The Dreamer

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQDFK2JW

Chapter 3

My remembering was interrupted by a discreet touch at the door. Mr Winningoes entered holding a tray in a hand on which there was a stumpy teapot in porcelain and three handless cups, decorated with Chinese ideograms.

«I apologize for leaving you alone for such a long time »he said happily–«but to make tea is a very serious matter that requires time and skill. Help yourselves please».

I filled the three cups with a lot of attention. George, taking one on his hand, gazed at its outside and the inside for a long time. He seemed particularly interested in the small yellowish petals that floated on the surface.

«They are jasmine's flowers», said the old man. «I get this tea directly from China. It is delicious, isn't it?» he added, turning to me, while I was trying to sip it slowly, in order not to burn me.

«Yes, certain. It is very tasty. Do you also like Chinese cuisine?», I returned him on time.

«Oh, yes, for sure! I do it so much», he answered with a light flash on his face. «I remember when my son Adam was still alive…»

But suddenly we saw that flash of light illuminating his face transformed into a dark and sad countenance.

«My son Adam…» he echoed bitterly himself, with a smile of self-pity on the pale lips. We observed a respectful silence for the pain of that man who appeared at times a proud lion, full of projects for his future, to become instead afterward, a man tired of striving, bent by disgraces and by the time.

I wished I had mastered a better English to show him my solidarity and tell him that I didn't even know he had had some children, not even he had gotten married, forming a proper family; apart, of course, his father and mother, whom he had spoken of to us for long time throughout his story.

But who was really that strange man? Was it enough to know him well, what he had told us himself rightly on that same day? I made an effort to collect my ideas recalling the story in his own words.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dreamer

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQDFK2JW

Chapter 2

 

In order to relax I recalled the preceding events, starting from the moment I had firstly met my friend George.

I had known him early in the summer of 1979, in a little snack bar of the center, at the beginning of my London stay. A snack-cafe not so far from Piccadilly Circus, where they made a slightly drinkable coffee. I used to go there, because it was the only place where the coffee was served in the small, classical, Italian cups, and even if it was served with no cream, was still better than that watered black soap that almost all barmen sell off for coffee in England. The bar was housed in a large rectangular room. On the right of the entry there was the counter with the coffee-machine, while both on the left and the opposite wall, in front of the entry-door, there was a wood bench, lined in plastics of brown color, and, straight above, lined in the identical way, a same long but narrow shelf, plenty of sugar-bowls and ashtrays.

The left wall, for the whole length of the bench, beginning from the shelf and finishing to the originally white-painted ceiling, was made of a thick transparent glass that, giving brightness to the place, allowed the visitors to enjoy a wide outside sight where, just in front, it was well visible the entrance of a theatre with an ample and luxurious atrium.

It was there that George seemed to stare up at his look, over the round glasses (like John Lennon’s, I had thought). His olive complexion, the chestnut hair and the black moustaches didn't make him certainly look like a probable Queen’s subject, but I questioned him, this not less, in English. After all, we were in London: what kind of idiom was I supposed to speak?

He burst into laughter, hearing my question. Not immediately, but after turning his head to look at me, with a funny expression on his face, while with my hands I repeated my request for fire, rubbing, at the same time, my right forefinger on the palm of the left hand.

Lighting his own cigarette, as I stood close and steady, much more interdict than angry, because of his crazy laughing, he told me in a strongly stressed, though smooth, Italian language:

«Sorry for laughing, but Italian people do make notice of them, when they speak English. You come from Rome, don’t you?», he suddenly added, smiling with satisfaction to my affirmative answer.

The place, beside the two of us and a girl sitting on the other side of the bench, was empty.

The barkeeper, behind the counter, was preparing a great copy of sandwiches, with cheese and tomatoes, lettuce and meats and a few others with all four ingredients together, according to the best English taste.

«And you, where do you come from?», I asked him in some annoyed tone for that reference to the Italian’s accent and particularly to that of the Romans, whose noble descendants I am still proud to belong.

« I am not Italian» he answered me with a peaceful voice «but I have lived quite a lot of years in Italy. I know so your customs quite well, and also your accent», concluded laughing again. This time his laughing, however, didn't upset me at all. Those few words had been enough to make my anger fade away; or maybe I was just only glad to talk to someone without squeezing my brain to translate my thoughts from Italian into English language.

to be continued...

  

 

The Dreamer

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQDFK2JW

Chapter 1

 

«I will soon be back, make yourselves at home, please» said the man going out. We looked at each other, George and I. It had only been from the morning that we didn’t have a chance to stay on our own.

«That’s a real story of madness! » he burst out taking a seat in one of the four wood armchairs that were around a circular table in the center of the small room. «This man must be crazy! Let's put him off as soon as is back and let's escape from here, until we are in time», he added while I was taking a seat in front of him.

«Just a moment, George, maybe it will seem strange to you, but I don't feel afraid of this man! He inspires a sort of trust in me, despite his strangeness».

«But do you realize what you are talking about? Have you gone out of sense too? This man must have some extraordinary powers: hasn't he hypnotized us just slightly before? Have you also heard him talk of super-races and brain's experiments or have I dreamed of it?», George attacked me nervously.

«Be quiet, please, George», I told him in a calm voice. «First of all, I don't believe he has hypnotized us, just before. Secondly, if he is really so powerful as you say, what could be his reaction, when we try to immobilize him? Make a point on it:  when we arrived here, we were both sleepy. If he wanted therefore to use us as guinea-pigs, two punctures were enough for him to knock us down!  I have not seen yet neither cats resembling mice, nor men with a square brain!

 Who can be sure that the old man is not inventing everything? It would not surprise me if this story derived from the imagination of some fantastical writer. I want to go to the end of all these circumstances. Don’t you also want to know what kind of job's proposal Mr Winningoes is going to make for us?»

George gazed for a long time into my eyes, thoughtfully. Then, without answering, he relaxed on the back of the chair, releasing the muscles and breathing deeply.

He stood with half open eyes crossing at once the feet and the hands softly on the womb, with the right hand covering the palm of the left one. He seemed to me almost slept, while only the breath animated his body. Won by all those unexpected and subsequent emotions, I also imitated him doing my best on sitting comfortably on the wood ancient chair.

...to be continued...

 

 

 

 

 

 

La Terza via -11

 

Dopo pranzo mi portò nel laboratorio dove confezionava i suoi articoli di pelletteria. Ne aveva parecchi; tutti pezzi unici; avevano un non so di che di robusto, di antico e di artistico allo stesso tempo; pur nella loro estrema essenzialità. Si mise a riempire dei borsoni.

«Domani devo esporre alla Festa de Noantri! Mi fai compagnia? Così mi aiuti anche a portare la merce. Sabato sarò da solo!»

«Simona non viene con te?»

«Magari la domenica. Il sabato lei lavora, soprattutto in questo periodo.»

«Pensi che a Simona faccia piacere?»

«Se sa che mi aiuti alla festa, figurati! Lei è molto protettiva; si sentirebbe sicuramente più tranquilla!» disse con entusiasmo, immaginando dalla mia domanda che io volessi accettare la sua proposta. In effetti l’idea non mi dispiaceva. Fra i miei progetti mai realizzati c’era stato , un tempo, quello di vendere per strada degli oggetti confezionati da me. Come faceva Michele, senza impegno, giusto per campare la giornata. Magari io avevo pensato a dei braccialetti, degli anellini o delle collanine in metallo. Però era l’artigianato in generale che mi piaceva. Mia nonna materna raccontava sempre, con orgoglio e vanto,  di avere ritrovato in un ripostiglio, i giocattoli in legno che mi ero costruito da me, un’estate che avevo trascorso a casa sua.

https://www.hoepli.it/libro/la-terza-via-un-uomo-un-viaggio-tre-strade/9788833812366.html?

 

La Terza via - 10

 

Come previsto il mio contratto di esperto in diritto internazionale doveva essersi incagliato in qualche scoglio di uno di quei porti frastagliati che anche in Colombia si chiamano ministeri; o forse il mio amico tintirillo si aspettava altri centocinquanta dollari americani che io non avevo (e se li avessi avuti non glieli avrei dati).

Insomma, scaduti i sei mesi del permesso provvisorio che mi avevano dato al mio arrivo a Bogotà, dovetti lasciare la Colombia.

Mi ero ripromesso di passare da Roma, tanto più che avevo un impegno da rispettare. Avevo promesso infatti di telefonare alla moglie di Silvio.

Roma mi è sempre piaciuta. A quel tempo non era certo il suo fascino spirituale ad attirarmi. Lì avevo trascorso le mie giornate di libera uscita, quando frequentavo la Scuola di Fanteria di Cesano. C’era quindi un piccolo pezzo di me, di ciò che ero stato prima di partire per Londra e poi per il Sudamerica; era un buon viatico per me, ricominciare da Roma la ricerca di me stesso. Ricordo un episodio buffo, dopo essere sceso dall’aereo, appena giunto in centro,  mentre mi spostavo con il bagaglio, alla ricerca del mezzo giusto da prendere. Casualmente mi imbattei in un mio conterraneo. Come argutamente sottolinea Dante nel suo Canto XXII, due Sardi che si incontrano, soprattutto fuori dalla Sardegna, non sono mai sazi di parlare nella loro lingua. Soltanto che io mi accorsi di mischiare il sardo al castigliano; riuscii ad esprimermi e a farmi capire; ma dopo aver parlato per sei mesi la lingua ufficiale spagnola, mi trovavo a confondere  la mia lingua madre con il castigliano.

https://www.hoepli.it/libro/la-terza-via-un-uomo-un-viaggio-tre-strade/9788833812366.html 

Londres para siempre

Otro amigo de Franco llegó un día, junto con su novia, desde la maravillosa tierra de Liguria. 

Se llamaba Massimo y era un hombre de  buen espíritu, un alma buscando, como era yo. Pues, mas o menos, porque de verdad, cada uno de nosotros, tiene su propria busqueda y todas son diferentes, sino que de pronto llegan desde una matriz comun.

Él manejaba  algunos libros de Carlos Castaneda. Eran tres libros.

Caí en amor con los tres libros. En ellos se hablaba de  la iniciación de un joven intelectual occidental por un brujo indio, en algún lugar de las montañas de

 la Sierra Madre de México. Estos Indios se llamaban Huicholes, que quiere decir "La gente caminando con los dioses" porque así se sienten a través de la ingesta de un champiñon verde, llamado peyote, que contiene una gran cantidad de mescalina, un alucinógeno poderoso.

Pasamos mucho tiempo, hablando de estos libros y planeamos irnos a Mexico juntos.

 Él también me habló sobre un libro que el conocía  muy  bien:  las puertas  de la  percepción de Aldous Axley.

Pero me dijo que nunca quiso tomar LSD,una sustancia química,  y como tal,  él no  confíava   en élla, puesto que solo le gustaban las cosas naturales. Él quería ir a la tierra desértica del centro de México, donde los hongos crecieban.

Puede ser que sea gracias a Massimo si nunca quise probar LSD u otras cosas químicas que en aquellos tiempos s'encuentraban con facilidad en Londres. Cuando llegó la primavera decidí buscar otro trabajo.

2. continùa...