The Young Bride by Alessandro Baricco

Author:Alessandro Baricco
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Europa
Published: 2016-06-15T04:00:00+00:00

Of course, the Mother had opined, cheerfully, it’s obvious that the girl has to see the city, otherwise how will she ever be able to understand a Gothic cathedral or the bend of a river. There were in the city neither Gothic cathedrals nor bends in a river, but it occurred to no one to point this out to her (many of her syllogisms were in fact inscrutable). It was the middle of breakfast, the toast was starting to cool, and the Father and the young Bride were in their rooms getting ready. Only I don’t understand why by train, the Mother continued. When we have a car, I mean. The Pharmacist, a noted hypochondriac, and hence unusually suited to his job, started off on a reflection on the risks of travel, however one intended to do it. With a certain pride, he emphasized that he had never exceeded a distance of thirty-five kilometers from his house. It takes a certain resolve, the Mother admitted. It’s one of my virtues, said the Pharmacist. And a surprising dose of stupidity, the Mother concluded. The Pharmacist made a slight bow and murmured Thank you, because he had been drinking and only later, that night, at home, reconstructed the entire sequence, grasping that something had escaped him. He hadn’t slept, because of it. His wife, a harridan ten years older than he, whose breath was famous throughout the entire region, had asked if there was something bothering him. Apart from you? the Pharmacist had asked; as a youth, he had had his moments of brilliance.

So they found themselves on the train. Modesto had done his work well, and an entire car was given over to their solitude, while in the others, people were packed in amid luggage and the cries of children. It’s incredible what can be obtained with a lot of money and a particular talent for courtesy.

The Father was facing backward, and this was due to the imprecision in his heart and a scrupulous, as well as idiotic, recommendation of his cardiologist, Dr. Acerbi. The young Bride was dressed with chaste elegance, because she had decided on a fairly low profile. In fact the Mother, seeing her leave, had turned up her nose. Is she going to visit the sisters? she had asked her neighbor, without noticing that it was Monsignor Pasini. But she didn’t bother choosing her interlocutor when it came to speaking. Probably she thought she was speaking to the world when she spoke. It’s a common mistake. It’s possible, Monsignor Pasini had answered politely. Years earlier he had fallen for a Carmelite sister, but at the moment the fact didn’t occur to him.

When the train left—on the advice of the aforementioned Dr. Acerbi, they had arrived an hour early, so as to avoid any possibility of stress—the Father thought he ought to start the job that, with a certain ferocity, he had decided to tackle that day.

You must have wondered why I’m bringing you with me, he said.

No, said the young Bride.

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