Enrico Maso, translated into English by Ruth Stephens
Chapter 8 – A Message
The room is in semi-darkness. Anna is resting in the afternoon heat. The sound of the cicadas comes to her through the half-closed shutters.
Medical books are scattered everywhere, on the table and on the bed. The exam went quite well but it will take the professor a few days to announce the admissions to the oral.
On the bedside table her mobile lights up.
“Never a minute’s peace…”says Anna, reaching for the phone. There’s an icon that a video message has arrived for her. That will be Mamma asking how the exam went, thinks Anna. Strange that she’s waited so long. And a video message? I didn’t know she even knew how to send one!
But, opening the app, she sees that it’s actually a message from Alberto. Anna hesitates.
He hasn’t been in touch for a while and she has been wondering if she would ever hear from him again. Surely he wouldn’t have decided to break it off with a message?
“Come on, that’s enough of such thoughts,” Anna tells herself and starts the video.
Alberto is in the middle of a crowd of people. They are all excited, people are shouting, others are taking photos and calling “Johnny!”
“But what the….” Anna looks for an answer on the screen.
“CIAO ANNA!” Anna nearly falls off the bed. Johnny Depp is on her screen! He greets her in broken Italian and then Alberto is with him in the picture saying “I’m waiting for you in Venice!”
Anna falls back on the bed and looks at the ceiling. She smiles, then begins to type a message: “You’re mad! Wait for me. I’m on my way to Santa Lucia!”