Towards the end they lived in separate apartments on the same decaying family property. Struck by a massive heart attack, having no phone in his apartment, Adelmo staggered over to knock on her windows in the middle of the night. She called an ambulance and went back to bed, believing he had overeaten again. In hospital he didn't wish to see her and she made no attempt to visit. Three days later he was dead.
Mamma becomes extremely cheerful and excited.
There is even a catch in her voice, as of someone looking forward to a week's pure evasion, with a lover perhaps, in any event a bliss beyond which life need never resume again. The institute houses 40 or so men and women who seem emblematic of all that is run-down and futureless, shuffling vacantly from room to room or standing catatonic in corners. After a few minutes Paolo appears. To my immense relief, apart from the hollow, hunted eyes, the hunched shoulders, and the fact that on a hot day he is wearing at least five layers of shirts, jumpers and jackets, he seems pretty normal. We exchange friendly greetings and even a hug.