Lizzi Bizzi and the Red Witch

by Stefano Pastor

  They don’t like it when Luce meets Vito. Dad knew how to work his way through in every occasion. He had been a fascist when it was comfortable for him, but at the end of the ward he had recycled himself to the majority party and had continued to be the councilor. No one was interested in his political faith, they cared about the man and the benefits he could bring. Dad was someone important, in the country, and our family one of the most esteemed.

  There were no things to say about Vito. He was a great worker, his family was not so rich, but was always welcomed by all. He had many brothers and everyone knew them. There was not an excuse to prevent them from frequenting each other. So Dad suffered in silence, and mom with him. I heard them discuss continuously, mom and Light, and the argument was always the same: mom wanted her to break up with him, that they frequenting each other wouldn’t get too serious.

  Luce and Vito were never left alone. When Luce left the house she always had someone with her, to control her. Not me, luckily, mom did not trust me important matters. Uncle Agata, sometimes, but most of the times uncle Tonina, she was spinster, and had so much time available. Luce and Vito often went to the movies together and sometimes dancing. And nightly discussions always became more and more heated.

  The night the tragedy happen I didn’t notice it at first. Yes, I felt Luce come back, but she didn’t even say hello and ran to lock herself in her room. I was listening to the radio, trying to learn a new American dance that went so much into fashion, and I didn’t even notice. Mom followed her, but I didn’t notice that either. Trouble started only one hour later, as I was getting ready to go to bed. We heard knocking on the door; we also heard someone beat it. Then came the screams, furious, unrecognizable.

  I was already in pajamas, but not mom and dad had not changed yet. Mom arrived in Luce’s bedroom. «Think about it Rocco!», said to Dad. She already knew who was making all that noise. Dad also had to understand it, for he immediately went down the stairs without complaining. I approached the walkway, and mom was too worried to notice and reprimand me.

  Our entrance was spacious and the staircase long, it circled around it. From my position I had a perfect view. Dad did not even mention opening the door. «Go home!», he yelled. «It’s too late. It’s inappropriate for you to come here!».

  «You know what she has done to me!», yelled a voice behind the door and I recognized it was Vito’s. «You have always known!».

  I was impressed that Vito spoke to Dad with such confidence. Until know he had always shown a huge respect for him. I realized he was drunk and Dad did too. «Tonight you’re not in condition for discussing, come back tomorrow!», he yelled.

  «Why?», yelled Vito. «Why didn’t she tell me? Why did you leave everyone make fun of me?».

  Dad was not defending Luce, absolutely, and it was evident that she was in the middle of everything. It had to be something serious, if even our parents were involved.

  «Vito, stop it! You can’t reason tonight. Come back tomorrow, we will find a solution. You’ll see that everything will work out!».

  Dad did not use to behave like that. Whether he was wrong or right, he always attacked. I had never seen him step back on any occasion or until that night at least.

  «There is nothing to work out!», yelled Vito. «It’s over! I don’t want to see her, ever again! Take her far away, otherwise I’ll kill her!». And as if the awful words he had just pronounced were not enough, he burst into laugh. A hysterical, suffering laugh.

  I hated her. I hated Luce, even more now than before. Because Vito was a great guy that filled my dreams, that I had loved in silence for years, without ever having the courage to do something. They guy with whom I wished to spend life with, was now suffering and the cause of everything was her, my sister. Wasn’t it enough for her to have the best guy of the village, the most beautiful, and the best match? What could she have done to reduce him to those conditions? No, it could not be a simple attack on jealousy, this time it was something more serious, irreparable.

  Vito left, without adding anything else, and at home no one talked about what had happened, but the next morning I was informed the same. And the rumor had spread! There was no certainty; however the events left no room for doubt: my sister, the desirable and perfect Luce, was no longer a virgin. They had separated, after dancing, fleeing from the watchful look of zia Tonina, and like all teens, have seek forbidden pleasures. But something went wrong, because Vito had come back almost immediately and had started to drink. The more he drank, the more his anger grew. Eventually he had started talking, making very bad comments about Luce and my whole family.

  Everyone talked about it in town, there was no other conversation topic: Rocco’s daughter was no longer a virgin. Was I upset? Not so much. Luce was my sister, yes, but I had never been close to her, seeing her fall from the high pedestal on which everyone had her could only please me. The fact that the entire family had been stained by her actions didn’t seem important in that moment. I joined the gossip chorus: who could have been? There were so many guys after her, but Luce had never shown interest for anyone, except for Vito. Too many names flourished, barely whispered. Some of them left me astonished.

  But what could have been a harmless gossip became more serious in the course of the morning. To the point that, at noon, Dad, whom took his single glass of wine seated at the bar of the piazza, received an unexpected visit. He found himself in front of Ignazio, Vito’s father, along his older brothers. I wasn’t ther ein that ocassion, but I was told with details.

  «We need to talk», Ignazio started.

  Everyone found it bizarre. After all Vito was a man, he certainly could not be considered a child, the fact that Luce betrayed him did not justify so much concern. It would have been different if they had an official engagement, but this was not the case.

  My father must have thought the same, because he answered abruptly. «What do I have to say? They broke up. I don’t see the problem». And he added loudly so everyone could hear him: «Whatever my family does is nobody’s business». Then, almost with irony: «Or do you consider tainted the honor of your son?».

  Ignazio shook his head and sat in front of dad, without waiting for any invitation. «The boy is bad, Rocco. He is taking it in a wrong way».

  My father leaned his head. «I’m sorry».

  «He doesn’t want to talk about it», Ignazio said. «He won’t tell anyone what happen. He is sorry for how he behaved last night».

  «It doesn’t matter. I already forgot about it», my father said, despite his distress.

  «He really is», Ignazio continued. «He really loved your daughter, she was all for him».

  Everyone said dad could have been more polite, because that poor man had come to him with his heart on his sleeve, but he remained rigid until the end. «It cannot work», he said. «I always knew they were not meant for each other. He has to forget about her, its over».

  Ignatius remained dumbfounded and this put an end to the discussion. Dad paid the check and left.

  I hated him when I knew it, I also hated my father. Vito did not deserve all of this.

  Luce remained locked in her room for days and I did not found a way to see her. Mom was always with her and I rarely saw her. I had a lot of confidence with dad, I was always tempted, but I didn’t dare to ask him anything. The situation in hour house was intolerable, but outside it was no better.

  The problem was Vito. The poor guy did not eat anymore, he did not leave his room, he didn’t want to talk to anyone. And this was weird, everyone was worried. If at least he had let off the steam, if he had gone around insulting my sister, even if he had called him a whore, it would have been so unpleasant but natural and understandable. His behavior, however, was as stranger as dad’s.

  I would spend hours in front of his window, hidden, melting for him, and not once I saw him come out. I saw his mother shake his head every time she was asked for news about him. How could they have treated him like that, Luce and also dad! And could
not do anything, absolutely nothing, to change the situation.

  One evening, taking advantage of the fact that Mom had gone down to the kitchen, I slipped into Luce’s room. I had rarely entered in all those years. Luce was something else, apart from the common mortals. In front of her I was only a servant. Luce had never been to school as us, the ordinary people, she had had private teachers. We had never played together, not even as kids. «Leave your sister alone», my mother said, every time I tried to talk to her. And that was the result of so much consideration; the perfect Luce had thrown the discredit on our family.

  «Ah, it’s you Pina», said a voice in the dark, completely deprived from emotion.

  I could not see her. The shutters of her room had been closed for days and Luce continued to live in the deepest darkness. I tried to locate where the sound came from. «Are you OK?».

  This was not what I wanted to know, I would have preferred to insult her, ask him how she could be so insensitive, how could she hurt him.

  My eyes slowly got used to the dark and I started to see in the shadows. Luce was not in bed, she was not sick, she was sat in front of the mirror, as if she could still see in that darkness. Even then, in that moment, Her beauty hit me: I could never compete with her.

  She sobbed, only for a moment, and then came her voice, unrecognizable. «I miss him, I miss him so much!». Then she turned to me. «How is he? Tell me he’s fine!».

  I didn’t expect this reaction, but it didn’t move me at all. «You should have thought about it first, don’t you think?».

  She wasn’t offended, she nodded. «Mom was right, I did not want to believe her. I had told her he would not be able to understand».

  I feel the irritation grow. «So it is his fault now!».

  «No, no, absolutely! No, Vito has nothing to do with it. It is only my fault. I should have known it was impossible».

  Fragile, delicate, ethereal as ever, once again I felt inadequate in front of her. They would say I was mean treating her bad, yet I was convinced of knowing her better than anyone else, the actual Luce, the one behind the mask. «Stop pretending, you don’t care about anything. You don’t love him. You never loved him. You have never loved anyone in your life».

  As I was speaking, I realized that those words, dictated by jealousy, concealed a great truth. Luce was like that, cold, and all of her behavior was just a pose to be blessed.

  «I wanted to so much to make him happy», she said. And the choice of words made me uncomfortable. In the end she had not denied my accusations.

  «What happened?», I ultimately asked her.

  She shook her head. ««I can not tell you, I’m sorry, Pina, I just can not».«

  I gathered all my courage to talk about such an intimacy. «You’re no… you’re no longer a virgin?».

  She bowed her head and realized I had guessed. «Who did you do it with?».

  She looked up, upset. Or maybe she was pretending, as usual. «With who? With Vito! With whom else could I have done it? Then she added: But it was not enough, I didn’t not understand the same».

  I was petrified, mouth open, because it was not exactly what I imagined it had happened. She said, «I did it only for him, because he had a dream. I knew it was wrong, but I could not refuse it to him».

  I shook my head, as if trying to stop these absurd explanations. «Did you do it with Vito? But… then what happened?».

  She did not answer. She looked back at the dark mirror.

  At that moment everything seemed more overwhelming and heavy than ever. The mysteries of Luce, the behavior of my parents, the way they had always treated me. I came forward and grabbed her arm to force her to look at me.

  Her reaction was disproportionate. She yelled and jumped to her feet, slipping away from my hands. She stepped back toward the wall. Her skin was frozen after being far from sunlight for so long, and that frost also seemed to be transmitted to me, scared by her behavior. «I don’t not want to hurt you», I apologized.

  Before I could add anything else my mother came back. I read her disapproval in her eyes and I hurried to run away before she sent me away. As I ran down the stairs to the open air where I could get rid of that dark feeling, I realized she did not love me, that none of them ever loved me.

  No one took my seriously, not even my friends. I was the little girl, supposed to have a childish attitudes and feelings. Yet my contemporaries were already amorous in dark and isolated places, but when we spoke they seemed horrified at the idea that I wanted to do it myself. «But you’re just a little girl, Pina, what would you like to do?». They did not understand, or maybe it was my fault. Another reaction to Luce, surely, because all I did was making mistakes. The more she became beautiful, the more I was tried to undo my femininity. Maybe it was me, that I had stopped growing.

  2

  At the end my surveillance gave its fruits and I saw Vito leave the house. Sure, he was inaccessible, surrounded by his brothers, which seemed to defend him from the whole world. He was very pale, but no less fascinating for this. He was older than me; he was twenty-one years old as Luce, but the abyss between us was unbridgeable, because he had always considered me a little girl.

  I still followed him for the whole day. His brothers took him around, displaying him as a trophy, but they were always aware to not leave him get stuffed with questions. After all, they were all embarrassed by her presence, and certain arguments were not easy to deal with. They thought they understood, all of them, but not me, that I was full of doubts.

  If Luce had not lied, she had made love with Vito for the first time. And I did not see what reason she could have had to do it at this point. So the reason for their separation had to be another. To tell the truth, it did not matter much to me, only to the extent that she was making Vito suffer. I only cared about his wellbeing.

  It was obvious that Vito had been force to get out, only to silence the gossip, and that he did not want anything else but to finish dad farce. Vito shuddered with impatience, just as it was happening to me. When he decided to leave, I, that was expecting it, decided to seize the opportunity.

  It happened in the piazza, when they met a group of girls. His brothers could not stop hooking up, despite the situation. The very fact that they were once the center of interest provoked the curiosity of the girls, which gave them greater freedom. As a result, the attention was distracted from Vito, who did not have a pinch of hesitation and stepped back with carelessness toward a secondary road that moved away from the piazza.

  I first calculated a hundred alternative paths to succeed in meeting him casually, and then I set these absurd plans aside, too afraid to lose him, and ran cheekily behind. When we were far enough I dared to call him. «Do you miss her?», I asked. «Are you sorry for her absence?». Because Luce said she did, and it looked like that.

  Vito stiffened, ready to escape, then recognized me and the tension lightened. Because I was not important, I was just a little girl, someone with whom he could not even get upset. «Go home, Pina, let me be».

  I had no intention of desisting. I became just as everyone saw me, an intimidating, nosy and tremendously obstinate little girl. «Luce is bad», I told him, though I was not sure that was the truth.

  He continued walking without saying anything and I ran behind him. «Do you still love her?».

  Vito shook his head and seemed absolutely serious. «Your sister is not normal, Pina. She is sick. She needs to be cured».

  Then, almost afraid of his words, took a secondary alley, trying to distance himself from me. I was so shocked I got blocked there, invaded with doubt and fear. Luce sick? What did he mean? Then I set off any annoying thoughts and ran behind, before he disappeared at the end of the valley. He kept walking, and I was always behind. Eventually he stopped on a solitary bench, for he too had to be tired, pale and weak, as he was, almost as if he had been cut off from a long illness.

  I sat down too, shifted. «What are you going to do?».

  He shrugged, but did n
ot say anything.

  «Can’t you talk to her?».

  «No!», he said firmly. «It’s over and that’s enough! She… must resign; there are some things she can’t do!». Then he shook his head and lowered it to his knees, putting his head between his hands. «But what am I saying! It’s not real, it’s not possible!».

  Then he did something incredible. He grabbed my arm holding me tight and approached his face to mine. For a moment, just a moment, I was afraid he was going to kiss me. Oh God, maybe fear is not the right word. I felt his breathing very close, and his breath tasted like mint. The beats of my heart accelerated.

  He suddenly let me go and retreated. «No, not you», he said. Then he got up. «Make her leave!», he added. «It’s not good for you to be home with her, stay far!».

  Then he moved fast, before I could follow him. But I was too stunned; I would not have been able to do so. My mind was eroding: what had Luce done to him? Because in Vito’s words something incredible came through; at the bottom of his heart that boy was terrified, she was afraid of her, of my sister.

  I didn’t succeed in entering Luce’s room again. my mother protected her like a vulture. More than once I was about to face her, but it would have been useless, because for her I would always be an outsider, unable to understand.

  On the contrary, I obtained an amazing confession from my father, only a few days later. It was just the two of us in the living room, I was waiting for him to retired to be able to turn on the radio, when he folded the newspaper he was reading and looked up to me.

  «You have grown up Pina», he said. «You are the strongest. You have always been the strongest».

  I remained shocked by his words.

  «We have neglected you, I know, but you have to understand that we did it because you did not need it. We have always known you always know how to get by».