The Seven Turns of the Snail's Shell: A Novel by Mj Roë Read Free Book Online

her face on the pillow close to his.
    The old man looked lovingly toward her. His unruly white eyebrows twitched as he blinked back the tears in his eyes. “Your grandma. She, oh God, Anna, she didn’t make it,” he said. His voice was raspy, his breathing labored. It appeared that he was drawing all his strength to speak. “She and I, oh dear God. We were hit. It came so fast. I couldn’t get out of the way. Oh, dear God. Why her?” He sobbed aloud.
    Tears welled in her eyes. “Shush, Grandpa, don’t wear yourself out. You need to rest.” She spoke as calmly and reassuringly as she could, concealing the anguish she felt.
    “Anna, there is something very important I need to tell you.” She tried to shush him again. “No, no, you must understand something that I have not told you previously.” He spoke haltingly. His chest heaved with every breath. “Who your father was, how your parents met…You know I adore you, and you have been the pride of my life. Now that your grandmother is gone…” He choked up again and hesitated. “I need to answer those questions you asked me so many times. Remember? You finally quit asking because I wouldn’t give you any information.”
    Anna nodded and stared at him. Her heart was pounding. She remembered how many times as a child she had asked him to explain who her father was, and he would always tell her that he didn’t know anything. Even after her mother died, and she was old enough to understand, he maintained his ignorance on the subject. He was correct about one thing. She had finally stopped asking. What use was pestering? She loved him as a father anyway.
    “I thought you didn’t know anything about my father?” She kissed his forehead and forced a smile. One of her tears spilled onto his cheek.
    “It was a long time ago, but I want you to know now. So you can… Anna, I was shot down over France during World War II, as you know.” Anna’s grandfather had never shared much of his war experience with anyone, even his wife. “I was rescued by a group of Résistance fighters from Corsica… They saved my life. One of them, a man named Diamanté, became my friend.”
    Gasping for air, Stu Ellis managed to tell his beloved grand-daughter the whole story. Anna was later to remember how time seemed to stand still as he related the details. Diamanté and he had exchanged letters for years after the war ended. They were about the same age. Both of them had returned to their homelands and married. Diamanté had a son, Diamanté fils . When Junior was of age, he joined the French military, as was required. One day, Anna’s grandfather received a letter from Diamanté that Diamanté fils was coming to California to attend an exchange training school with the American Navy in San Diego. Would he entertain him occasionally on weekends, Diamanté asked, so that he wouldn’t get homesick for family? Stu Ellis wrote back that, of course, his son was welcome in their home and they looked forward to the young man’s coming. As it turned out, their beautiful daughter, Anna’s mother, was seventeen at the time of Diamanté fils ’ visit to California. He was there just long enough to sweep her off her feet; when he left, she was pregnant with Anna. Her grandfather told Anna that he didn’t believe that her father ever knew because the next letter he had received from Diamanté was several months later. It bore the terrible news that his son had been killed in the war in Algeria and that Diamanté was heartbroken. Stu didn’t hear from him again, and he never told him about Anna.
    “You must have been born right about the time of your father’s death.” The old man closed his eyes, exhausted.
    Anna sat in stunned silence. Why hadn’t she been told this before?
    “Grandpa?” When he didn’t open his eyes, she panicked. “Grandpa, I can’t lose you. Not now.”
    His eyes opened. “I’m awake, Anna.”
    “Didn’t this Diamanté ever try to contact