Bell for Adano, A - John Hersey [102]
This time when all laughed, the Major laughed with them.
Old Bellanca cleared his throat. The group were silent, as if they had been called to order. The Mayor said: “I was for so many years just a Notary here in Adano, I never made speeches, I do not intend to begin now. But these others have asked me merely to tell you, Mister Major, that this picture may not be the best picture that was ever painted, although it is very good for Lojacono, but even if it were very bad, we would still give it to you, because we wished to show you that -”
Old Bellanca was very embarrassed. He cleared his throat again and said: “What these others asked me to tell you was that this portrait - “
The old Mayor looked at the others in despair. Gargano stepped forward and said: “What the Mister Mayor wishes to say is that the eyes” - Gargano made those circles with his thumbs and forefingers and put them up to his own eyes - “the eyes of the portrait are honest.”
D’Arpa said, pointing at the picture: “In the chin there is strength.”
Gargano grabbed one of his own ears with one hand and pointed at an ear in the picture with the other: “In the ears there is alertness.”
Saitta the street-cleaner said approvingly: “In the fix of the hair there is neatness.”
And finally old Bellanca remembered enough of his coaching to say. “In the cheeks there is a sympathetic warmth.”
Then Gargano said, and this time his hands stayed still by his sides, in proof of his absolute sincerity: “And you can see in the picture that that man wishes that each person in the town of Adano should be happy. That is a very big thing in a face.”
Old Bellanca said: “Lojacono has painted a good picture. We wanted you to have it.”
“Thank you,” Major Joppolo said. That was all he had time to say, for the officials of Adano left the room quickly. In any case, it was all the Major was able to say.
A little before five the sergeant in charge of the Engineers working on the bell came in and said: “We run into a snag, sir.”
“What’s that?”
“The rod the bell’s supposed to hang by, it’s too big for this here bell, we got to get another.”
“Will you be able to find another?” “Sure. But it’s going to slow us up some.” “How much?”
“It’s all according to how long it takes us to find this new rod. I don’t know how much work we got to do to put it up when we find it. It all depends.”
“Can you finish this afternoon, do you think?”
“Not hardly, sir. But we can have it for you easy by morning.”
A little after seven o’clock, Gargano went out to round up the children who were shouting for caramels.
He took Rotondo and two other carabinieri and the police truck. They drove down the Via Umberto the First, and there they found the children out in force, shouting: “Caramelle! Caramelle!” at every vehicle that passed.
Even when the police truck passed, going down the street to turn around at the Via Favemi, the ch children shouted: “Caramellel Caramelle!”
Their shouting at the police truck gave Gargano an idea.
When the truck had turned around and came up the street on the side where the children were and stopped there, Gargano told the others to open the back and let down the little ladder there. And he stood up near the back of the truck and shouted: “Come little children and get your caramels!”
At first the children were frightened by the police truck and drew back. But Gargano beckoned with both hands and shouted: “Come, children, we will have a regular picnic of caramels. First come, first served. Come with Gargano for the feast of caramels!”
The children wavered. They looked at each other and wondered.
Gargano made motions of putting things in his mouth. “Huge piles of caramels! Come little children to the picnic. No shouting. No scrambling. just eating! Come with Gargano.
It was the son of an official, the clean little Saitta boy, who allowed himself to be persuaded first. He said to the children nearest him: “I am going. Gargano is a friend of my father. He will give us caramels without any work.” And he ran toward the police truck.
“Good little boy!