Devil in the Convent
4
I throw myself onto the couch, my mind swarming with strange fantasies. The sun warms my bare skin, it's getting late.
I look with a twinge of fear at the box concealed under the desk, coming from the past to disturb the present. I lift the lid, peep inside. There's still something unexplained. From my desk I take a ruler, I measure the height, 45cm deep on the outside, 36cm on the inside, the framework’s 10cm. I push my hand down to the bottom, press down, it bends a little but the base doesn’t give way. There’s a secret compartment, but how to open it? The small key! But where does it go?
The frame is little more than a line in relief around the perimeter. I clean the bottom with a damp cloth, so as to highlight the joints between the boards that form the sides. 'O mmariuolo' would have already solved the mystery, but I still can’t involve him, this is hot stuff, hot as the coals of hell!
I don’t want to deal with the contents of the sealed box in the store-room today, it’ll be better for me to take a walk.
So, without putting on any make-up, I just comb my hair without rearranging it, bunch my locks into a ponytail secured with a pair of long ebony pins. I’m wearing my outfit of unbleached linen, pants on my naked body, blouse that I leave open almost down to my waist to leave room for my coral necklace, gold earrings, a tortoiseshell slave-bangle, gold bracelets, and rings by the thousand. Then I add my perfume, put on my linen jacket, shoes with high heels, leather shoulder bag, and my glasses. I look in the mirror, I’m so beautiful it almost cracks!
'Faccio duje passe pe’ calmà la mente'.
At the bar I get greedy glances, whispered comments, vulgar compliments. I’m used to it. The optician gets me choosing frames, when I look in the mirror I see the face of the goddess that inhabits me.
A message from Don Carmelo announces that next week the site will be closed, as Gennaro is going to Palermo where he’s got an important job, so I’ll have ten days rest.
I stop at my restaurant in the Riviera di Chiaia. The chubby teenaged waiter can’t take his eyes off my coral necklace. They know me and prepare my favorite table, where I can see the gardens and the sea while remaining in the shadows, discreet. Fresh spring salad with chicory tips and orange segments, a glass of Falanghina, orange juice, a finger of pastiera two scoops of lemon ice cream, and then quiet.
My back hurts. I call Eulalia, tell her I'll see her at home. Naked I look in the mirror, my arms raised as if they were tied and waiting for the scourging. My back, arms and legs are bruised by the fall, I find myself thinking that I wish these were the signs of my just punishment. Arching my back I contemplate the beauty of my buttocks, my thighs, my exposed, shaven sex.
One ring, has Eulalia arrived already? No, it's Gennaro. I’d like to answer immediately, but like a lover betrayed I stay silent, I understand what he’s cooking up. But in the games of love, I’m the slave of Eulalia, she dominates me, I’m her devoted servant, her favourite pet, and that’s my pleasure - I'm going to be hers for these days to come.