I realize this letter is getting too long, so I’ll change register.
1. In the eyes of the law, Italian as well as Tunisian, François is in a paradoxical situation. In fact, he’s an orphan who doesn’t exist, inasmuch as his birth was never registered either in Sicily or Tunisia.
2. The judge in Montelusa who deals with these questions has sort of straightened out his status, but only for as long as it takes to go through the necessary procedures. He has assigned him temporarily to the care of Mimì’s sister.
3. The same judge has informed me that while it is theoretically possible in Italy for an unmarried woman to adopt a child, in reality it’s all talk. And he cited the case of an actress who was subjected to years of judicial pronouncements, opinions, and decisions, each one contradicting the last.
4. The best way to expedite matters, in the judge’s opinion, is for us to get married. 5) So get your papers ready.
A hug and a kiss. Salvo
P.S. A friend of mine in Vigàta who’s a notary will administer a fund of one-half billion lire in François’s name, which he’ll be free to use when he comes legally of age. I find it fitting that our son should be officially born the exact moment he sets foot in our house, and more than fitting that he should be helped through life by his real mother, whose money that was.
YOUR FATHER IS NEARING THE END DO NOT DELAY IF YOU EVER WANT TO SEE HIM AGAIN. ARCANGELO PRESTIFILIPPO.
He’d been expecting these words, but when he read them the dull ache returned, as when he’d first found out. Except that now it was compounded by the anguish of knowing what duty required him to do: to bend down over the bed, kiss his father’s forehead, feel his dry, dying breath, look him in the eye, say a few comforting words. Would he have the strength? Drenched in sweat, he thought this must be the inevitable test, if indeed it was true that he must grow up, as Professor Pintacuda had said.
I will teach François not to fear my death, he thought. And from this thought, which surprised him by the very fact that he’d had it, he derived a temporary peace of mind.
Right outside the gates of Valmontana, after four straight hours of driving, was a road sign indicating the route to follow for the Clinica Porticelli.
He left the car in the well-ordered parking lot and went in. He felt his heart beating right under his Adam’s apple.
“My name is Montalbano. I’d like to see my father who’s staying here.”
The person behind the desk eyed him for a moment, then pointed to a small waiting room.
“Please make yourself comfortable. I’ll call Dr. Brancato for you.”
He sat down in an armchair and picked up one of the magazines that lay on a small table. He put it back down at once. His hands were so sweaty they had wet the cover.
The doctor, a very serious-looking man of about fifty in a white smock, came in and held out his hand to him.
“Mr. Montalbano? I am very, very sorry to have to tell you that your father died peacefully two hours ago.”
“Thank you,” said Montalbano.
The doctor looked at him, slightly bewildered. But it wasn’t him the inspector was thanking.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
One critic, when reviewing my book The Terra-Cotta Dog, wrote that Vigàta, the nonexistent town in which all my novels are set, is “the most invented city of the most typical Sicily.”
I cite these words in support of the requisite declaration that all names, places, and situations in this book have been invented out of whole cloth. Even the license plate.
If fantasy has somehow coincided with reality, the blame, in my opinion, lies with reality.
The novel is dedicated to Flem. He liked stories like this.
NOTES
1 sardines a beccafico: Sarde a beccafico are a famous Sicilian specialty named after a small bird, the beccafico (Sylvia borin, garden warbler in English), which is particularly fond of figs; indeed the name beccafico means “fig-pecker.” The headless, cleaned sardines are stuffed with sautéed breadcrumbs, pinenuts, sultana raisins, and anchovies, then rolled up in such a way that, when removed from the oven, they resemble the bird.
6 “the prefect”: The prefetto is the local representative of the central Italian government; one is assigned to each province. They are part of the national, not local bureaucracy.
29 alalonga all’agrodolce: Alalonga (literally “longwing”) is a particularly delicious species of small tuna. All’agrodolce means “sweet and sour,” and in this case involves sautéing a small steak of the fish in a sauce of vinegar, oil, sugar, and parsley.
29 The Northern League . . . towards secession: The Lega Nord is a right-wing political party based in the northern regions of Italy (Lombardy,Veneto, Piedmont) and known for its prejudices against foreign immigrants and southern Italians. Until recently they had been threatening to constitute a separate national entity under the historically dubious name of Padania (after the Po River, which runs from the Piedmont through Lombardy and the Veneto), and to secede from the Italian republic.
38 They spread their hands apart, looking sorrowful: Spreading the hands apart, palms open, is a gesture typical of southern Italians and seen often among Italian Americans, most notably Al Pacino in many of his movie roles. It usually expresses helplessness and resignation to fate.
39 A smell of stale perfume, burnt straw in color: As seen in the first two novels, Montalbano synesthetically associates colors with smells.
51 E te lo vojo dì / che sò stato io: “And I want to say / that it was me.” The lines are a refrain from a popular Italian song of the early 1970s by the Fratelli DeAngelis. In it a man confesses to a friend that it was he who committed an unsolved crime of passion some thirty years before, and that he has kept the truth inside him all these years.
51 “goat-tied”: The Sicilian word is incaprettato (containing the word for goat, capra), and it refers to a particularly cruel method of execution used by the Mafia, where the victim, facedown, has a rope looped around his neck and then tied to his feet, which are raised behind his back, as in hog-tying. Fatigue eventually forces him to lower his feet, strangling himself in the process.
69 “Italy is a Republic founded on construction work”: A send-up of the first sentence of the Italian constitution: “Italy is a Republic founded on work.”
73 a gesture that meant “gone away”: Normally this consists of tapping the edge of the right hand against the open left palm, a sign used equally in Italy, France, Spain, and North Africa to mean “let’s go” or “gone.”
79 Montalbano brought his fingertips together, pointing upwards, artichokelike: This is a familiar gesture of questioning used by all Italians.
79 “Frère ... Salvo”: The French conversation translates as follows:
“Brother?”
[...]
“Yes. His brother Ahmed.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know,” [. . . .]
“Her husband?”
[...]
“Just François’s father. A bad man.”
[...]
“My name is Aisha,” [. . .]
“Mine is Salvo,” [. . .]
81 five hundred million lire: About $300,000 at the time of the novel’s publication in 1998.
96 two hundred twenty thousand lire . . . three hundred eighty thousand . . . one hundred seventy-seven thousand lire: Respectively, about $150, $200, and $95 at the time.
105 he was going out to the nearest tobacco shop: Tobacco products in Italy are distributed by the state monopoly and sold only in licensed shops, bars, and cafés.
107 when Montelusa was called Kerkent: The fictional Montelusa is modeled on the city of Agrigento (the ancient Agrigentum), called Girgenti by the Sicilians and Kerkent by the Arabs.
109 children’s late-morning snacks: Lunch in Italy isn’t usually eaten until one or one-thirty in the afternoon, and mothers often pack a snack for their children to quell their late-morning hunger. 121 torroncini: Marzipan pastries f
illed with pumpkin jam and covered with roasted almonds.
123 “the Lacapra case”: Lapècora means “the sheep,” while Lacapra means “the goat.”
124 pasta ’ncasciata: A casserole of pasta corta—that is, elbow macaroni, penne, ziti, mezzi ziti, or something similar—tomato sauce, ground beef, Parmesan cheese, and béchamel.
131 “By repenting . . . turning state’s witness against the Mafia”: In Italy Mafia turncoats are called pentiti, “repenters,” and many people, like Montalbano, believe they are treated too leniently by the government.
131 càlia e simenza: A snack food of chickpeas and pumpkin seeds, sometimes with peanuts as well.
136 “Is this” ... “s’appelle?”: The French here translates as follows:
“Is this your uncle?”
“Yes.”
“What’s his name?”
[...]
“Ahmed?”
“Just Ahmed?”
“Oh, no. Ahmed Moussa.”
“And your mother? What’s her name?”
147 “nine hundred thousand”: At the time of the novel’s writing, about $500.
156 “Pippo Baudo”: A famous Italian television personality and master of ceremonies for a number of different variety shows.
159 No one must ever know that Inspector Montalbano was rescued by the carabinieri. The carabinieri, considered not very intelligent in the popular imagination, are a national paramilitary police force. They and the local police forces are often in competition with each other.
162 “On Saturday”: Italian children attend school Monday through Saturday.
167 Forty-four million two hundred thousand annually: About $23,000.
179 Didìo . . . “The Wrath of God”: Di Dio means “of God” in Italian.
191 Totò and Peppino: Totò, born Antonio de Curtis to a princely family, was one of the greatest comic actors of twentieth-century Italy. He made many famous films with Peppino, born Peppino De Filippo, another great comic and, like Totò, from Naples.
192 Wasn’t that title abolished half a century ago?: Much used and abused during the Fascist era, the title “Your Excellency” was finally banned after World War II, though many government dignitaries still defy the ban.
223 “Two hundred million lire!”: About $110,000.
225 “Guarda come dondolo . . . col twist”: “See how I sway, see how I sway, doing the twist.” Lines from a popular song written and performed by Edoardo Vianello.
241 “Montanelli”: Indro Montanelli (1909-2001) was a famous journalist who began his long career during the time of the Fascists, whom he initially supported. He continued to work as a columnist and social critic until his death.
244 to compensate . . . for his . . . surname: Pera means “pear” in Italian.
263 “Celeste Aida”: A famous aria from Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Aida.
269 “the miracle of the blood of San Gennaro”: San Gennaro (St. Januarius) is the patron saint of Naples. Though little is known about him, his celebrity lies in the alleged miracle of the “liquefaction” of his blood, which is kept in a small glass vial in the eponymous cathedral of that city. The miracle is believed to occur some eighteen times a year, but the main event is on September 19, the saint’s feast day, when large crowds always gather to witness it. Failure to liquefy is believed to be a dire portent.
283 a certain Libyan airplane . . . from the impact: On June 27, 1980, an Italian airliner crashed into the sea near the Sicilian island of Ustica. All eighty-one people on board died, and the incident has remained shrouded in mystery. The most prevalent theory is that the plane was shot down by a missile during a NATO exercise, but NATO has always denied this. The radar data, meanwhile, have disappeared. Many rumors (never confirmed) have since surfaced saying that an aerial battle had taken place during an attempt by NATO to shoot down the plane in which Colonel Ghaddafi was traveling. Whatever the case, shortly after the incident a fallen Libyan warplane was recovered in the Calabrian mountains, which the Italian secret service said had crashed the same day as the airliner. The only problem was that the pilot would have to have been dead while flying the airplane, since a verifiable autopsy (after an earlier one had been proven false) showed that he’d died twelve days before the crash.
Notes compiled by Stephen Sartarelli.
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