98
BERNARD MALAMUD
one--offering any service any time, you name it. She accepted these
small favors without giving them much notice.
One morning after reading a many-paged letter she had just
got in the mail, Annamaria was sad, dark, unable to work; she paced
around restlessly, it troubled him. But after feverishly painting a
widening purple spiral that continued off the canvas, she regained a
measure of repose. This heightened her beauty, lent it somehow a
youthful quality it didn't ordinarily have-he guessed her to be no
older than twenty-seven or eight; so Fidelman, inspired by the change
in her, hoping it might foretoken better luck for
him,
approached
Annamaria, removed his hat and suggested since she went out
in–
frequently why not lunch for a change at the trattoria at the comer,
Guido's, where workmen assembled and the veal and white wine
were delicious? She, to his surprise, after darting an uneasy glance
out of the window at the tops of the motionless umbrella pines,
abruptly assented. They ate well and conversed like human beings,
although she mostly limited herself to answering his modest ques–
tions. She informed Fidelman she had come from Naples to Rome
two years ago, although it seemed much longer, and he told her
he was from the United States. Being so physically close to her,
able to inhale the odor of her body-like salted flowers-and inti–
mately eating together, excited Fidelman, and he sat very still, not
to rock the boat and spill a drop of what was so precious to him.
Annamaria ate hungrily, her eyes usually lowered. Once she looked
at him with a shade of a smile and he felt beatitude; the art student
contemplated many such meals though he could
ill
afford them, every
cent he spent saved and sent by Bessie.
After zuppa inglese and a peeled apple she patted her lips
with
a napkin, and still in good humor, suggested they take the bus to
the Piazza del Popolo and visit some painter friends of hers.
"I'll introduce you to Alberto Moravia if he's there."
"With pleasure," Fidelman said, bowing.
But when they stepped into the street and were walking to the
bus stop near the river a cold wind blew up and Annamaria turned
pale.
"Something wrong?" Fidelman inquired.
"The East Wind," she answered testily.
"East wind?"
