When the Night by Cristina Comencini Read Free Book Online Page B

must keep calm. She mustn’t know.
    “And what did he say?”
    “From the truck.”
    Joy. I laugh.
    “Before he climbed up on the table, he was playing with his toy truck. He was behaving so well that I thought I could leave him alone for a moment to pee. Then I heard a terrible crash … He had climbed up on the table and knocked over all the bottles, and then he fell on the broken glass … I can’t leave him alone, not even for a moment.”
    I feel her watching me. I’m afraid she senses something.
    “They call them ‘the terrible twos.’ ”
    “I’m sorry?”
    “The terrible twos. They don’t know how to play by themselves, but they never stop moving, and they don’t sleep because they’re afraid of everything. Mine was the same.”
    Relief, calm. Mine was the same, she says. Perhaps even she has lost control at times. After all, what did I do? A moment of rage; maybe he hit his head when he fell and I didn’t realize it.
    “Can I pick him up?”
    She nods. I pull him toward me and kiss him.
    “So, you tell the doctor everything but you won’t talk to me?”
    “Now we’ll do a CAT scan.”
    I shudder.
    “We gave him six stitches.”
    “Six! But there’s nothing wrong? I mean, on the inside?”
    “I don’t think so. He’s very alert.”
    The world is light, the hospital is a paradise. I could hug this woman. She has saved my life.
    “We’ll do the CAT scan, and then we’ll take you to the pediatrics floor.”
    I begin to cry. “Thank you.”
    She puts a hand on my shoulder. “Is he the first?”
    “Yes.”
    “Babies fall. Sometimes it can even be an opportunity for growth.”

7

    T HE MOUNTAIN REAPPEARS from behind the rain and clouds, in a shimmering light. The colors are bright, the meadow is wet with rain. The cows are filling their bellies with wet grass. My clients canceled. After a week of uninterrupted rain, they didn’t believe the sun would come out. I told them: “Tomorrow will be sunny. We’ll be able to go up to the lodge.”
    It was no good. They left, but I insisted on being paid anyway.
    The woman came back from the hospital the next day. We crossed paths in the entryway. She was carrying the boy, his head wrapped in bandages. She smiled at me. Now she’s gentle and attentive.
    “Thank you again. What would I have done without you! The CAT scan results were good. They’ll remove the stitches in five days.”
    The following morning I could hear her talking on the phone with her husband as she sat on the bench in front of the house. The baby was sleeping in his stroller.
    “He’s fine, I promise. You don’t need to come. He fell. You know how it is, he’s never still, not even for a moment.”
    He must be one of those men who believe everything their wives tell them without batting an eye. I can understand. You don’t want trouble with your wife. You sacrifice your kids and wash your hands of the problem.
    That night after the hospital, I stopped by the police station. They greeted me with pats on the back and jokes.
    “Ciao, Manfred, how are you? It’s been a while since your last visit.”
    The last time was after Luna went to the hospital, the night I hit her.
    WE HAD BEEN arguing for months.
    “The kids aren’t allowed to watch TV, and you take them up the mountain every Sunday! They want to be with their friends! They’re grown up!”
    We argue about the children, but really we’re fighting about us. I can’t stand her, her moods, her constant desire to try new things, fix up the house, buy knickknacks. At night her tits fill me with desire. I don’t think about her face or her voice but about her body. Luna is willing, but not enthusiastic. She doesn’t like anything about me anymore. She married me, but now she scoffs at everything I say or do. Even the sex.
    That day she got under my skin, yelling about something or other.
    I stopped to think for a moment. Look how she attacks you. She’s not afraid of you, she doesn’t respect you. She feels