64

 64

THE LIGHTS WERE ON in Martino’s house and Lea was waiting for him. She’d put a parcel tied with red ribbon on the table and made a real fuss about his bruised lip, hugging and kissing him. She swore that the other boy would hear about it, the thug—he wouldn’t get off easily. All the while Martino begged her not to do anything because these things were his business and his business alone.

The present was a big box of watercolors. Martino thought Giulia would be excited about them and he let himself get carried away too. In fact, he’d be able to take them to school and use them to make peace.

The next morning, Lea still hadn’t exhausted her concern. She took him a cup of milk and biscuits and put his clothes on the radiator to warm.

“Listen, I’ve invited Agostino to lunch at ours,” she told him as they got into Gianni’s car. “I phoned his parents yesterday evening while you were asleep. Did I do the wrong thing?”

“No, no you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Does the smell of smoke bother you? I feel like it’s soaked into the seats.”

“No, Mamma.”

Lea rolled the window down. “There. Breathe in some more of that good air. It’s like using your nebulizer.”

The damp asphalt reflected the sky’s pallor. Martino thought he could tell Agostino the truth about the teacher. After all, he lived somewhere else and didn’t even know who she was. He’d also tell him about the wild boar and how he’d thrown a dead animal at an older boy and got in a fight over it. He sucked on his injured lip so he could taste the rusty flavor of dried blood.

“Leave your lip alone,” Lea chided him, before adding, “It’s a good thing we have the car. Gianni is really a good egg. Like Papa, you know.”

Martino wasn’t listening. He was mentally embroidering the tale he was going to tell Agostino.

They went past the big house by the fountain where Silvia had been born, if he’d understood properly, and the wall at the bend with the now familiar writing painted over in whitewash: GIMONDI IS BETTER THAN MERCKX. Above the hill hung huge, soft clouds, seemingly made of flannel. As they drove away from Bioglio and the woods, Martino realized that he was happy.