Like a chess master who can play many games at the same time, Aunt Georgina had the ability to track several different conversations at once, and she would interject comments into these conversations at random moments. Unfortunately, she was usually about 5 sentences behind, so her comments never quite caught up with the current train of thought. I was trying to decipher one such comment that ranged back to something said about 5 minutes before, when Aunt Georgina and I were both startled by a splash of yellow as a bird flew up to the window, hung there beating its wings frantically for a few seconds, and then swooped away. Aunt Georgina let out a cry, pointing excitedly out the window. All the conversations stopped as everyone in the room looked over to listen as she explained what had just happened.
Birds occupy a prominent place in Italian superstitions concerning death.
It is commonly believed that if a bird flies up to your window at night, it is looking for a soul to take away. A bird inside the house is very bad luck. My mother was horrified when she visited our first house and discovered our family room wallpaper featured huge birds in bright colors. With this in mind, it is easy to imagine the babble of excited conversation that broke out, especially among the old woman, after they understood what we had seen. Aunt Georgina immediately proclaimed it a sign that Louis, God rest his soul, was in heaven and that everything was alright.