Chapter LXV
Santino
Antonino liked the countryside in spring more than in other seasons. He enjoyed waking up every morning and seeing that day after day something new was added to the green of the leaves. He rejoiced in the fields that imperceptibly transformed the landscape, animals that gave birth to their little ones and that when outdoors, encouraged them by smelling them and pushing them to move under their watchful gaze. Every morning, when he passed the gate that Santino, the old watchman, would run to open for him, he was filled with the feeling of being in the right place more than anywhere else, and before his worries for work would come to mind, in those few moments of complete happiness he found the energy to face the rest of the day.
After the quarrel with Mafalda he had n
