Hovering Over the Water Page #4

I would prefer him

to be called Robert Schumann

and to have come ashore

carrying a piano on his back,

but I'm probably just trying to bring

grist to my mill:

in case he disappeared

he would always have left

some musical traces behind.

You're being very sceptical.

I would be very much more so

if I were the mother of two children.

What would you have done

in my place?

Do I have to answer now?

Besides,

what have I been talking for?

The walls of this fortress

can't detain the invaders greed,

the door is frank and welcoming

for whoever appears:

"Welcome whoever it is".

Remind me to have it placed

at the doorway.

What am I complaining about?

Maybe about the days

that make us old, and nothing else.

Could you lend me the car's keys?

I insist upon fresh air.

I'll go along

if Rosa doesn't mind

to stay alone with the children.

Fear has already found

better company:

it won't leave us

for times to come.

They are ashamed of the light.

You must do as aunt Rosa told you

and wait for them.

Bat, Bat, come down

to the cane greased with tallow...

There's no need for such yelling.

You'll scare off the bats.

They won't come

if you don't ask gently.

Bat, bat, come down to the cane

greased with tallow.

That's it. Keep asking.

I'll be right back.

We went all the way round the house

and we didn't see a single bat...

Angelus.

Angelus.

It's the prayer of Annunciation

and I'm not fond of Millet.

It's also the name of a boat,

of the boat arrested at Tavira.

It says so in the newspaper.

Would you mind summing up?

"Angelus entered the Port of Lisbon

more or less one month ago"

"under Holland's colour."

"Ownership was registered

in the name of a Greek citizen,"

"Mr. Odysseus Onassis,"

"now suspected to be false."

"The crew consisted

of four individuals"

"whose identities

have not been confirmed,"

"it being strongly suspected

that they too are false."

"The names of the crew members

follow."

Names? What names?

Nothing particularly far-fetched.

They are familiar names

that seem to have been picked up in

the Tales of Thousand and One Nights.

"Angelus was moored

in the Quay of Bom Sucesso"

"where it supposedly

underwent a cleaning of the hull"

"and received a cargo

of pharmaceutical products"

"from a company now known

never to have existed."

A variant of the miracle

of the roses follows.

"An inspection of the ship's hold,"

"revealed inside the boxes,"

"- Io and behold! - "

"neatly wrapped up in sackcloth,"

"a real arsenal of war weapons."

"Angelus left the Port of Lisbon

bound for Beyrut"

"and was intercepted

off Algarve's coast"

"by a corvette

of the Portuguese Navy."

"Aboard were found

three male corpses"

"riddled with bullets"

"and traces testifying that a violent

armed confrontation had taken place."

"The police presumes it to be

the settling of a quarrel"

"among traffickers in arms"

"and proceeds with enquiries,"

"and so on..."

So what?

Nothing.

We are thinking about the same.

I'm not thinking about anything.

Where on hell could the fourth member

of the crew be hiding?

Is he drifting on open sea

or, on the contrary,

did he find shelter and help

on firm ground?

Isn't this

the subject of our thoughts?

I'm not thinking about that;

I'm worried about Robert.

Won't you understand the difference?

I don't recall

having pronounced that name.

You don't have to.

- Your logic is that of the police.

- Not only, Laura.

It's also that of the public

and, probably, that of the visitors

who called this afternoon too.

What does it matter?

I would like to see Rosa

and your children away from this mess.

That's all I ask for

and I suppose I'm not asking too much.

Again I ask you:
what would

you have done in my place?

Again I won't answer you: it's the

only way to assure my own freedom.

We didn't speak with one another

for too long, Sara.

And yet, I loved you all.

I'm not guilty...

Of what?

- Of nothing.

- Tell me!

Of Virgllio's death?

I want to live and not wrapped up

in your bloody dreams.

One can't go back to fascism

and start afresh once more.

Sh*t! Bloody sh*t!

I can't bear it anymore.

What do you do?

He says that he travels

and has got a boat.

Like Sindbad's?

How was Sindbad's boat like?

It turned into a big bird

and flew wherever he wanted to fly.

Uncle Robert says

that his boat is like Sindbad's.

We travelled aboard the boat

of Rosa's boytriend yesterday.

- He's not my boytriend.

- Yes he is, aunt Rosa.

Get to sleep!

Ask Robert if he'll let us

travel aboard his boat, aunt Rosa.

He's going to make a very dangerous

trip and you children can't go along

but he'll take us all with him

when he comes back.

Is uncle Robert

going to kill the black pirate?

He is.

And does he promise to take us

with him through the Seven Seas?

And will you bring me

a little monkey?

And a parrot!

To keep company to Maria Callas.

He'll bring you whatever you wish

if you go to sleep at once.

I'm already sleeping!

What's this?

Uncle Robert was going after

a very fast fish

and hit his head against a ship

lying on the bottom of the sea.

Was uncle Robert born in the sea?

Uncle Robert

was born in an apple tree.

No one is born on apple trees;

only apples.

It's a long story.

- I'm listening to everything.

- Tell us!

Roma, open city!

El Lobo.

Leave everything,

I'll clean up later.

Everything is ready.

Robert sleeps in my room,

and I sleep with the kids.

Sleep well.

Naughty but nice.

It's the hard business of living.

- I want a bilberry ice!

- There aren't any.

Then...

I want a cup with chocolate

and coffee icecream.

Have you got blackberry icecream?

Only strawberry, chocolate, vanilla,

cream, almond and marashino.

Then...

I want mint.

A mineral water with sprinkles

and a small coffee.

Where are the children?

Mother:

this icecream isn't good.

Don't eat it.

Why do you eat it

if you don't like it?

Why are there never

bilberry icecream?

Mother,

when can we go into the water?

You can go right away

but don't swim out of your depth.

- Not even with uncle Robert?

- Can we have icecream?

No icecream.

There's cool lemonade in the bag.

Don't stay for too long under the sun.

I'm going to fly!

Aren't you coming to the beach?

I don't think so.

These much too perfect days

are inclement.

I prefer the comfort of this peace.

Beautiful,

the image of the children playing:

Maria and Robertino;

of Rosa bathing herself...

Is she?

Not now.

She seems to be telling something

to the children.

Beautiful too, the bearing

of a man who walks on the sand...

He isn't walking.

Each one of them

has a movement of his own;

and yet something joins them

and confounds them

with the movement of the light itself,

this animal light

which quivers and vibrates

like the wings of a cicada.

I don't even have to see them.

I have just been looking

through the binoculars.

I brought them close.

The image I keep of them

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