When Shadows Come by Vincent Zandri

Author:Vincent Zandri [Zandri, Vincent]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781503934238
Published: 2016-04-11T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 32

We walk along the cobblestones that line the flat banks of the Grand Canal, until we come to the Ponte di Rialto, the white-marbled bridge of stairs spanning the canal’s head. Descending the steps on the opposite side of the bridge, I spot the train station to my left and the pedestrian street that leads deep into the old Jewish district, now filled with artists, shops, student housing, and restaurants. Tourists cram into the cobbled passageways along with gelato and fruit venders. As we pass a small piazza, a group of clowns are performing magic tricks with metal hoops, rope, and long walking sticks. Not much farther up the way from them a violinist plays a sad harmony. He’s an old man dressed in wool jacket and matching trousers. On his head, he wears a black wool skullcap. For shoes, old leather cordovans that now are riddled with holes and held precariously together with strips of filthy gray duct tape. Laid out on the cobbles is his open violin case. Fumbling inside my pocket, I find a ten-euro note and drop it into the case. He nods, smiles.

We move on in the direction of San Geremia, where Santa Lucia lies in state, the blind seeking out the blind.

We find the church nestled at the far end of a square that’s bookended by feeder canals. Some children are playing in the square, kicking a soccer ball back and forth. It’s going on nine in the morning and the sun has risen, warm and bright. Raising my face, I feel it seep in through the thin skin that covers my eyes, and into my eyeballs. I’ve been able to see now without interruption for more than three hours.

I follow Giovanni to the wood doors of the stone-faced, Gothic church. He pulls the door open and we are greeted by a barred ticket window. I dig out another ten-euro note and pay for the both of us. We’re handed two entry tickets attached to the same card containing the image of Santa Lucia holding her extracted eyes that I found on my apartment floor. When I hand my ticket to the ticket taker, he tears the card, or stub, off at the perforated seam and hands it back to me. I stuff the card into my pants pocket along with the one I found this morning. Giovanni hands over his ticket, gets the card back in return.

Then we enter the church.

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