The Giant Cloud
A novel in twenty episodes
By Luís Carmelo
(transl. Bernardo Palmeirim)

ELEVENTH EPISODE
(I saw in her hand the asking for a unique wait...)

That it would be too heavenly to depart on a golden carriage in the arms of my desired Albe. To softly fly over the Apennines, the holy mountains of Kufa, and the almost-out-of-reach heights of Aphrodite. Inertia was coming down my arms; a chill probed my almost steamy eyes, a tardy balk extending into the uselessness of my smile.
And Albe, completely oblivious to all this, was redrawing sincerity, postponing certainty and, after all, confessing herself openly. “It’s true, we should all know our callings before we begin our studies. But that’s the way life is, you have to start someplace and what you’re offered simply comes in such a fixed way… it’s so airtight that your options are few and problems ahead many, don’t you think?”
And Albe, sweet Dulcinea, talking in front of me, and I could barely hear her, as the stain of fatigue slowly subsided, inch by inch. Across the breakfast room, Albe’s parents summoned her with a gesture. She answered the call by raising two fingers in the air.
And I saw in her hand the asking for a unique wait. Exclusive.

(Next episode of The Giant Cloud:“… nothing would be as it was, the stars confessed, as did the sea, and my most secret cloud. …”)

Continues

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