The mythical jewels of
Aunt Mary (she is so called by her relatives and friends) are
wellknown among her nieces,who believe she has disposed of them
by a will,open,in any case,to possible revisions.
The aunt does not make up her face,following
an ancestral habit,but she has a scrupulous care of her hair,usually
tainted,cut and styled by a trustworthy hairdresser.
The soul of a great lady and of a
doorkeeper alike seem to live simultaneously in this generous and
gruff,firm and frail woman : how incredible indeed,her supple
shifting,like Cicero,from the actic to the Asian style,from a
simple,clear, easygoing way of speaking to a solemn,biblical one,filled
with hidden phrases,puzzling the listeners.
Feeling certain to be always right,she
does not see the difference between good and evil,so she can do
good or strike in the same calm way,being sure to have ever
operated for a good end,following the suggestions of a superior
soul: an attitude she has received perhaps,from her family
haughtiness,but also from her experience of life,which brought
several obstacles she usually faced and solved on her own.
Her oxy eyes are narrowed till slits,when
she is deeply inquiring,to understand,or brooding in the deep pit
of her memory.
Then the woman's face,with classical,almost
fine features,hardens into the mask of a threatening idol,absorbed
in the dark whirl of her thoughts.
* * *
Unique and solemn was
that year aunt Mary's birthday celebration.Green was the colour
she had chosen for her dress :a light bright green.Emeralds were
her jewels. She looked like a big tree in its full foliage:an oak,a
fir tree,a secular beech.
She herself felt to be like a solidly
rooted plant,waving its top skyward. It was in fact to the sky,
to a free clean space,that her soul secretly aspired.
It was the 26th July,very clear sky.
Since the early morning gifts had been arriving,a huge branch of
fleshy orchids,eager of life and light,was put in a crystal pot
on the living room chest of drawers,soon surrounded by cases,ribboned
boxes,letters and telegrams.Before lunch George,Maria's brother ,arrived
from Milan.Without him this celebration could not exist. A dental
surgeon he was the result of the family genius,even if he had
bestowed some changes on his ancestors' way of living.
Owing to his lazy hedonistic nature in
his job he lacked his ancestors' aggressive self-sacrificing rush.He
didn't want to sacrifice himself on the job altar Only for a
short time he made use of the consulting room that his father had
equipped for him; he soon got tired of his boring repetitive job
so that he preferred to give it to a young doctor,receiving in
his turn a share of his earnings.
Then he began his gattopardo-style life,which
he was particularly bent for.
A very handsome man,he had constantly
been annoyed by women,whom he did not appraise and whose
intrusiveness he scared as endangering his freedom. Yet he got
married,not very excited for it and begot two children,a boy and
a girl of whom,once a widower,he was careless watcher for long
years.