A Bell for Adano by John Hersey Read Free Book Online

have him here.” Father Pensovecchio spoke with feeling. “We are glad that he is one of us. Because of this man, I believe that the Americans are my friends. You must believe the same thing, my children.”
    Major Joppolo noticed that the skin of the neck below the blonde hair, though clean, was quite dark, and he wondered whether the hair was naturally blonde. He wondered about this off and on during the mass which followed.
    After mass he left quickly, to avoid the embarrassment he knew would result from mingling too much with the crowd. He took time only to tell Giuseppe that he had a little interpreting for him to do that afternoon, and to look into the face of the blonde.
     

 
     
    Chapter 4
     
     
     
    ON the fifth day of the invasion a babel stood in line in front of the shop of the baker Zapulla. There were many women, mostly dressed in black, and a few men. They talked in loud voices, each clamoring for an audience.
    ‘`He has a furious energy,” said Maria Carolina the wife of the noisy cartman Afronti. “He told small Zito to report for work at seven each morning. Zito thought that no official would be up that early. Zito went to work at seven and a half, and the Mister Major told him that there would be a new usher unless the old usher could wake up on time in the morning.”
    Carmelina the wife of the lazy Fatta, who was at the head of the line, said loudly: “It would be pleasing if Zapulla the baker got up on time in the morning so that the bread would be ready.”
    Zapulla the baker, black with the wood coke of his oven, came out to the front of the shop and roared: “Zapulla the baker has been up since four in the morning. If Zapulla the baker hears remarks, he is liable to go back to bed and let the bread burn up
    “Do you remember,” said Margherita the fat Craxi’s formidable wife, “do you remember how the Mayor Nasta used to hold office hours from noon until one, each day, the hour when we were all busy with our children? And how we had to apply in writing to see him? And how we had to wait ten days? And how he would treat us when we did see him? Now it is different. You can walk in any time all day.” She paused. “He stands up when you enter,” she said impressively.
    “Is that so?” said Laura Sofia, who was not the wife of anyone and at her age was not likely to be ever. “I think I shall go and see him.”
    “On what pretext?” jibed Maria Carolina, wife of the noisy cartman Afronti. “To make eyes at him?”
    “Oh,” said Laura Sofia, “I have my complaints, just like the rest of you - even if I haven’t litters of children grunting like pigs on my floor.”
    Carmelina, wife of the lazy Fatta, said: “My children are hungry. It would be nice if they could get their bread on time
    From the depths of his shop Zapulla the baker shouted: “The children of certain people may stay hungry if certain people do not hold their tongues.”
    Mercurio Salvatore, crier of the town of Adano, was near the end of the line, but even though he toned his voice down to his conversational whisper, the whole line could hear him when he said: “I wish to tell you something. I asked him if I could listen to my radio.
    “He said: `Why not, crier?’
    “I asked him what station I would be permitted to listen to. I asked: `Should it be the Radio of Algiers, or should it be the Radio of London which is called B.B.C.?’
    “He said: `Reception here is best for Radio Roma. Why don’t you listen to the one you can hear the best?’ “I said: `Can you mean it? Radio Roma is anti-American. It has nothing but slander for the Americans.’
    “And he said to me: `Crier, I love the truth, and I want you to love it too. You listen to Radio Roma. You will hear that it is three fourths lies. I want you to judge for yourself and to want the truth. Then perhaps you will want to listen to the other broadcasts which you cannot hear quite so clearly.”‘
    Margherita, the formidable wife of Craxi, said: