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    The Eternal Moment
    The Eternal Moment
    The Eternal Moment
    Ebook153 pages2 hours

    The Eternal Moment

    By DEMETRIO VERBARO

    ()

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    About this ebook

    It is a good read that flows well and makes you dream. I believe that Demetrio’s goal is to take the readers to when they were teenagers, their first friendships, their first loves. And then persuade them to dream with open eyes.

    The eternal moment is an intense story about love and friendship.

    The protagonists are three children: Giuseppe, Jessica and Sidney. Each of them, in its own way, is special, unusual, but it is because of this diversity that they will be marginalized by their peers. They, however, will find in their friendship a unique and indissoluble bond.

    The novel is structured in two temporal and geographical levels: odd chapters, in the history, tell the story of the three main characters, starting from their childhood in 1992, and following them up to their twenties. The setting is Mosorrofa a small town of Reggio Calabria perched on a hill.

    In the even chapters, on the other hand, we are in 2013 and we find the characters already in their thirties, intent to face the complications of love. The setting is New York. For those who like happy endings I recommend stopping at the final chapter. For all others, I advise to continue reading until the epilogue.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBadPress
    Release dateDec 16, 2018
    ISBN9781507143780
    The Eternal Moment

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      Book preview

      The Eternal Moment - DEMETRIO VERBARO

      THE ETERNAL MOMENT

      AUTHOR’S NOTE:

      Those who have read my first novel the burden of the ant know that I like playing with the readers’ capacity for intuition and transporting them to a labyrinthine room of mirrors and leave them clues to find the exit. My second novel The eternal moment is a simple but powerful story about love and friendship. I could have written it in a linear manner, in chronological order, but that is not my literary style, so I twisted the plot: in the odd chapters I delve into the characters’ past, lived in Calabria, in the even pairs I explore their present, lived in New York, until arriving to the future in the final chapter, thereby creating a labyrinth for the reader. Enjoy the reading and remember: among the pages there are always breadcrumbs to find the way out.

      CHAPTER 1

      Jessica was sitting in the first row. She was wearing a tiny white dress that was decorated with green flowers. Her red hairs were tied into a ponytail with a pink ribbon.

      The black eyes of the altar boy, Giuseppe, were fixated on that beautiful face with delicate features, but every time that Jessica turned to look at him, he, overwhelmed by his shyness, immediately turned to look somewhere else.

      But that Sunday, when there was little time left until the end of mass, it finally happened: the first time that she stared back!

      Everybody remembers perfectly their first kiss, or the first time that they made love, but almost nobody remembers the first time that their significant other stared back at them.

      Giuseppe, on the other hand, would have never forgotten the emotions that he felt from that first look that he had exchanged with Jessica: he was enchanted from staring at those clear and intense eyes, his soul was lost in those blue-colored irises. He was feeling prey to a spell, his heart was beating like crazy, and his soul was reaching out to her.

      In the meantime, the priest, a man that was around fifty years old with an ivory face and silvery hairs, continued with the mass: «Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take and eat; this is my body. Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. »

      A strange silence fell over the church, broken only by sporadic coughing and crying of a baby in diapers. After a while, Giuseppe started to feel that his fellow altar boys where elbowing him and were worriedly pointing towards the altar

      The boy, reluctantly, turned away, forcing himself to take his eyes off of Jessica’s eyes, and then he saw the tall figure of the priest who was impatiently signaling something to him.

      Giuseppe looked at him confused, the priest lost his temper and, leaving aside his usually impeccable manners, with a half sneer accompanied by a harsh tone, ordered him in a loud voice: "The incense burner!! Bring me the incense burner!! Hurry up, idiot of a brat!! »

      In a moment Giuseppe realized the mess, took the incense burner and walked with rapid steps to the altar, but tripped over a rug and ended up with his face to the ground, scattering incense over the entire chancel.

      A general laughter broke out among those present, all laughed at him, Jessica included.

      The priest was furious; his face was altered with anger: «Please, please, calm down! What is this ruckus? We're not in a theater! Have some respect; do not forget that this is the house of the Lord! Remember that laughter abounds on the mouth of the fools!! »

      Giuseppe got up and went back to his place in pain, his head bowed, not looking up until the end of the mass.

      It was August 2, 1992, a huge sun, red as a glowing ball of fire, preened on the horizon, before rising fast over the steep mountains of the Aspromonte, scattering light to the day and illuminating Mosorrofa, a small district of Reggio Calabria, which seen from above, looked like a snake lying on the hill.

      It was a quaint town, made up of high buildings with colorful facades, small shops, little houses perched next to dirt roads, flowering valleys and fertile fields.

      Giuseppe, before going home like every Sunday of every summer, stopped at the bar Da Franco to buy ice cream. It was the largest bar in town, he had a trellis covered with ivy and the tables overlooked the street.

      Even though he was only ten years old, Giuseppe was a child with a great intelligence that could almost be considered a genius. He loved psychology and was a great connoisseur of the people. He did nothing but observe their customs, their obsessions, their behaviors. He had a small frame; his dark hair was frizzy and disheveled, a hint of acne made his face look edgy, and almost never worried about the clothes he was going to wear. But it was enough to talk a few minutes with him to be fascinated. He expressed, without ostentation, about culture, talent and kindness.

      In front of the bar, sitting at the tables on the street, he saw Michele and Bartolo playing briscola and Aldo who was reading the Gazzetta dello Sport. They were men of thirty who still lived with their parents. They had hands with no calluses and relaxed and carefree expression, typical of those who instead of working and having a family, preferred to loiter with the sole purpose of avoiding any responsibility; eternal Peter Pans, who instead of facing life, they suffered it, instead of trying to improve and evolve, they spent all their time immersed in idleness and mediocrity.

      Giuseppe stopped for a second to watch their game.

      Bartolo, a man with a big and proportioned body but with a small and gaunt face, pulled the two of cups.

      Giuseppe noticed that Michele moved the cigarette, now reduced to a butt, from the right to the left side of his mouth.

      «He has the ace of cups! » thought Giuseppe.

      Michele looked like a bad boy, augmented by his tight jeans, the leather-with-spikes bracelets and his open shirt. He stood up and forcefully threw the ace of cups on the table: «You lose; you have to pay for what we consumed!!! »

      Bartolo started swearing and cursing against his bad luck.

      Giuseppe approached Aldo ‘The Archimedes" and asked him:

      «Who has the Inter bought? »

      Aldo, who was wearing a denim shirt buttoned up to the neck and nerdy coke-bottle glasses, without taking his eyes from his favorite book said, emphasizing each name: «Pancev, Sammer, Shalimov and Toto Schillaci!!!»

      Giuseppe exclaimed enthusiastically:

      «This year we’ll win the Scudetto for sure! Pancev last year won the Golden Shoe. »

      Aldo closed the pink-pages section of the newspaper and continued with dreamy eyes and a stupid smile on his lips, without even noticing that the boy had greeted him long ago.

      When Giuseppe entered the front yard, a strong smell of gravy invaded his nostrils: «I love Sundays and I love the macaroni with sausage-made ragu sauce! » He thought with a watering mouth.

      Ms. Margherita Baldini welcomed her son with a long hug:  «Go wash your hands, the table is set! »

      While soaking a slice of wheat bread in the leftover gravy from his second portion of pasta, Giuseppe told his mother of his hilarious fall in church.

      Margherita laughed heartily, showing a radiance that was often dormant.

      The boy asked with an insecure tone, as if he wanted to apologize for the question:

      «Would you come with me to church next Sunday? »

      The woman's gaze became stern, her lips closed in a grimace, «I have things to do, you know! I have to feed the animals, water the plants ... »

      «You can do it in the evening. I’ll help you! »

      I said no! Margherita said with a strong tone in her voice.

      Giuseppe bit his lip as to not to cry. Okay mom, whatever. He finished his glass of water and stood up. I'm going to read on the terrace.

      The woman was left alone. She leaned back in her chair with a sad expression, exhausted.

      It had been one year now since last she'd set foot in a church, and that day, immediately after the funeral of her husband, she promised herself that she would have never entered again.

      She still believed in God, but she could not accept what he had done to her.

      Before becoming a widow, she had been and optimistic and carefree woman. She could see the beauty and happiness even in small things. She was very beautiful. She had long and soft black hair that fell to her shoulders. Her dark eyes resembled the color of the night and could radiate light in every look.

      She had two dimples that crowned the fine features of her face. She used to wear elegant dresses that highlighted her voluptuous curves.

      But, after the accident, the color of her eyes faded, her hair lost brightness, she stopped going to the hairdresser’s and to the beautician's, She began to wear only long and dark clothing that covered every bit of skin.

      She had always been a practicing Christian, but now her faith had wavered. She did not care anymore about anything. She did not aspire to anything but letting the days go by. Her emotions were hidden and never grew. If she saw something beautiful, she looked away. Her thoughts were dark, if a pleasant thought was lit in her mind she shook it off immediately. Like all women who have lost their love, she did not desire anything anymore. She no longer went to the sea, or to the movies. She felt guilty doing anything that could give her pleasure, even smile.

      CHAPTER 2

      Most of the days of our lives slip away without a trace, they go by almost without realizing it, they are so similar one to another, often trivial. But then there are those few unforgettable days, special, more unique than rare, like that day in which for the first time you saw the snow come down from the sky, do you remember how soft it was? Like that day when you learned to swim without a life jacket or arm floaters, do you remember how great you felt? Like that day when your newborn son clung

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