Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin

Author:Samanta Schweblin
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781786077936
Publisher: Oneworld Publications

Umbertide

AFTER WORK, Enzo watered the plants in the greenhouse and cut some parsley for the meat. He took longer than usual, waiting for the mole to come out and look over the basil and peperoncini. But the screen door never opened, and in the end he got tired of waiting and went inside to make dinner. He called Luca in to help him set the table, and they ate while they listened to the news. When a short report on kentukis came on, the mole came out from behind the sofa and rolled under the table. It was the first time Mister had made himself known that day, and it had been the same all the previous week—things were no longer going well between them. Mister hadn’t at any point neglected his responsibilities as co-parent, but since that disastrous Sunday when Enzo tried to communicate with him, the mole consistently avoided him. How could he be so annoyed at a simple attempt to converse as equals? Would he really rather crawl around the house as a mole than strike up some kind of friendship with Enzo? They were both alone and they spent a lot of time together, and sharing a few beers—even if it was at a distance with a phone in hand—couldn’t do anyone any harm. Enzo couldn’t understand why he himself was so mad about it, though. Why he felt disappointed and offended by a snub from a gadget less than a foot tall. And still, he couldn’t stop himself from doing everything possible to reconcile with the little guy; it was unbearable. He turned on the RAI when it was time for the programs he knew Mister was interested in; he propped him in the back window of the car on every trip to the supermarket or to pick up Luca; he constantly checked to make sure the boy hadn’t hidden Mister’s charger again. While he got Luca ready for school, when he made food or sat down to do a little paperwork, he was constantly talking to Mister and asking him questions. How are you today, Mister? Are you going to go outside a while? Do you want to watch some more TV? Do you want me to open the window? Sometimes he wondered if he might not be talking to himself. Mister addressed Enzo only to let him know when the boy fell asleep in front of the TV, that he wasn’t doing his homework, or that, even after his bedroom light was turned off, he was still awake, playing with his tablet under the covers.

News about kentukis was the only other thing that interested Mister. Now, on the Umbertide news, a journalist was reporting in front of a state hospital: an elderly woman had had a heart attack and her owl kentuki had saved her life by calling an ambulance. In thanks, the woman had asked for a bank account number and had deposited ten thousand euros, but then the kentuki’s dweller had

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