I must have had a weird expression because he immediately added: “It was just an idea, I didn’t want to…”
Yes, I really wanted it! I insisted on getting him to sleep in the house, I prepared him the most comfortable bed, then, in a hurry, also a great dinner.
He sat with a big smile. “You shouldn’t have done all this.”
I took a seat in front of him, lost in his eyes. I didn’t even touch my food, I was happy to watch him to eat.
He did the talking, continually. Only he talked, of nonsense, and I kept answering. “Oh, yes”, “Good”, “Right”, “No doubt.”
Then the questions. A lot of them, which took me completely unprepared.
“It’s not a very big village, how many are you? About fifty people?”
He guessed about right, and I nodded.
“Are you all women in this village?”
“There is Mr. Bosetti.”
“If there are no men why you call yourself Mrs.?”
I was shocked, and I couldn’t find any answer at the moment.
“Are you married, Mrs. Chionna?”
“No”, I had to admit.
With incredible impudence, he went directly to talk to me like I was his friend. “What’s your name?”
I blushed, as I have not been for very long. I stuttered: “Catherine.”
“Do you have a partner?”
I kept my mouth wide open, and he considered that an answer.
“I can stay here while I work for you.”
I couldn’t talk.
“Did I shock you?” he asked.
I lowered my head, staring at my hands too big. “Is that what you did with the other ladies too?”
I felt lost, because I too started to talk to him like I knew him well.
“Does it matter?”
I shook my head.
“Then do you want me to stay?”
I nodded, before I could change my mind.
His behavior changed. He helped me to clear the table, but then he approached me from behind as I washed the plates and caught me in a hug. He kissed my neck, whispering: “Call me Diego.”
His hands explored my body and it was a feeling I had never known before. He continued to kiss me, from my neck to my cheek, and from there to my lips.
I broke two plates, then I found myself hugging him, my clothes messy. “The bed is upstairs…” I murmured.
“Who cares about the bed”, he said, and laid me on the kitchen table.
We did it there.
And then, in bed, two more times.
Finally, he collapsed and lay down at my side, smoking a cigarette.
“You’re great, Katy. There’s no-one like you. A volcano.”
I watched him to see if he was kidding me, but he seemed really honest.
“I’m not beautiful.”
He turned to me, leaning on an elbow. “For me, you are beautiful. You don’t look like a movie actress, but you’re pretty never-less.”
Now I was sure he was lying, but I found it a nice lie. “I’m too old for you.”
“I don’t have a problem with it, what about you?”
There were no many problems to face after what we just did! “You will soon go away.”
“It’s inevitable. I’ve been here far too long. But you could come with me.”
My heart jumped in my throat. “With you? Where?”
“In the city. In my home. With my family.”
This was impossible, challenging every logic. It was something inconceivable.
I remember with shame that I was there like an idiot, stuttering: “I…I…I…”
He stroked my cheek, neck, shoulder, then lowered down, touching my breast. “You are so beautiful.”
Why does he keep saying that? I asked myself. I know I’m not.
“No, not with the other.”
“What?”
He smiled. “You asked me if I did the same with the other ladies, didn’t you? No, I didn’t do it. They would have liked it, but I didn’t.”
I slipped away from him. In a way, this was even worse. I just couldn’t understand it. I wanted him and I had him but now his presence unsettled me.
“You’re really cool, Catherine. The woman I’ve always dreamed of.”
And he went on and on. It was not just that night, there were many more. And in the mornings, and afternoons.
I even came to look at the mirror and didn’t see a monster anymore. Yes, I had wide hips, but it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. In bed, I would do anything he liked, he was saying that no one had ever given him so much pleasure. My big breasts? Diego said they were a gift from God, he loved them. My face? It was interesting, in the end, I had to admit it even to myself.
He made plans about our life together. About the house we would buy, about our children. And in the meantime, he kept repairing every little damage in my house. Why was he doing it, I wondered, if he wanted to take me away with him.
I felt like a cheater, petty and a coward, because I didn’t find the courage to tell him that I wouldn’t follow him. That for no reason I would have left the farm. I was afraid of losing him if I told him so.
He was possessive, seized every opportunity to touch me, embrace me, kiss me.
One day he said to me: “I immediately understood what you felt for me since the first moment I saw you. That’s why I decided to make a move on you, you would never have made it. Perhaps I scared you, but there was no other way.”
And again: “You don’t believe me when I tell you that you are unique, but it’s true. I’m not a great lover, but I had some experience, and I can assure you that no one is like you. You have to accept it, you have to realize it. You are special.”
And finally: “I want to marry you, Catherine. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
What the other ladies understood, I never knew for sure, but I’m sure that much gossip was spreading around.
Diego had been in my house for a week now, had picked up his luggage from Mrs. Manni’s home, with an excuse.
None of them asked me openly, but they all had a warning look.
One morning, I went to the City Hall and I asked Mr. Bosetti. “Do you still want to do your duty?”
I wasn’t the first one to ask such a question because he used his usual formula. “As soon as I can, I will come to you, Mrs. Chionna.”
I smiled and accepted his answer for good.
But a couple of days later, when the co-op truck came to pick up the eggs, the barn was empty.
The driver was a new young man who I had never seen before. Hardened, massive, with an impudent look. He threw a glimpse into the barn and asked, “What’s going on here?”
I apologized. “Mr. Bosetti is useless, he doesn’t do nothing at all. He keeps postponing everything. Can’t you see that it’s all falling apart?”
Fortunately, he didn’t look carefully around, because it wasn’t true that the barn was about to collapse. No more, at least, since Diego fixed everything it. But I made sure I never mentioned him.
He wasn’t surprised, the other ladies must have complained as well.
“I’ll discuss it with the manager”, he muttered. “They will find a solution. They will replace him.”
I nodded, showing me satisfied. Then he grabbed me by one arm and pushed me into the barn. “Let’s get something done now”, he said.
“Who was that man?”, Diego asked me at dinner.
“It’s the co-op guy”, I explained. “Every month he comes for the eggs.”
The suspect flickered in his eyes. “Eggs? What eggs? You have no hens.”
His jealousy made me proud, despite the blunder I had done. I forced myself to laugh. “Did I say eggs? I call them so. I meant watermelons.”
“I didn’t see you pick them up”, Diego said. Then he got up and went to the window to look at the field. “They’re all still there.”
Since then things have been chilly between us, it wasn’t all as
perfect as it used to be before.
In the following days, I had to go to work in the barn often and Diego had finished every little repairing job.
He was idle, and he wasn’t used to do so. Even the other ladies had stopped looking for him and now they seemed complacent and quiet.
He wanted to leave, and he wanted me to follow him. I was making excuses to delay the departure.
One day he exploded. “But what happens to you all? What kind of place is this?”
I was stirring the polenta by the stove and I froze. “What’s wrong?”
He snorted. “Everything! You are all strange, and what do you do? I don’t understand you.”
“What do we do?”
“I would love to know it actually! That co-op truck…”
“Again!”, I shouted. “Again this story!”
He grunted and got sulky. That night he didn’t come in my bed.
It had been nice, but it was about to finish. I loved him, though he was dull and stubborn, and I loved his body. I had him, I had everything, even if I didn’t have to. It had been an unforgettable time, a wonderful month, but it was time to end it.
I wouldn’t leave and he couldn’t stay much longer. He talked about his family all the time, about his city.
I gave up, I almost thought of him as one of my memories already. And it would have ended that way if one day he didn’t come and look for me in the barn.
It was already half hour I was there, kneeling in the hay, and I was working. To spend time, I read a fashion magazine, full of clothes that I could never wear.
I never understood how he came in, because I always locked the door before I start my job. All of us did it, it was part of the ritual. But he was an expert with the locks, and he had no problem getting anywhere.
He caught me and made me the terrible question. “What are you doing?”
That was the worst moment of my life. I felt like I was dying. It was an intimate function in my day, which no one had ever seen before.
I was kneeling with wide legs, my torso stretched forward, my arms pointed to the ground, and the magazine lying there in the middle. Every now and then I turned a page with my hand.
Fortunately, I had not taken off the large skirt that covered me completely, nor even the underwear I had just dropped them to my ankles to save time. In that position I could look strange, but nothing was in sight. The hay, beneath and around me, helped me hide a lot.
He misunderstood, as expected. “But what are you doing? Couldn’t you do it at home?”
I wasn’t ready, even though he had given me a clue, and I couldn’t say a word.
“What are these?”
My heart stopped, suddenly. Diego approached the baskets and looked at the eggs. “What’s the matter?” he asked. “I’ve never seen eggs so big. What are those, ostrich eggs?”
Again, my dry throat was paralyzed.
“Where do they come from?” And then, implacable: “Stand up, you’re obscene in that position.” I would have never made it, I was still like a statue.
He kneeled before me. “What happened to you, are you sick? I didn’t want to scare you, I was just curious to know what do you do all day here.”
He smiled kindly, trying to be nice but I knew I would have lost him forever in a few moments.
“I’ll give you a hand, come on.”
I couldn’t resist, he was strong. He grabbed me under the armpits and lifted me up. He saw my panties twisted around my ankles and looked away for pity. But then he noticed what I was hiding under my skirt, and that was still warm in the hay.
He looked at me, then looked back at the egg. Then he looked at me again and again the egg. I was expecting him to scream.
He let me go and I almost fell to the ground because my legs trembled. He stepped back a few steps. “It’s impossible!” he said. “I don’t believe it! It’s not true! This is crazy!”
Then he turned back and fled away from the barn.
I burst into tears, but I still knelt to pick up my egg, I cleaned it well and put it with the others in the tallest basket.
They were already twenty-three, I should have been proud of myself, this month I was sure that my co-op would be happy, maybe they would even give me a production bonus.
Then nothing mattered and I burst into tears.
When I got into our room, he didn’t send me away. I immediately saw his luggage ready, prepared in a rush, but he had not left yet. He lay in bed, naked torso, as usual, his eyes staring the ceiling. I really wanted to caress that chest once more.
I was waiting for insults, accusations, instead he started with the most difficult question. “What are you?”
“I don’t know”, I said honestly. “I have no idea.”
“What were you doing with that egg? Why were you sitting on it? Were you hatching it?”
I looked at him so sweetly. Poor Diego, still try to cling to logic, to that desperate search for a rational explanation.
“No.”
A long sigh. “I should have understood that there was something wrong with it. That you were strange, that all you are strange. I immediately realized you were different.”
I remained silent.
“Even your bodies, your wide hips, I thought you were all relatives. In such small villages happen often. Some genetic common characteristic.”
I tried to smile. “Am I not very beautiful anymore?”
“I didn’t mind. I felt you were special.”
“Now, no more, right? Or do you consider me too special now?”
“What are you?” he asked for the second time.
“I don’t know, I told you. I am what I am.”
“What are you doing then? How is your life?”
What should I tell him? The truth? Could he accept it? What would the co-op do if they found out I talked to him?
“I lay eggs. I make them. Everyday. Since forever. This is my life. My job, my duty. I’m not good to any other use. The co-op sends someone to get them once a month.”
“What are those eggs? What are they doing with them? What is the co-op?”
I raised my shoulders. “I don’t know and don’t care. It’s not my job to know. I just have to lay the eggs and that’s it.”
“Why? Why are you doing it?”
“Because it’s beautiful. I like to do it. I feel the need to do so.”
“Isn’t it painful?”
“I have wide hips, right? That’s the reason why.”
He laughed, but in a hysterical way. He couldn’t stop. I felt my eyes full of tears. “I’m sorry”, I murmured. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
He managed to calm down, slowly, and went back to talk. “Are you human?”
Strange question. “I’ve always believed I was. Don’t you think so?”
“And how did you explain the fact that you lay eggs? Normal women don’t do that.”
Even though I knew I looked stupid, I was forced to admit it. “I never thought about it.”
He laughed again. “And I’ve always considered you too smart for me! I didn’t understand why you fallen for such a stupid guy like me.”
I could no longer resist, I found myself sitting on the bed beside him, stroking his chest. “I love you”, I admitted for the first time. “I really love you.”
“But what are you?”
I looked away. “I don’t…”
“How can I still make love with you after what I’ve seen? To know that you…that…”
“Stop. Please just stop!”
He grabbed me by an arm, suddenly. “Who is the father? If you lay eggs, there must be a father!”
I winced. “Mr. Bosetti…he was sent by the co-op. He’s the one who deals with all of us.”
He frowned. “The mayor?”
“He’s the only man. He’s always been the only man, until…”
“Until what?”
“He can’t make it anymore. He can’t…I think he has become old, too old. Soon they w
ill replace him.”
Diego’s hand shook so hard to make me scream. “And these eggs, then? Who is the father? Is it me?”
I turned to look at him and I saw him upset. Was that his fear? For a moment, I thought it might be so, but I had to discard the idea. No, Diego couldn’t be the father of my eggs. Even though we had made love more than once, when the co-op truck arrived, the barn was empty, I couldn’t lay any eggs.
“I don’t think you’re compatible. Maybe you’re right, I’m not human.”
“Who is then?”
“The truck driver, I think. He has been taking care of all of us this month, waiting for a substitute for Mr. Bosetti.”
“What’s his name?”
“I don’t know!” I exploded. “Why should his name be important! He’s a driver and that’s enough!”
“You sleep with a man and don’t even ask him the name?”
“That’s not sleeping with someone!” I yelled. “It’s work! It’s just work!”
For a moment, I feared he would slap me, but he let me go. “Bitch”, he hissed, and retracted. He didn’t even stand up, sat down on the edge of the bed, to the opposite side of where I was, giving me his back.
“Do you love me?” I asked. Then I rectified. “Did you really love me? Wasn’t that a game for you, weren’t you just playing with me? Was it really important for you?”
I knew it was, otherwise he would have fled away without even waiting for me.
“Everybody thinks I’m a fool.”
“What? Who?”
“Everybody. They all say I’m big and stupid. They all make fun of me. I’m not good enough for them.”
I couldn’t understand. “But you are skilled, you know how to do many things.”
“They don’t care.”
“You are handsome! They are all crazy about you!”
He turned to look at me. “Are you sure?”
Oh yes, I’ve never seen anything more beautiful in my life. Nothing so perfect, not even in those stupid fashion magazines.
“You see me like this”, he said. “Only you.”
Was I not able to assess it, perhaps? Did we have a distorted concept of beauty? Maybe I really wasn’t a human being.
I stretched out my hand and caressed his cheek. And told him. “You’re the nicest man in the world. The sweetest, the most kind. And I really love you.”
The Prison Page 28
