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"I'm glad of it." I said, moving in the direction of the Lagoon. 

"I don't drink anymore." Toni added. 

"Well: so he is no longer a slave to the ladle..." I smiled.

"Yes, I'm free. A miracle. Listen. The day of the Madonna della Salute, on the pontoon bridge leading to the church, crowded with people, I began to pray 'Holy Virgin, do a miracle because I'm fed up and soon I'll throw my wife into the canal and she can't swim, Most Holy Virgin do a miracle soon... "And so I continued while I was putting my candle in the church and until I crossed the whole pontoon bridge, in short, I prayed for at least a good hour. But it was worth it. Because now I don't get drunk anymore. I'm not saying that I don't look at wine anymore, that would be a lie. But in the company of friends I only drink three, four glasses and not three or four flasks. And do you know why? Because I know that when I get back to my house my woman doesn't light me up anymore, she doesn't scold me anymore, in fact she pays me a thousand compliments."

"Really a miracle!" I exclaimed happily. 

"Yup." Toni said, rubbing his hands. "He cuddles this dwarf, the miraculous former gondolier, Giovinotto." The dwarf is called the "miracle." And bachelor.

I stopped to look at him. Toni, smiling satisfied, continued: "He lives right behind our calle and this is very practical because as he hears my footsteps he is quick to go home." He looked down on my empty hands: "How come a young lady like you doesn't have a ring? If I weren't afraid of looking cheeky, I'd go and get one right away..."

"Thanks, Toni." I said, starting to walk again. Side by side we walked in silence towards the Lagoon. Arriving at the end of the Piazzetta, we instinctively looked up at the Lion under whose spread wings we had sat on that distant evening at the end of winter.