By Enrico Maso, translated into English by Ruth Stephens
Chapter 3
On Monday morning Giacomo goes to work as usual at the Council’s technical depot. His boss asks him to go and check the street lights in via Dante and via Roma. He takes the service van and goes to see.
In via Dante, Giacomo finds that several of the lights aren’t working, so he sets about changing the bulbs. He climbs a ladder, takes out an old bulb and checks the wattage.
“It’s too powerful!” he thinks. “No wonder Tommaso can’t see the stars! I must do something.”
Without asking his boss’s permission, Giacomo changes all the bulbs to a less powerful wattage. He does the same in via Roma. He’s very proud of himself.
But as he returns to the depot he is thinking “Only two streets? Is that enough to change the situation? What more can I do?”
“Oh, Giacomo,” says his boss “This evening the timer for the lights in Piazza Liberta’ needs to be regulated. Will you do it?”
“Of course! No problem,” replies Giacomo. But he’s thinking: “That’s the answer!”
And so, evening after evening, Giacomo begins to regulate the timers of all the lights in the town: 5 minutes later in Piazza Libera’, 10 minutes in viale Venezia….. He also changes the bulbs, alters the direction of spotlights, and turns off useless advertisements. It’s a slow job, and there’s a big risk of being found out.
One evening Giacomo takes his son out into the courtyard of their house.
“Hey, Papa!” cries Tommaso, “Look how many stars there are!”
Giacomo smiles. Mission accomplished!
More?
Oppure scopri il testo in inglese con traduzione a fronte (.pdf) 