IM10 August Heat (2008) Read Free Page A

fall.
    The upshot was that Guido suddenly found himself flying parallel to the ground until his head collided like a bumper with the refrigerator.
    When Livia arrived at the usual hour to go for a swim with her friends, she walked into what looked like a field hospital.
    Laura and Guido both had their heads wrapped in bandages, whereas Bruno’s foot was all taped up, since, when he’d got out of bed he’d knocked a glass of water off the night table, shattering it to pieces, and then walked over the slivers of glass. Nonplussed, Livia noticed that even Ruggero the cat was limping slightly, as a result of his collision with Guido.
    Lastly, the now familiar squad of exterminators arrived, sent by the mayor, who by this point had become a family friend. As Guido was overseeing operations, Laura, who still seemed upset, said to Livia under her breath:
    “This house doesn’t like us.”
    “Oh, come on. A house is a house. It doesn’t have likes and dislikes.”
    “I’m telling you, this house doesn’t like us.”
    “Oh, please.”
    “This house is cursed!” Laura insisted, her eyes sparkling as if she had a fever.
    “Please, Laura, don’t be silly. I realize your nerves are a little frayed, but—”
    “You know, I’m beginning to reconsider all those films I’ve seen about haunted houses full of spirits that come up out of hell.”
    “But that’s all make-believe!”
    “I bet I’m right, just you wait and see.”
     
     
     
    On the morning of the ninth day, it started raining hard. Livia and Laura went to the Montelusa museum, and Guido was invited by the mayor to visit a salt mine and brought Bruno along with him.That night it rained even harder.
     
     
     
    On the morning of the tenth day, it kept coming down in buckets. Laura phoned Livia to tell her she and Guido were taking Bruno to the hospital, because one of the cuts on his foot was beginning to ooze pus. Livia decided to take advantage of the circumstances to put Salvo’s house in order. Late that evening the rain let up, and everyone was convinced that the following day would be clear and hot, a perfect day to spend on the beach.

2
    Their prediction proved correct.The sea, no longer gray, had regained its usual color. The sand, being still wet, verged on light brown, but after two hours of sunlight it had turned back to gold. The water was perhaps a bit cool, but in that heat, which was already intense at seven in the morning, it would be warm as broth by midday.Which was the temperature Livia liked best. Whereas Montalbano couldn’t stand it. It made him feel like he was swimming in a hot pool at a spa, and after he came out, he would feel sluggish and drained.
    Arriving at Pizzo at nine-thirty, Livia was pleased to learn that it had been a normal morning so far, with no cockroaches, mice, or spiders, nor had there been any new arrivals of, say, scorpions or vipers. Laura, Guido, and Bruno were ready to go down to the beach.
    As they were heading out through the little gate on the terrace, they heard the telephone ring inside the house. Guido, who was an engineer for a company specializing in bridge-building and had been receiving phone calls over the past two days concerning a problem he’d tried to explain to Montalbano with zero success, said:
    “You all go on ahead. I’ll join you in a minute.”
    And he went into the house to answer the phone.
    “I need to pee,” Laura said to Livia.
    She went in, too. Livia followed behind. Because, for reasons unknown, the need to pee is contagious; all it takes is one person in a crowd needing to pee before everyone needs to. And so she went into the other bathroom.
    When each had attended to his or her business, they met back up on the terrace. Guido locked the French doors as they filed out, closed the little gate behind them, grabbed the beach umbrella—which he, being the man, was obliged to carry—and they headed towards the little stone staircase that led down to the beach. Before they