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Jackie, I had them throw away the mice, we started cleaning, sweeping, lining up the benches. Then at 4 we rang the bell and called everyone to say the rosary. The first day everyone seemed happy, a little less on the other days, apart from Gigia and Pina who were always very happy. But if someone was missing at 4, I went to look for them and scolded them. Halfway through the rosary I did alms and with the money collected I bought candles for the altar, rags to clean and wax to polish the benches. Then came the cousin from America..."

"I didn't know you had an American cousin." 

"Not American. He was very Italian. He ran away from home when he was a boy, he went clandestine and doing every job including shoe shine, he became rich. Like in the movies. We immediately realized how rich he was: he distributed a lot of gifts, he had a golden ring on his finger and with two cameras he took photographs of everything, of the house, of the Barchesse, of the peacocks when they made the wheel, even of the peasants who, barefoot, pressed grapes in the vats. the brooms with the sorghum."

"I understand."

"The rich cousin has come to say the rosary too, of course. I go to the sacristy to get the cloth bag attached to a long pole - the one you pass between the pews - and I find Jackie ready with the pole in hand. 'Today I'll do the begging' he says. 'Oh no, I'm the oldest' and I try to snatch the rod from him. 'The cousin is a boy and the begging must be done by a boy' he says and kicks me. We began to beat each other very hard. In the church they must have seen us because every now and then the rod would raise the heavy curtains that closed the doors of the sacristy. 'Pss, pss' someone started to say. behind me we both gripped the shaft and so we entered, 'spear in...