Stateless by Elizabeth Wein

Author:Elizabeth Wein [WEIN, ELIZABETH]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2023-03-14T00:00:00+00:00

Evening in Casa Rossa

We didn’t have to make a public appearance that night.

Lady Frith collected everyone’s evening clothes and sent them to be cleaned. My hands stopped shaking, at least temporarily, as I shared a meal with Lady Frith and Aida Benedetti in the rooftop garden of Casa Rossa, all hung with colorful paper lanterns and overlooking the Grand Canal. Sounds came floating up to us, of voices and of boats lapping through the water, and the far-off snatch of a violin. The noise of other people’s ordinary lives felt far away and heartless.

“Northie, you seem remarkably ill at ease,” Lady Frith commented. “I understand you are upset about Vittorio, but I do wonder if you are unhealthily brooding on his disappearance. You have had a terrible shock, no doubt, witnessing another aircraft fall to earth. I saw a similar accident once, as I was coming in to land at Croydon, and I don’t know when I’ve ever been so shaken in the air!”

She turned away from me almost immediately and said to Aida, “Vittorio’s mother suggested that I cancel the rest of the race. Cancel it! She feels that finishing here in Italy would be a fitting tribute to the poor boy, and we could use the results from our first three flights to determine a winner. And Ernesto—Capitano Ranza—who was translating for me, nodded gloomily the whole time as if he agreed with her. Honestly, Aida, I didn’t know how to react. I said I would discuss it with the Race Committee, but of course that will be difficult as most of them are back in England, apart from those of us who are flying as chaperones. It has rather thrown me. The other chaperones are all coming over later for our scheduling meeting, and I must decide before then one way or another.”

“Of course you mustn’t cancel the race!” her friend exclaimed explosively.

“Oh, thank you, Aida, but do you really think so?”

“Surely finishing it would be a much more fitting tribute to poor Vittorio? Persevering in adversity? Don’t you think he’d have wanted the other racers to keep going?”

“No doubt he would, but it is his people who are expressing their wishes, not he.”

I sat swiveling my head back and forth between them as if I were watching a tennis match.

“Also,” Lady Frith went on, “the other race contestants are whispering about sabotage amongst themselves, I know. Isn’t that true, Northie?”

I nodded, opening my mouth to speak; but she didn’t wait for me to answer, simply barreling on: “I worry about their morale; I worry about how it will affect their judgment. I don’t want any more accidents. I wanted them to become friends with each other, not point fingers and make accusations!”

“Really, Diana, I can’t believe you’d even consider backing down on this,” said Aida Benedetti. “You chose your contestants for their determination and sensitivity, and it would be most unfair on them to pull them out now. Think of us when we were young! You

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