Family and Borghesia by Natalia Ginzburg

Author:Natalia Ginzburg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New York Review Books
Published: 2021-04-13T00:00:00+00:00

BORGHESIA

A WOMAN who had never kept any animals was given a cat. It was brought to her in a shoe-box with holes in the lid. At the same time, a tartan bag was put in her hand containing a bag of litter, a little yellow tray with a cat’s head in relief, a bottle of vitamin pills and a phial of deodorant called April Breeze. She must return the tartan bag later, said the frail, gloomy old servant, who had appeared in her house as if from nowhere. Several evenings ago, as they were coming out of the cinema, Signora Devoto had told her that cats were a wonderful source of comfort, they spread a deep sense of stability, peace and calm. As soon as the cat was lifted out of the box, it darted into the living-room, ran up the curtains and stayed there, curled round the pelmet. It was incredibly tiny, biscuit-coloured, with a brown muzzle and paws and a short, curly tail. The servant told her it was a male Siamese, two and a half months old, and it was the son of Signora Devoto’s mother’s cat. He told her a cat should always have a basket to sleep in and a blanket, and for goodness sake, please give it water. He said the best food for a Siamese was rice and fish. The bones must be removed from the fish, and the rice should be very well cooked.

The woman was called Ilaria Boschivo. She had been a widow for several years. She was thin and wrinkled with short, woolly grey hair and big blue eyes. She lived alone. Her daughter and son-in-law lived in the flat next door, and her brother-in-law, Pietro Boschivo, in the flat above. Pietro Boschivo was an antiques dealer and provided for them all. He was the brother of her late husband, Giovanni Boschivo, a theatrical impresario. A winding staircase separated his flat from hers. Her daughter and son-in-law, who were both eighteen, usually had their meals with her as they had no money and no desire to cook. The daughter was called Aurora and the son-in-law Aldo, his surname being Palermo. Ilaria and her old servant, Cettina, always did the cooking together. Cettina was tall and stooping, with a hooked nose. She had lived in Ilaria’s house for many years. Her brother-in-law’s servant ate there too. She was a short, stocky girl from Brindisi, called Ombretta, who had dark skin and a mass of curly hair. Ombretta never cooked, because she did not know how, and she never washed up either, because she had rheumatism in her hands, or so she said. Pietro Boschivo used to say she was useless to him and he kept her out of pity. Her family would send her out on the streets otherwise. She used to spend her days sunbathing on the upstairs terrace dressed in nothing but her slip, so as to get her thighs and shoulders brown. Then, in the evenings, she would go to the downstairs flat, where there was a television.

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