A Handful of Happiness by Massimo Vacchetta & Antonella Tomaselli

Author:Massimo Vacchetta & Antonella Tomaselli [Vacchetta, Massimo & Tomaselli, Antonella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodale
Published: 2018-07-10T00:00:00+00:00

For several days, I thought I really needed to go home. I was happy at my mother’s, really. But it didn’t seem right to linger. I didn’t have an outdoor pen, however, so Ninna and Ninno would stay at her place.

One morning, while we were drinking tea, my mom gave me a speech: “You can’t keep sleeping on that couch. You can’t get a decent night’s sleep that way. You know what? I’ll get a bed. A nice one, a queen. I’ll put it in the room next to the living room, and it can be your room.” She was radiant, her green eyes shining.

I hated to put out that fire in her eyes, but the time had come. “I have to go back to my place. I went a couple days ago. It was like an abandoned house. I need to turn on the heat and clean up a little.” A shadow of sadness was cast over the room.

“Houses fall into disrepair if you’re never there,” I added in a low voice. I was whispering, I felt like it hurt less that way.

“Massimo, at least come over for dinner. Sometimes,” she said, after a long pause filled with lost looks and waves of thoughts. She was pretending not to be so dejected. She put on a cheerful mask and rattled off the dishes and treats she was going to prepare. “Sure, I’ll come for dinner. For a while,” I stated.

I went to work, leaving my mother to tackle her errands. As if in a hall of mirrors, we left each other with identical little grins, both trying to hide the sadness that had overtaken us.

The next day, Lilly, Jack, and I went home.

Every night, I went to eat at my mother’s and diligently tended to Ninna and Ninno. This coming and going was tough on me, though. In the end, I made a decision: I would take the hedgehogs to my place and just go to my mother’s a couple of times a week. However, as I mentioned, I didn’t have an outdoor pen, only a small enclosure I’d built awhile back that wasn’t suitable for the season and their current needs. So I set up two big pens in my attic. It was a large open space with no heat and no furniture. It seemed ideal. I’d take Ninna and Ninno there.

I knew Giulia wouldn’t agree. I was sure she’d get mad at me. Thus I didn’t write her about the move. I knew I was wrong, so I didn’t dare.

Around then, it struck me to put the two hedgehogs together. I wanted them to meet. I was curious to see how they’d act. I hoped they’d become friends and, who knows, maybe fall in love. So I took Ninno and put him in Ninna’s pen. I sat for a while and observed them. She took the initiative and started sniffing at him. Then he sniffed, too. They blew puffs of air at each other a few times. She was much more aggressive than he.

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