Gifford - Do the blind dream? : new novellas and stories

Do the blind dream? : new novellas and stories — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Do the blind dream? : new novellas and stories" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...33

Table of Contents

For Dan

Acknowledgments

The Cin originally appeared in the magazine Post Road (New York, 2002). The first section of Ball Lightning originally appeared, in different form, in the novel Wyoming (New York, 2000). This version of Ball Lightning appeared in the magazine First Intensity (Lawrence, Kansas, 2003). Life Is Like This Sometimes originally appeared in the magazine Oyster Boy Review (San Francisco, 2003). Rosa Blanca originally appeared in the magazine Film Comment (New York, 2003).

The author wishes to express his gratitude to Daniel Schmid for his editorial expertise and participation in the composition of the story Havana Moon.

Do the Blind Dream?

A NOVELLA

To that girl leaning
out the window, waving

A kiss, a bite... one who truly loves with all her heart can easily mistake them.

Heinrich von Kleist, Penthesilea

1

It Was late afternoon in the bedroom of a house in Flmine, a small town close to the sea in the south of Italy. Punctuated by occasional thunder and lightning, rain punished the walls and pounded against a high window. The room was sparsely furnished: a bed, a dresser and a mirror. On the wall over the bed hung a crucifix. Fresh yellow and blue flowers stood stiffly in a vase on the dresser.

In the center of the room rested an open coffin in which lay the body of Beatrice, a woman seventy-six years old at the time of her death the day before. Her face, while not serene, was remarkably free of lines and wrinkles. Next to the coffin, seated in chairs, were two of the deceased womans three children, Sandra and Aldo, who was barely a year older than his sister. Both of them were distraught, crying or between bouts of crying.

Is Cara coming? Sandra asked.

Aunt Rosa spoke to her. She was filming in Spain. Shell be here before they close the coffin.

Is Buddy with her?

Yes, said Aldo.

Good. What time is that?

She had to wait until this morning to get a plane to Madrid from somewhere in the North. Then they fly from Madrid to Rome. From there theyll come by car.

I meant, Sandra said, what time do they close the coffin?

At six. Then we go to the church.

Sandra looked at her watch.

Its only four-thirty. Itll destroy Cara if shes too late to see Mamma one last time.

How long have Cara and Buddy been together? Aldo asked.

Two or three months, I think.

Aldo stood up and took one of his mothers hands in his own. He bent down and kissed her face, then her ringless hand before collapsing onto her body.

Mamma! Mamma! he cried.

Sandra rose and put an arm around her brother, hugging him. After a few moments he released his mothers hand and sat down again, as did Sandra.

Is Papa going to come? Aldo asked.

Hed better not try.

Rosa would kill him.

Ill kill him.

Aldo wiped tears from his cheeks and eyes.

You know, he said, he came to see Mamma a couple of weeks ago.

No, I didnt. Why? He hadnt seen her in years.

Mamma asked to see him.

Asked? She couldnt ask.

A large clap of thunder rocked the house, rattling the bedroom window.

She spoke his name, over and over, said Aldo. Rosa didnt want to, but she telephoned him and he came. Papa sat with Mamma for three hours. He sang their old songs, recited her favorite poems. I was here.

Did she recognize him?

I think Mamma always knew what was happening. She was a prisoner inside her mind. I could see it in her eyes, behind her eyes.

No, said Sandra, I dont believe it. She was lost a long time ago. Fifteen yearstwelve, at least.

Cara told me Mamma spoke to Buddy.

To Buddy? When was this?

Its truethe last time she visited, three weeks ago, Cara said she was sitting with Mamma on the couch, holding her, stroking her hair. Buddy was sitting in a chair across from Mamma, or standing, I dont know. All of a sudden, Mama looked directly at Buddy and said, Beautiful. She turned and looked at Cara, then back at Buddy, and Mamma said to him, Poor guy. Then she faded away again.

No! Thats fantastic!

Aldo shook his head.

Cara couldnt believe it, either. She said Buddy joked that Mamma felt sorry for him, and despite the sickness she had to warn him, to let him know she knew how difficult life would be for him with Cara.

Unbelievable.

Buddy met Papa, too, around the same time. Papa asked him how many children Buddy had, and Buddy told him two.

Buddy has two children?

Apparently. Anyway, Papa said he had six, and Buddy said, But Im not finished yet. Buddy told me that Papa, eighty years old, sick, barely able to stand by himself, got a dark look in his eyes and said, Im not, either.

Sandra grunted.

Hes sick, all right. Hes always been sick.

Tears spilled suddenly from her eyes. Annoyed, she fished around in her pockets, found a fresh tissue, and quickly wiped them away.

Papa had better not try to come, she said.

He wont. Rosa hates him, and as long as youre here he knows hes not welcome.

Ignazio, Sandras husband, and Giuliana, Aldos wife, entered the bedroom and sat down next to their respective spouses.

I mean it! Sandra said. I wont let that monster near Mamma.

Papas not a monster, said Aldo.

You dont know him.

Hes my father, too. What do you mean, I dont know him?

You didnt know he had another family! A wife and a child.

Aldo shook his head.

Nobody knew, not Mamma...

Of course, not Mamma! Sandra shouted. Just like she didnt know about all of his other women.

Pretended not to know.

He fucked every girl or woman he met, or tried to. Mamma couldnt keep a maid or a girl to help with us. He even did it with Gabriella.

Aldo stared at Sandra.

How do you know this? Gabriella moved to Argentina thirty years ago.

Why do you suppose Mamma would never mention the name of her only sister?

You know what happened. When Gabriella was twenty-five she was misdiagnosed with a blood disease and told she had only a short time to live, two or three years; so she went out and slept with every man in town. By the time she found out she wasnt going to die shed disgraced herself in Flmine. Thats why she had to marry a foreigner, because nobody here would have her.

Sandra laughed.

Dont be a fool, Aldo. Cara and I know the truth.

Where is Cara? Ignazio asked.

Shes coming, said Aldo. She and Buddy should be here any minute.

Do they know the coffin will be sealed at six? asked Sandra.

They know.

Noises came from the other side of the apartment. They heard the doorbell ring, then the front door open and close, followed by a rush of voices. Rosa, who had been Beatrices caregiver, and in whose apartment she had lived the last five years of her life, rushed into the bedroom.

Its Cara, she said.

Next page

1234567...33

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Do the blind dream? : new novellas and stories»

Look at similar books to Do the blind dream? : new novellas and stories. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

Andrew Gifford

We All Scream: The Fall of the Giffords Ice Cream Empire

Precious Williams

Color Blind: A Memoir

Phil Gifford

Loose Amongst the Legends: A Memoir

Weihenmayer

No Barriers

Michael Nye

My Heart Is Not Blind: On Blindness and Perception

Gifford

China Road: One Mans Journey into the Heart of Modern China

Sherry Sontag

Blind Man’s Bluff : The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage

Gifford

LOOSE AMONGST THE LEGENDS : a memoir

Laurie Rubin

Do You Dream in Color?. Insights from a Girl Without Sight

Deborah Kent

What Is It Like to Be Blind?

Joe Haldeman

None So Blind: A Short Story Collection

Shlomo A. Deshen

Blind People: The Private and Public Life of Sightless Israelis

Discussion, reviews of the book Do the blind dream? : new novellas and stories and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.