on her coffee, in a faint voice, she said: ‘No.’ At that point I turned to look at Teresa. She looked grim, carved out of the evening light, just a few steps away from her kitchen, with her thinning hair pulled back into a bun. She was looking at the hills. I sense that she’ll never leave here, that she’s like the grass, born to stay in one place, at the centre of the miserable splendour of everything that goes past.
‘
Diambarne de l’ostia
.’
Note
This story is based around certain events that actually happened, described in Maria Spada’s book,
Diario dell’invasione
(privately printed, Vittorio Veneto, 1999), but it is still fiction, and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The places where the events occurred, however, are real and historical.
A. M.
Between Enemies
Andrea Molesini is a novelist, poet and essayist. His work has been translated into nine languages.
Between Enemies
won the Premio Campiello, Premio Comisso, Premio Città di Cuneo and Premio Latisana. He teaches comparative literature at the University of Padua and lives in Venice.
First published in Italy in 2010 by Editore Sellerio, Palermo.
First published in Great Britain in 2015 by Atlantic Books, an imprint of Atlantic Books Ltd.
Copyright © Andrea Molesini, 2010
Translation copyright © Antony Shugaar and Patrick Creagh, 2015
The moral right of Andrea Molesini to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
The moral right of Antony Shugaar and Patrick Creagh to be identified as the translators of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination and not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities, is entirely coincidental.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978 0 85789 795 4
E-book ISBN: 978 0 85789 796 1
Printed in Great Britain
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