Born Twice (Vintage International) by Giuseppe Pontiggia

Author:Giuseppe Pontiggia [Pontiggia, Giuseppe]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2007-12-17T23:00:00+00:00

Balancing Lessons

Halfway down the hall I suddenly let go. He doesn’t fall. He wavers unsteadily, his rubber-soled shoes seemingly stuck to the rug. He reaches out for the wall with his right hand to catch himself but drops to his knees anyway. He then quickly looks up at me as I lift my gaze from my wristwatch.

“Twelve seconds!” I say. “Well done, Paolo. Now let’s try again.”

When I help him to his feet he lets his whole body go, as if drained. It looks horrible, but he does it to save his strength. I understand this only later. There are so many things we come to understand only later. The weak, on the other hand, lucid in the vast wealth of their resources, understand right away.

He’s standing up again. I let go for a second but he falls backward. His eyes glaze over as if he has been hit by something. I manage to grab his arm. His inert weight makes him do a half twirl before slamming into the wall and sliding to the ground like a marionette. He’s slow at using his arms to block his fall. He’s slow at acquiring through reflection those movements that the so-called reflexes provide without thinking. He lost all bodily knowledge and has to relearn it consciously. Millions of years condensed into a decade: he has to simulate naturalness, imitate swiftness, and fake alacrity. This is his second birth—and it’s into a world in which even we are becoming disabled.

“Would you please stop making the child fall?” Franca calls out from down the hall.

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