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nothing and without surcharge. Kind of the post office guys though... 

Jackie left with his stamps. I looked at the pieces of paper in the basket. For too long that basket had received Papa's letters, I thought. But soon he would return to Venice, with Mary. I was happy to see them again. I had grown fond of that man so big and fat, so sweet and almost shy at times. And also to Mary, petite and snappy, with short blond hair, who squinted her blue ferret eyes when she laughed.

Papa had already written to me aboard the Jagello, the ship that, setting sail from Genoa, would take them to Cuba with stops in Algiers, South America, Mexico, Panama - I did not yet know that Jackie was collecting stamps, otherwise I would have given them to him.

He wrote me "to keep me company" and because he didn't want me to "forget about him." The letters, quite long, were handwritten and sometimes I found it difficult to read them also because of his pen which did not always work well. So I asked him to type to me, which he did as soon as I arrived in Havana. He was always trying to please me, Papa. He was always so understanding and kind. How not to become attached to him? Pagnia "and because he didn't want me to" forget about him. "The letters, quite long, were handwritten and sometimes I had a hard time reading them also because of his pen which didn't always work well. I asked him to type me, which he did as soon as I arrived in Havana. He was always trying to please me, Papa. He was always so understanding and kind. How could I not get attached to him?

Yes, I was fond of him and I missed him. 

If at first I was with him mainly because he seemed to want my company - and sometimes it was a pain and a bore because I had to guess most of what he said - as time went by I understood him more and more.

Not only did I understand him, but I often sensed what he was going to say and to cut short his slow, sometimes a bit long-winded way of speaking, I concluded for him. Or I would interrupt him with remarks that made him counter or deflect the conversation and thus our chats became more and more lively and unpredictable.