The gardener's hands (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798712697328)

For the boys, the first rite of the summer holidays was the bike ride to Giuncaie lake: the holidays could not officially start without a trip to the lake.It was quite a short distance, just a few miles, through the countryside, along dirt roads and ditches, but it was something they just had to do.They took the bicycles out of the shed, cleaned and inflated the wheels, carefully checking the condition of the brakes and tires after a year of total abandonment. They repainted the baskets and someone, inevitably, pulled out strange decorations that emerged from the pure desire to overdo it, unconsciously freeing themselves from any "civil" bond.Then off, running, laughing with endless chatter. After a few kilometers, on the outskirts of the town, the asphalt gave way to the white dust of the gravel roads. The wheels began to spin, and the laughter increased.As far as the lake.There, as if by magic, the noises ceased to give way to an almost religious silence. Bewitching.Who knows why it had the same effect on everyone: none of them, and there were always so many friends, cousins and brothers, dared to laugh as soon as they got there.The bicycles leaning along one side of the ditch, the small wooden bridge to cross and there they were, on the banks of the lake. Small, but perfect, clear green water surrounded by dense vegetation.On the west bank it was adorned with tall aspens and broom, on the others with oaks. Marsh reeds grew dense near the water and occasionally small frog heads could be seen emerging, with round and curious eyes like those of unpredictable puppets, or elegant and softly sinuous aquatic snakes. There was nothing particularly spectacular about that pretty body of water, but the boys were fascinated by it and succumbed to its charm every time.Perhaps it was its colors and transparencies; the shadow games created by the trees, which were reflected upside down in the water, almost dreamlike images; the music that the wind drew tickling the grass and leaves; the screeching of the swallows, flying close to the surface of the water.Perhaps.Who could say why they sat for hours talking in a low voice, sitting with their legs crossed or feet in the cold water, telling each other about a year of their life spent apart from each other, as if this were enough to resume the thread of interrupted existences, ready to start living again?

Author: Maria A. Burnett,Maria Pia Oelker
ISBN-13: 9798712697328
Publisher: Independently Published
Language: English
Published: 02/22/2021
Pages: 180
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.55lbs
Size: 9.02h x 5.98w x 0.38d