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when Giancarlo went up with a few friends to Giorgio Cini's suite - few close friends, because Giorgio lived there almost incognito with Merle Oberon. 

"What are you doing in New York?" Giorgio had asked him and was surprised to hear that Gianfranco was looking for a job. They talked for a long time and Giorgio explained that he was organizing a network of agencies in America for his shipping company Sidarma. The main agency would be in Havana. A little out of the way, I observed, but if Gianfranco didn't mind the tropical climate, what did he think of a job in Havana?

Gianfranco thought it suited him perfectly and returned to Venice to make arrangements with the general management of Sidarma. A few months later he left for Cuba. From the ship I sent a cable to Papa warning him that he was about to arrive but that he did not have a visa. Faithful to his promise, Papa helped him disembark. Gianfranco settled in a rented room near the port offices.

"I like Gianfranco" Papa repeated again as, leaving the Procuratie, we headed towards Harry's Bar where we had an appointment with Mary. "I talk straight as we always do to each other. Your brother works really hard and well but he's bored because he's done better things than compiling merchant lists. He only cares about you and your mother and doesn't care about everything else. In reality he has not yet recovered from the war and its problems and for him it is like the delayed blast of a bomb. It killed him later, long after he fell."

I stopped to look at Papa, bewildered. "But don't worry, Daughter" he smiled at me. "I love him very much and as soon as I return to Cuba I will do everything to help him. He is fond of me and that makes things easier." Then, lowering his voice, he added almost to himself: "Seeing your brother makes things easier for me..."