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“Is it serious?”
“No, but he needs to rest a day, at least. Where were you going?”
Lucia couldn’t wait a day. “To Mussomeli, to catch up to my friend. He’s looking for a man named Enrico Tonelli, who works in a mine.”
“Oh, these days, there’s one mine where mostly everybody works. It’s in the foothills, so you don’t have to go up the mountain to the town.”
“Good.” Lucia looked around the cave, which reminded her of her own, and he obviously lived here. There was a blanket, an old pillow, and a wooden box. “Do you have any family?”
“Not anymore. I used to have a wife, daughters, and a cousin. They passed away, and I never thought I would live on, after them.” Alfredo managed a shaky smile. “I’m still surprised that I do, every day. I’m not sure why.”
“I’m sorry.” Lucia felt a sympathetic pang. “My mother passed away, too.”
“I’m sorry for you, being so young.”
“She got very sick.” Lucia wondered if Dante was the reason she was still living.
“Here’s what I tell myself. None of us is meant to live forever. We’re meant to live only in the time we have, in love and kindness. That’s all anyone can hope for.”
“You’re right,” Lucia said, charmed by him. She didn’t understand why he was in a cave, since he was the same color as everyone else. “Why do you live here?”
Alfredo hesitated. “I’m hiding.”
“From whom? Thecarabinieri?”
“No, I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Then why?”
“I have a secret. I’m not safe in society.”
“You can tell me.” Lucia’s heart went out to him. “I’d never hurt you.”
Alfredo sighed, mulling it over. “Secrets wear on you. Once you keep them, you have to keep keeping them, and it gets harder to do over time, a fact I can’t explain.”
“I won’t tell anyone. I don’t know many people anyway.”
“Okay.” Alfredo hesitated. “My secret is, I’m a Jew.”
Lucia blinked. “I don’t know what that means. I never met one of you.”
“I think I’m the only one in Sicily.”
Lucia smiled, astonished. “I thinkI’mthe only one of me in Sicily, too.”
Alfredo smiled back. “I assumed so. I never saw anyone like you before.”
“What’s a Jew?”
“Judaism is a religion, like Catholicism, but it’s not permitted. Jews were tortured, killed, and driven off the island during the Inquisition. Now none of us is left, except me. Or if there are, they’re hiding, too. I have no way of knowing.”
“How terrible!” Lucia felt their kinship, both outcasts. “This world can be unjust, and hard.”
“Yes, but you’re kind.”
“As are you. Thank you again, for saving my life.” Lucia looked around, realizing her knife bag was gone. “Oh no, my bag. I must have dropped it.”
“I have it.” Alfredo reached behind his back and handed her the bag. “You have quite a collection.”
