PARTISAN REVIEW
"You'll always be my little friend and comrade."
Simona's mind must have been on the lighthouse, and the
word "comrade" came through to her alone, out of context, without
the sentimental intonation that gave it Giacomo's intended meaning.
For she answered with a smile:
"We can't be comrades . . . at least, not until you see things the
way I do ... but I'll be your wife."
So she was still thinking of the Party, Giacomo said to himseU
with excusable jealousy. The word "comrade" had for her no
tender connotations, but only political significance. The Party con–
tinued to have a prior
claim
to her loyalty.
"I didn't mean it that way," he said disappointedly.
"I'm sorry," she said, hastening to correct herself. "That's what
we call each other in the Party."
"I only meant that you 'd be my lifelong companion."
"That's true," she said, lowering her head in embarrassment, as
if she couldn't really accept the word except politically.
They dropped their arms and walked down the path with
no link between them. As they proceeded, the lighthouse seemed to
draw nearer, revealing its tower shape. The water beyond it had
a
metallic sheen, derived from the direct rays of the sun, while behind
them the mountain seemed to grow higher, with a wall of red rock
rising above the lower slope which they were now traversing. At the
top was a summer-house with a railing around it, in which they
could distinguish two tiny human figures enjoying the view.
"That vantage-point is called La Migliara," Giacomo explained.
"A few years ago an Anacapri girl threw herself down the mountain
from it, but first she wound her braids around her head and over
her eyes so as not to see what she was doing."
Simona
to~ed
a look over her shoulder at the top of the
mountain.
"Suicide is all wrong," she said.
Giacomo felt jealousy sting him again.
"Why?" he asked. "Does the Party forbid it?"
"Never mind about the Party." She looked out over the sea
and thrust her face and chest forward as if to breathe in the breeze
blowing in their direction. "Suicide's all wrong because life is beau–
tiful and it's a joy to be alive."
