He put the token in the slot, dialed the number, listened with beating heart to the distant ring, heard Cinzia’s “Hello” still suffused with sleep and soft warmth, and he was already in the tension of their days together, in the desperate battle against the hours; and he realized he would never manage to tell her anything of the significance of that night, which he now sensed was fading, like every perfect night of love, at the cruel explosion of day.
