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You will tell me that and because of the book, because Hemingway wrote it, that my cover is on display and I agree, but if it was really crap they wouldn't have bothered to make it giant, don't you think? I also sold my first oil painting. Actually I was sorry, for sentimental reasons: it was a group of palm trees and boji from Cuba." Pointing to Toto: "He bought it. For a thousand lire." I said.

"A thousand lire?!" Bemelmans said with his fork in midair. "I wouldn't say you care about backing up your quotes, Adriana."

"Well you know, we're friends. I've known him since I was 15 and, after the exams, he came to join his aunt who was staying with mine in Capri. The aunts hoped we would fall in love and get married. Instead Toto was always attached to the skirts of his aunt and he didn't even look at me." 

"This is not true: I was looking at you." interrupted Toto.

"Now I'll tell you, how he looked! One day I met him on his way home, on the staircase, and he was carrying a tray with a large pizza on his head. He tells me: 'Get on the step after mine' and I go up and so we find ourselves face to face. And he says: 'Kiss me' and I close my eyes very excited and kiss him. And he: 'Brava! You managed to kiss a man with a pizza on his head without dropping the pizza!'"

Bemelmans and Luigino turned to look at him. "But I..." Toto began to say. "But you!" I interrupted "You, the next day, went up on a very high rock and said: 'Dive in' and I said no, in truth I was not an expert in diving, and you said: 'If you don't dive it means that you are a coward 'and immediately I dove and I slammed against the rocky bottom and due to the impact with the water the straps of the costume had broken and I had to get dressed while holding my breath and when finally, bleeding and gasping, I went out to the surface, he said: 'good, you're not a coward' or 'poor thing, you're hurt,' certainly not,...