An Astrological Guide for Broken Hearts
Page 28
“Because you deserve it, honey. You deserve a chance to be happy.”
I shake my head. “This is only a chance of suffering, and you know it. You know it all too well. You’ve been married and divorced three times . . .”
“Sure. And if a fourth woman should come along, I would do it again. Alice, you can’t be happy without taking risks. You can’t climb to the summit without knowing that there is always the possibility of falling.” When I don’t say anything, he continues, “My dear, that man that you just allowed to leave told me that he completely changed his life so that he could come back to you. That he changed his job to have a real house, to start building something, when in the past he was always afraid of becoming attached, of making something definitive and stable. And if a man does all this, if he takes seven months to do it without ever hesitating . . . Honey, it means that you can make as many wishes as you like on falling stars to help you win the lottery, but if you don’t check the numbers, you’ll never realize that you have the winning ticket in your hand.” He turns on all the lights again, and as if by magic, my starry sky disappears, and I am surrounded by the four walls of the set, the cables, the rails for the trolley, and the stairs for the lighting arrangement. I am surrounded by my life. And I am alone.
Davide was here, looking for me. And he told me that he loved me.
My knees shake when I try to get up.
He told me that he loved me, and I sent him away.
I, who have kept loving him for a year, in spite of the distance, in spite of our astrological charts, in spite of the pain, and in spite of trying to forget him by running away from my old life.
I want to climb down faster, but this hill seems to have become a mountain. I want to run toward the door, but fear paralyzes me. I am afraid I won’t find him again. And I am afraid to find him again.
“Davide!” I call, but I am out of breath and he doesn’t hear me. He keeps walking toward the boulevard that leads toward the reconstruction of ancient Rome. “Davide!”
All at once, I hear barking. Davide stops and opens his arms because Flash is heading toward him at a gallop. But then the dog passes him, aiming directly for me with his wagging tail, and a second later, slams me to the ground with his powerful paws and the poorly calibrated strength of a Great Dane overcome with affection.
“Flash! Alice!”
Davide runs toward me, the sophisticated woman who is elegantly sprawled on the gravel with sixty pounds of dog on her stomach. And while Flash continues to yelp, Davide lifts me off the ground and hugs me tightly.
“I’m sorry, Alice. Forgive me . . . I shouldn’t have listened to Lanfranco. I should have just come to you.”
“Lars has a soft spot for romantic stories, especially when he gets to direct them. And . . .” I look into his eyes. “Perhaps, this time, he even managed to write a happy ending.”
Davide smiles and then, as he hesitates, I am the one to kiss him. And I’m still afraid. I’m afraid of making the wrong decision. I’m afraid that Davide and I could break up. I’m afraid that we could be together for the rest of our lives. And I’m afraid of suffering. I’m afraid of the unknown, because not only is tomorrow unfathomable, but even what will happen in the next hour is shrouded in mystery.
This is what it means to live without astrology: walking out onto the stage of life without a prompter, without anyone depriving you of the beauty of discovering what you’re really made of; understanding your own mechanisms without anyone telling you that it is down to your Ascendant, a wrong Conjunction, or a misplaced planet.
I kiss Davide and hold him tightly. Suddenly, I’m no longer afraid of my fears, because I know that this time the stars will only be watching.
An Astrological Guide to Chapter Titles
* * *
Prologue: The Heavens Can Wait
Heaven Can Wait, directed by Warren Beatty and Buck Henry, USA, 1978
1. Swept Away (by a Libra)
Swept Away, directed by Lina Wertmüller, Italy, 1974
2. I’m Starting from Aries
I’m Starting from Three, directed by Massimo Troisi, Italy, 1981
3. Dog Day Libra
Dog Day Afternoon, directed by Sidney Lumet, USA, 1975
4. A Gemini for All Seasons
A Man for All Seasons, directed by Fred Zinnemann, UK, 1966
5. Libra on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, directed by Pedro Almodóvar, Spain, 1988
6. The Libra, the Aries, His Wife & Her Lover
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, directed by Peter Greenaway, UK/France, 1989
7. Aries of Darkness
Heart of Darkness, directed by Nicolas Roeg, USA, 1993
8. Libra Wednesday
Big Wednesday, directed by John Milius, USA, 1978
9. Working Libra
Working Girl, directed by Mike Nichols, USA, 1988
10. The Curse of the Jade Scorpio
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, directed by Woody Allen, USA, 2001
11. Into the Wild Sagittarius
Into the Wild, directed by Sean Penn, USA, 2007
12. Libra Girls Are Easy
Earth Girls Are Easy, directed by Julien Temple, USA, 1988
13. Libra on a Hot Tin Roof
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, directed by Richard Brooks, USA, 1958
14. A Very Little Sagittarius
A Very Little Man, directed by Mario Monicelli, Italy, 1977
15. Guess If the Sagittarius Is Coming to Dinner
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, directed by Stanley Kramer, USA, 1967
16. Just a Question of Horoscope
Just a Question of Love, directed by Christian Faure, France, 2000
17. No Country for Old Libras
No Country for Old Men, directed by Ethan and Joel Coen, USA, 2007
18. Some Like It Taurus
Some Like It Hot, directed by Billy Wilder, USA, 1959
19. Libra in Pink
Pretty in Pink, directed by Howard Deutch, USA, 1986
20. Love in the Time of Aquarius
Love in the Time of Cholera, directed by Mike Newell, USA, 2007
21. Bread, Love, and Astrology
Bread, Love and Dreams, directed by Luigi Comencini, Italy, 1953
22. The Gemini Connection
The Chinese Connection, directed by Lo Wei, Hong Kong, 1972
23. A Story of Streets, Libras, and Crime
Camorra (A Story of Streets, Women and Crime), directed by Lina Wertmüller, Italy, 1985
24. Torture Me, But Kill Me with Leo
Torture Me But Kill Me with Kisses, directed by Dino Risi, Italy, 1968
25. Don’t Bother to Knock for the Libra
Don’t Bother to Knock, directed by Roy Ward Baker, USA, 1952
26. Full Metal Gemini
Full Metal Jacket, directed by Stanley Kubrick, UK, 1987
27. Libra Fever
Horse Fever, directed by Steno, Italy, 1976
28. Lions for Geminis
Lions for Lambs, directed by Robert Redford, USA, 2007
29. Catch Leo If You Can
Catch Me If You Can, directed by Steven Spielberg, USA, 2002
30. Crouching Leo, Hidden Gemini
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, directed by Ang Lee, UK, 2000
31. Leoless
Breathless, directed by Jean-Luc Godard, France, 1960
32. The Day the Pisces Came Out
The Day the Fish Came Out, directed by Mihalis Kakogiannis, Greece/UK/USA, 1967
33. A Leo Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan, USA, 1951
34. No Sex Please, We’re Libras
No Sex Please, We’re British, directed by Cliff Owen, UK, 1973
35. You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Leo
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, directed by Woody Allen, USA, 2010
36. The Leo on the Bridge
&nbs
p; The Lovers on the Bridge, directed by Leos Carax, France, 1991
37. A Night Full of Rain and Horoscopes
A Night Full of Rain, directed by Lina Wertmüller, Italy, 1978
38. Sex, Lies, and Leo
Sex, Lies, and Videotape, directed by Steven Soderbergh, USA, 1989
39. It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Gemini
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, directed by Stanley Kramer, USA, 1963
40. What Ever Happened to Baby Libra?
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, directed by Robert Aldrich, USA, 1962
41. Lost in Astrology
Lost in Translation, directed by Sofia Coppola, USA, 2003
42. The Unbearable Lightness of Virgo
The Unbearable Lightness of Being, directed by Philip Kaufman, USA, 1988
43. Aquarius of a Summer Night
Smiles of a Summer Night, directed by Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1955
Epilogue: The Libra Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain
The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain, directed by Christopher Monger, UK, 1995
Acknowledgments
* * *
To make this journey, we’ve crossed the Four Elements, climbed Trines, dissected Astrological Charts, observed Constellations, rattled through Decades and come to blows with the planets . . . But if Alice and I have come as far as writing this page, we owe it to a series of people without whom she may never have had a voice and I may never have completed her adventures.
So I must say thank you very much to: my agent Laura Ceccacci, my dear friends Patrizia Rizzo and Cristina Caboni; Cristina Prasso and the whole team of GeMs: Giorgia di Tolle, Barbara Trianni, Giacomo Lanaro, Marco Tarò, Cristina Foschini, Giuseppe Somenzi, Paolo Caruso, Benedetta Stucchi, Elena Pavanetto, Caterina Sonato, Viviana Vuscovich, Graziella Cerutti, Mauro Tosca, Oriana Di Noi and Laura Passarella and Simone Morandi, who had the patience to read and correct my astrological blunders. Thanks to my parents, Gisella Guidi and Roberto Zucca, and to all my family, to my sister Carlotta and her husband Fabrizio, and to my dear nephew Matteo and niece Martina. And also Jean Paul Bosco, Claudio Canossi, Jean Claude Rosseau, Corina Trotea, Valeria Sciandra, Amanda Meneghelli, Deborah Albanese, Laura Ghirigato and Serena Marranini, Valerio Grazioli, Roberto Pesavento, Pietro Cazzaniga, Marialuisa Righi, Alessandra Roccato, Raul Montanari, Francesco Muzzopappa, Paolo Clarà, Rosa Dello Iacono, Elena Cattaneo, Carmen Vella, Marta Santomauro.
And I owe a very special thanks to my dearest cats, my sweet Musetta and Drusilla, who are now the most brilliant stars, and to Byron and Modì, who are the best company ever.
Friends, may the stars be with you. Thank you for everything.
We hope you enjoyed reading this Simon & Schuster ebook.
* * *
Get a FREE ebook when you join our mailing list. Plus, get updates on new releases, deals, recommended reads, and more from Simon & Schuster. Click below to sign up and see terms and conditions.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
Already a subscriber? Provide your email again so we can register this ebook and send you more of what you like to read. You will continue to receive exclusive offers in your inbox.
An Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by Casa Editrice Nord s.u.r.l.
Originally published in Italy by Nord (Gruppo GeMS) in 2015 as Guida astrologica per cuori infranti
License agreement made through Laura Ceccacci Agency
English language translation copyright © 2019 by Silvia Zucca
English translation by Ashley Bell
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Atria Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Atria digital edition July 2019
ATRIA UNBOUND and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com.
The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.
Interior design by Dana Sloan
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 978-1-5011-1695-7