Show ga bel fo rAc knoll 0 M gj john ahn H hesed I 1 A THE STORY THUS PAR FAR the amerl can troops arrived at adano a r seaport la in italy with major victor coppolo Jop polo tho the anicot officer in charge sergeant borth an MP was to be in charge of security the major set out immediately to win the friendship ol of the citizens and to fm prove their living conditions he determined to replace their tell bell which the germans had taken major coppolo talked with father the towns leading priest he explained to the priest what he wanted to accomplish tor for the people ol of adano and secured the promise of the priest to call attention at mass to the posted civil instructions the major promised the prie priest s t that he would attend mass the next day clay I 1 CHAPTER IV father could not remember when so many people had come to the church of san angelo it was a pleasure certainly it was a pleasure to have so many come to the church of san angelo but now father had a thought which made him very uneasy what if the mister major should not come think of the shame think of how the other priests would laugh think how this vanity this large crowd would complain think of how his own faithful would flock on later sundays to td the other churches think of preaching to empty pews it was already five minutes past seven the senior acolyte had already whispered in his ear that it was time to begin the mass and the mister major had not come the mister major at that moment was sitting in his office having a breakfast of fruit and discussing with borth and with the usher zito who never went to church the matter of the bell major jop polo sat with his feet on the huge desk eating fruit borth sat on the end of the desk also eating and the little zito stood at attention in front of it not eating but wishing he were in the church of san angelo meanwhile father was growing frantic most of the heads beads in his crowd his lovely crowd kept turning toward the door instead of facing the silver crucifix which survived the fire of 1553 in his office major coppolo said they took the bell away on the fourteenth of june that is a month less two days that is not so much time considering how things are done in our army perhaps not much has been done with the bell where was it sent zito zito said to the provincial government at the town of dicina mare major coppolo said perhaps it got no farther perhaps the bell is still sitting in its crate in dicina ginare zito grew excited do you think that is possible he asked the major said it is possible we must find out and he took a piece of foolscap from his brief case and began a letter to lt col R N CAO Vicin amare brov of dicina mare from major V coppolo Jop polo CAO adano brov of Vicin amare re bell belonging to town of adano undersigned undersigner Under signed would very much appreciate your initiating investigation of records of provincial government of Vicin amare to see if you can trace the service in the church of san angelo was taking a most unusual course having completed the supplication father started reciting the litany of saint joseph it was the litany he be could think of offhand and he repeated the words without any sense of their meaning joseph most valiant joseph most obedient joseph most faithful mirror of patience lover over of poverty model of workmen ornament of the domestic life guardian of virgins safeguard of families suddenly father broke off he had had an idea he beckoned again to the senior acolyte and whispered in his ear have old guzzo ring the bell now father do as I 1 say hurry and then the priest resumed in his hollow voice consolation of the poor hope of the sick patron of the dying terror of the demons 11 and the people responded pray toi for us the priest said protector of the holy church the peo people e were just in the middle of responding 0 adin g pray for us when they heard a stroke of the bell over their heads worship had to stop while the bell rang for its vibrations shook the whole church in his office major coppolo blotted the letter and folded it 1 borth r th said what time is it i th the e major looked at his wrist watch seven twenty six he said borth berth said in italian zito if you are s such an expert on bells what is is that one ringing for at seven twenty six in the morning and all alone zito said it is strange that is a c hurch church bell from the tone I 1 would say it was the bell of san angelo san angelov angelo the major jumped up he said 1 I promised the priest I 1 would come I 1 got thinking about the old bell zito show me the way R run un zito this is terrible zito darted out of the door and the major ran after him three or four idlers sitting in the morning sun thought it was undignified of the new american major to chase little zito through the streets if he wanted to punish zito why did he not send some of his p amk u r the major ran after him military police after ha him it did not suit his office to chasi caaso zito himself especially since it was unlikely that he would catch him the acolyte ludovico sitting on the steps of the church looked up in amazement at the little italian being chased by the american officer he wondered why the american wa was s chasing the italian the pair had run right past ludovico up the steps of the church before it occurred to him that perhaps this was the american major he got up quickly and ran up the steps after the two of them but he was too late they were already inside the door the entire congregation stood up the lazy fatta even stopped leaning against the pillar there was a considerable amount of murmuring and as the major walked up the aisle buffi puffing ing and wiping the sweat from his face many people whispered kiss your hand ban d kiss your hand As soon as he saw a pew that was not too crowded major coppolo gen and slid into it zito imitated 1 him and squeezed into the same pew which was too crowded then the congregation seated itself father cleared his throat his confidence which had very nearly left him was now very much in evidence he had his crowd and he had his major major coppolo coulden couldn t help noticing two heads in the pew right in front of him one was the head of a man and it was bald the other was the head of a woman and it was blonde by tilting his head a very little bit major coppolo was able to find out that the bald head belonged to his interpreter giuseppe he was not able by tilting to see the face of the blonde head but he could see that the hairway hair was arranged fastidiously with no loose strands it if you remember said the priest we were told that americans attacked priests and attacked and killed women and were al all I 1 protestants but right here now is an american of italian descent who is attending mass and is just as reverent as you are toward the church of san angelo he is a very busy man he is so busy that he had t to 0 tun run all the way to church and even then was somewhat late but we are very glad to have him here father spoke with feeling we are glad that he ha is one of us because of this man I 1 believe that the americans are U FEATURES ax my friends you must believe the same thing my children major coppolo noticed that the skin of the neck below the blonde hair though clean was quite dark and he wondered whether the hair was naturally blonde he wondered about this off and on during the mass which followed on the fifth day of the invasion a babel stood in line in front of the shop of the baker Za pulla there were many women mostly dressed in black and a few men they talked in loud voices each clamoring for an audience he has a furious energy said maria carolina the wife of the noisy cartman agronti he told small zito to report for work at seven each morning Zito thought that no official would be up that early zito went to work at seven and a half and the mister major told him that there would be a new usher unless the old usher could wake up on time in the morning carmelina the wife of the lazy fatta who was at the head of the line said loudly it would be pleasing if the baker got up on time in the morning so that the bread would be ready the baker black with the wood coke of his oven came out to the front of the shop and roared Za pulla the baker has been up since four in the morning if capul la the baker hears remarks he is liable to go back to bed and let the bread burn up do you rem remember anber said margherita the fat araxis formidable wife do you remember how the mayor nasta used to hold office hours from noon until one each day the hour when we were all busy with our children and how we had to apply in writing to see him and how we had to wait ten days and how he would treat us when we did see him now it is different you can walk in any time all day she paused he stands up when you enter she said impressively Is that so said laura sofia who was not the wife of anyone and at her age was not likely to be ever 1 I think I 1 shall go and see him on what pretext jibed maria carolina wife of the noisy cartman agronti to make eyes at him oh said laura sofia 1 I have my complaints just like the rest of you even if I 1 litters of children grunting like pigs on my floor carmelina wife of the lazy fatta said my children are hungry it would be nice if they could get their bread on time from the depths of his shop za pulla the baker shouted 1 I the he children of certain people may stay hungry if certain people do not hold their tongues mercurio mercuric salvatore crier of the town of adano was near the end of the line but even though he toned his voice down to his conversational whis whisper per the whole line could hear him when he said 1 I wish to tell you something I 1 asked him if I 1 could listen to my radio he said why not crier f 1 I asked him what station I 1 would be permitted to listen to I 1 asked should it be the radio of algiers or should it be the radio of london which is called BBC he said reception here is best for radio roma why dont you listen to the one you can hear the best 1 I said can you mean it radio roma is anti american it has nothing but slander for the americans and he said to me crier I 1 love the truth and I 1 want you to love it too you listen to radio roma you will hear that it is three fourths lies I 1 want you to judge fa for r yourself and to want the truth then perhaps you will want to listen to the other broadcasts which you cannot hear quite so clearly margherita of araxi said have you listened crie crier 9 2 mercurio mercuric salvatore said 1 I have listened I 1 could detect only one lie yesterday but it was a big one radio roma said that italian forces in the city of Vicin amare threw back three vicious allied attacks we all knew that Vicin amare was in the hands of the americans late on the first day of the disembarkation carmelina Carr nelina the wife of the lazy fatta said it will be late on the fifth day before we get bread from this baker Za pulla was impolite to carmelina because of what she said he came forward and threw a piece of wood coke at her head bead and roared silence 1 the wood coke missed Car head but hit the stomach of the formidable margherita she advanced I 1 shaking her large fists za pulla went back to his ovens as s it he had not noticed where his bis wood coke went I 1 TO BE CONTINUED |