Close your eyes chapt2

CHAPTER 2

She did not have time to open the door, that the cat came to meet her festively to greet her. She still had a hand in her hair when her mother called her from the kitchen. "Sit down Bianca". 

She obeyed by dragging noisily the kitchen bench, then after a few minutes decided to interrupt what had seemed to her the classic maternal preparatory silence. "Listen, you called me while I was eating a mac sandwich with Giulia, I hope it's important because I still have to buy swimsuits!"

"Yes, it's important Bianca. Excuse me..."

"Sorry about what Ma?"

"Sorry Bianca, I can't take you to the beach this year..."

"Whataa? You're joking, aren't you?" 

"No Bianca, not at all."

"But why?" 

"Listen to me. As you know, your father left because, as he says, he needs to find himself again and God only knows how much he needs it..."

"Stop making fun of him! And then you don't have to remind me of it. I remember it every day alone that there is only you here!"

Rebecca swallowed nervously, then made a grin of pain, which for a moment seemed to go beyond the formal curtain with which she wrapped every word.

"And I..."

"And you??".

 The tone of the voice was getting higher and higher and the cat had begun to take small steps in reverse, ready to slip away. "Oh, Bianca, you know how important my work is to us!"

"You mean for yourself!"

"No for both of us! You know very well that your father's theatrical pay was never even enough for the condominium expenses, and now, in this situation at least."

Again a pause that seemed piloted.

"In short, Bianca, I need to do a master's degree"

"Another??? But you've never done anything but training since I was born! You managed to specialize even while you were in pain!!! That's enough!!!"

"First of all, to be precise, they weren't real pains, but they were Braxton Hicks contractions.." He watched her speak to the wall, as she seemed to hear something inside her head, "but who cares! You were sick! And you were still working!" "But this time, this time it's really important"

"And me??? Am I not important?"

"It's on stem cells! You have also heard how many implications they are having on the most diverse neurological diseases and in Italy the market is still open! This is a new Oil of Lorenzo! 

"Lorenzo's Oil??? What the fuck are you talking about?! What about BIANCA's oil? The fucking coconut oil protection 15 I just bought!" All his forces seemed to vanish in a fist of rage pulled on the table. Shortly after a tear wetted him, which was still closed. "What should I do this summer?" She asked her mother who turned her back to the sink.

"Well...there's your grandmother Virginia. It can host you at the sea"

"What???"

"I sent her an email and she said she would be very happy to meet you..."

"Oh yes? And did you ask her if Giulia can come with me?"

"I remind you that Giulia is also a minor, like you. This isn't Marina di Camaiore, it's 1200 km. I tried it, Bianca," she said, lowering her gaze."The parents didn't like it. Not without at least one of his brothers. And then they've already reorganized."

"In record time. Typical of Cosima," he thought.

Bianca swallowed what little saliva was left. He was in shock. "What about Mino?" pointing to the cat.

"Oh no, Mino can't come." The mother couldn't take her eyes off the floor. "I tried to make the ticket, but the company keeps telling me that the only availability for Mino would be in the hold and they would risk dying of fear." 'Sure,' thought Bianca, staring at her forehead, 'you don't want to dirty your conscience any more than it already is!' "So for now..." he goes on apparently unharmed to that declaration of war, "he'll stay at home, then I'll retire him, and when I come back in July for the bills and what else we'll see if I can send him to you." "So you're coming back?" "Yes, but then I go back to the second cycle."

"It's unbelievable. You were able to write to your mother in order to tell someone who you're texting at most at Christmas! Not even a bitch on the phone! I have no words!" 

"That's enough!" Her face finally began to turn colour. "Moderate your terms, miss! I am still your mother!" He raised his voice half-tone.

Bianca understood at that signal that it was perfectly useless to imagine anything different from the scenario proposed by her mother. She clenched her fists again, staring at the window overlooking the neighbor's hallway, looking for a place where she could forget all that had happened for a moment, but every word of her mother opened in her mind, like in a Chinese box, other thoughts:

'Grandma, Spain, nobody I know, another language and 'God, I have 6 politicians in Spanish because the teacher was always sick and came back a month before the end... what if they are always drunk like Giulia says? and Giulia? Who told him?'