Glikeria figured it out first. It’s because, angelic soul, she understands it to be about her muteness. And the Little Mermaid is like her. Only the Mermaid knows why she’s been deprived of speech. And ours, what does she know…
There’s a little park in front of the house. Behind it is a monument: it faces the square and turns its back to us. On warm days children climb on the rails. The rails are slippery and slick with ice in winter. We pass the monument and turn the corner – and here they are, the domes.
Grandma grabbed her back. We’ll stop for a minute, she says. It’s been getting numb since morning, as if it weren’t mine. She stands there, looking around.
“I wish,” – she whispers, – “I could have twenty more years…”
And I’m walking by her side and thinking: she’s old, why would she
