Frail Barrier Read Online Free Page B

self-contained apartment by the water entrance and looking after him in every other way she could.
    The young man stood behind her. He was slim but muscular from his exertions at the gondola oar. His good-looking face, glowing with health, was open and ingenuous.
    The plump Natalia reached up to tousle his reddish-blond curls before she returned to the kitchen.
    â€˜I was wondering if you will need me for the rest of the day, Signor Urbino.’
    â€˜You know that I didn’t even want to go out in the gondola this morning.’
    Urbino spoke in Italian, as he did in most of his dealings with Italians. He seldom ventured for long into the Venetian dialect, however. He hadn’t mastered it as well as the contessa.
    â€˜Yes, but, as I told you,’ Gildo said, ‘it was good exercise, with the qualifying competition coming up tomorrow.’
    The next day, in the waters off Malamocco on the Lido, the gondolino rowers who had applied to the municipality would be having the last of the rigorous competitions that would determine which teams would participate in the regatta.
    â€˜Nonetheless, Gildo, after tomorrow I want you to give all your attention and energies to practicing for the regatta itself.’
    â€˜We must take one thing at a time, Signor Urbino!’
    â€˜Well, whatever happens tomorrow, Natalia and I – and the contessa – are already proud of you and Claudio. You tell him that for us.’
    â€˜You can tell him yourself. He’s downstairs. He wants to see you about something anyway.’
    Claudio was sitting by the window that opened on to the canal, looking through a boating magazine.
    After the three of them had chatted about the upcoming competition, Claudio said, ‘I was wondering if I could borrow Callas’s Hamburg Concerts. They’d be a good way to relax before tomorrow.’
    â€˜That’s a good idea,’ Urbino said. ‘No problem.’
    Gildo made an exaggerated frown.
    â€˜You’re strange, Claudio. All that opera stuff – oh, excuse me, Signor Urbino,’ Gildo added quickly. ‘I didn’t mean that you’re strange.’
    â€˜What a disappointment!’
    This only discomposed the young gondolier more. He looked back and forth between Urbino and Claudio.
    â€˜I’m sorry, Signor Urbino. Of course you are different. Everyone knows that. But – but you are strange in a good way! Yes! In a good way!’
    Urbino laughed. He patted Gildo on the shoulder. ‘Now you’ll have to explain to Claudio how he’s strange in a bad way! I’ll get the Callas for you, Claudio.’
    After giving Claudio the recording, Urbino went to the kitchen. Natalia was bustling around preparing lunch. He was pleased to see that it was something light, an insalata mista and prosciutto crudo with melon.
    â€˜I hope you’re not putting too much pressure on those two boys.’ She gave him a quick look over her shoulder as she washed a plate. ‘You know how much Gildo wants to please you, and Claudio is always doing things for other people and not himself.’
    â€˜Don’t worry. I’ve made it clear that even if they don’t get selected for the regatta, they’ve already succeeded in my eyes. They don’t have to win anything.’
    Natalia made a sound that sounded suspiciously like a harrumph.
    â€˜Sometimes you say things without saying them,’ she observed.
    Urbino, who couldn’t dispute the truth of this, remained silent. He smiled to himself. Here, within less than a quarter of an hour, Gildo and Natalia had pinpointed two of his qualities: his eccentricity and the way he often communicated both more and less than his spoken words.
    â€˜And who knows?’ Natalia pursued. ‘If Gildo strains himself, he won’t be able to ferry you around like a doge in that gondola.’
    Natalia had never approved of the contessa’s gift, although she didn’t seem to