The Glassblower of Murano - Marina Fiorato [21]
She wasn't sure if the request sounded more ridiculous in English or Italian.
The man laughed with derision. `What you suggest is impossible. Such work takes years of training. It is a highly skilled profession. A Venetian's profession. And,' this to her blonde tresses,'a man's profession' He turned from her to a German couple arguing loudly over a goblet set.
`Wait,' Nora said in Italian. She knew she had to leave, but not like this. Not with this man thinking her an idiot, a nuisance. She could not be dismissed this way. `I wish to buy this mirror.' She wanted the mirror of flowers to take back to London. She had gazed into it while her dream died, and the flowers would serve to remind her of what a beautiful dream it once was.
Seamlessly, the man altered his manner again.With smooth charm he gave orders for the mirror to be packed, and took Nora downstairs to the shipping desk. He asked for an address in England and Nora, on an impulse, gave her mother's. The mirror could stay with Elinor until Nora sorted herself out. She despondently wrote out her own details and signed the Amex slip, while the man checked her signature with a cursory glance.
She was actually walking down the staircase before he called her back.
'Signorina?'
She returned to the desk, now weary of the trip. All she wanted now was to be able to leave, to get back on the boat with all the rest of the tourists, for that was where she now belonged.
`Is there some problem?' she asked.
The man was looking at her mother's address, and back to her Amex slip.
`Manin?' he said. `Your name is Manin?'
`Si.'
He took off his half-moon glasses as if dazed. In Italian, as if unable to compute his English anymore, he said, `Are you - do you know ... have you heard of Corrado Manin, known as Corradino?'
`Yes, he is my direct ancestor. He is the reason I wanted to come here, and learn the glass.' She suddenly felt tears pricking her eyes. She was an abject failure, failed mother, failed wife, failed adventurer on a fool's enterprise. She wanted to go, before she cried in front of this man. But, surprisingly, he stayed her by holding out his hand. `I am Adelino della Vigna. Come with me for a moment, I'd just like to check something:
Nora let him steer her by the elbow, not down the main staircase but through a side door marked, forbiddingly, `Privato.' The Germans looked on with interest, sure that the fraulein had been caught shoplifting.
Nora followed Adelino down an iron staircase, until the smell and heat told her they were approaching the factory floor. He led her through a heavy sliding door, its materials warm from the temperatures within. She felt the full blast of the forno for the first time.
Like the fifth of November when your front is toasted by the bonfire but your back stays cold.
Adelino led her to the flames, answering in swift Italian the whistles and teases of the maestri who made predictable comments on old Adelino entering with a young blonde. The old man stripped off his jacket and reached for a blowpipe. Nora began to proffer her portfolio, but Adelino waved it away. `You may as well throw that on the fire. Here we begin all things new' He pushed the blowpipe into the fire, raddling the coals till they spat. `I run this place. All I deal with now is point of sale and shipping, but I used to work the glass, before my lungs went. Show me what you can do with this.'
Nora took off her coat and slung it behind a pile of buckets. She took the rod gingerly, knowing she had only one chance.
Help me, Corradino.
Nora collected the gather from the forno and began, gently, to blow the glass. She rolled it, reheated, shaped and blew, holding her breath out until the parison had formed. Only when satisfied did she breathe in again. Corradino had heard her. It was perfect.
Nora drank the evil, dark espresso Adelino had poured her while he hunted round his chaotic desk for a pen.
`I'm taking you on as an apprentice, for one month, on trial. The pay is low, and you'll just be a servente helping the maestri. No finished pieces. You understand?'