One Step to You (The Rome Novels #1)(67)

“You aren’t authorized to be here. Please leave, or I’ll have to call the police.”

Step got up and brushed past her with a smile. “I only came in to talk it over. I wanted to come to an understanding with you, try to find common ground, but I can see that that’s going to be impossible. There’s just no reasoning with you, signora.”

Signora Giacci stared at him with a superior attitude. She wasn’t one bit afraid of this guy. He might have all the muscles imaginable, but he was still just a boy, a small insignificant mind.

Step leaned forward as if he wanted to share a confidential matter with her. “Let’s see if you understand this word, teacher. Listen carefully, eh? Pepito.”

Signora Giacci turned pale. She didn’t want to believe her ears.

Step walked away. “I see that you’ve grasped the concept. So, now, I’d like to see if you can behave yourself, teacher. If so, you’ll see that we won’t have any problems. In life, it’s all just a matter of finding the right words, isn’t it?”

He left her there, in the middle of the room, looking older than she was, with a single shred of hope. That maybe none of this was true. Signora Giacci went to the principal’s office, asked for permission to leave the school, hurried home, and when she got there was almost afraid to go in.

She opened the door. Not a sound. Nothing. She went through all the rooms, shouting, calling her dog by name, and then she collapsed into a chair. Even more weary and lonely than she already felt every day of her life.

The doorman appeared in the doorway. “Signora Giacci, how are you? You look so pale. Listen, two young men came at your instructions today to take Pepito out for a walk. I let them in. That was the right thing to do, wasn’t it?”

Signora Giacci stared at him as if she were looking right through him. Then, without hatred, resigned, full of sadness and melancholy, she shook her head. How could he have guessed? Young people were wicked and cruel.

Signora Giacci watched the doorman walk away, and then she struggled to get up from her chair and went to shut the door. Ahead of her lay days of loneliness without Pepito’s cheerful barking.

You can make mistakes about people. Babi had seemed like a proud and intelligent young woman, maybe a little too full of herself, but never vicious enough to undertake this kind of retaliation.

Signora Giacci went into the kitchen to make something to eat. She opened the refrigerator. Near her salad was a can of Pepito’s dog food. She burst into tears. Now she really was alone. Now she really had lost, once and for all.





Chapter 28



That afternoon, Paolo had finished work early, so he was a happy man when he returned home. Suddenly he heard the sound of a dog barking. He went into the living room to find a little white Pomeranian wagging its tail on his Turkish carpet. And right in front of the dog was Pollo, with a wooden spoon in one hand.

“Ready? Go!” Pollo tossed the wooden spoon onto the sofa across the room. The Pomeranian didn’t even turn to look, utterly uninterested in where that piece of wood might be now. Instead it started to bark.

“Fuck, though, why won’t he fetch? This dog doesn’t work! We got a defective dog! All he knows how to do is bark.”

Sitting in an armchair in the same room, Step stopped reading the new issue of the Totem comic. “This dog doesn’t know how to fetch, you understand? He just hasn’t been trained for it. What do you expect?”

Then Step noticed his brother standing in the doorway with his hat still on his head. “Oh, Paolo, ciao. How are you? I didn’t see you at first. Why are you home at this hour?”

“I finished work early. But what is this dog doing in my house?”

“It’s a new dog. Pollo and I went halfsies on it. Do you like him?”

“Not at all. I don’t want to see it in here. Look.” He walked over to the sofa. “It’s already covered with white dog hair here.”

“Oh, come on, Pa, don’t be rude. I’ll make sure he stays in my half of the apartment.”

“What?”

The dog wagged its tail and started to bark.

“You see, he’s happy with the arrangement!”

“Right, already I lose sleep when you come in late at night, so I can just imagine with a dog barking all the time. It’s entirely out of the question.” Paolo left the room angrily.

Pollo made a funny face at Step. “Jesus, he’s pissed off.” Then he got an idea. Pollo shouted loud enough that he could be heard from the other room. “Paolo, for the three hundred thousand lire I owe you…I’ll take him away.”

Step started laughing and went back to reading his Totem comic.

Paolo appeared in the doorway. “You’ve got yourself a deal. After all, I was never going to see that money again, and this way, at least, I get this dog out of here. By the way, Step, do you have any idea what became of my butter biscuits? I bought them the other day for my breakfast, and they’ve already disappeared.”

Step acted vague. “I don’t know. Maria must have eaten them. I didn’t take them. You know I don’t even like them.”

“I don’t know why it is, but whatever happens around here, it’s always Maria’s fault. So, shall we just fire this darned Maria? She only seems to make things worse around here…”