The House of Scorta by Gaudé Laurent

Author:Gaudé, Laurent [Gaudé, Laurent]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: MacAdam/Cage Publishing
Published: 2012-04-29T16:00:00+00:00

Now you know why I shuddered when I realized, yesterday, that I had forgotten Korni’s name. If I forget this man, even for a second, it’s because everything is falling apart. I haven’t finished my story yet, don Salvatore. I need a little more time. Just relax and smoke.

When we got to Montepuccio, I made my brothers swear never to talk about our failure in New York. We let Raffaele in on our secret the night we buried the Mute because he’d asked us to tell him about our trip and none of us wanted to lie. He was one of us. He also swore not to tell. They have all kept their word. I didn’t want anyone to know. As far as Montepuccio is concerned, we went to New York and we lived there for a few months. Long enough to make a little money. When people asked us why we came back so soon, we answered that it wasn’t right to leave our mother here alone. We had no way of knowing she was dead. That was enough. People didn’t ask any more than that. I didn’t want them to know that the Scortas hadn’t been allowed into the country. What counts is what people say, the stories they tell about you. I wanted New York to be part of the Scortas’ story. For us to stop being a family of degenerates and paupers. I know the people here. They would have said that bad luck dogs our steps. They would have brought up Rocco’s curse. There’s no shaking off that sort of thing. We came back richer than when we set out. That’s all that matters. I’ve never said anything about this to my sons. None of the children know. I made my brothers swear to it, and they have kept their word. Everyone had to believe in New York. And we did even better than that. We talked about the city and our life there. In detail. We could do this because old Korni had done the same for us. On the return trip, he found a man who spoke Italian and asked him to translate his brother’s letters for us. We listened to him for nights on end. I still remember some of them.

Korni’s brother talked about his life and the neighborhood he lived in. He described the streets, the people in his building. Korni had these letters read to us, and it was not another torment like the rest. He opened the doors of the city to us. We walked around. We settled there in our minds. I told my sons about New York, and this was thanks to old Korni’s letters. Giuseppe and Domenico did the same. That’s why I brought you the “Naples-New York exvoto,” don Salvatore. I want you to hang it in the nave. A one-way ticket to New York. I want it to hang in the church of Montepuccio. I want candles to be lit for old Korni. It’s a lie.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.