HESPERUS

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It was five in the morning on a rainy holiday day, as it had been the previous days, when the phone rang, my father got up half-drowsy and went to answer it, muttering at the disturber; picking up the phone he heard the voice of my grandmother, who lived on the first floor of the building next door and who, since she slept little, was usually glued to her window overlooking the street, you could always see her at any time of the day with her head sticking out like a turtle out of its shell; my grandmother was telling him:

«Piero, you might have to move the car, the sewers aren't receiving and the water covers the pavement».

My father, having put down the phone, opened the window and looked out into the street and saw that the water was actually a little too high and said:

"Now I'm calling the fire brigade, it seems to me that the sewer reception is worse than usual" and having said this he dialed the number but no one answered, so he decided to dial 113 for the police and a polite policeman answered and said to him:

"Don't worry, the Arno has overflowed in the Rovezzano area but still dress."

It was this last sentence and the whining of our dog who was in the garden behind the house that put a flea in my father's ear, he went to open the kitchen door which led onto the terrace from which one went down into the garden; as soon as the door was opened the dog rushed into the house, my father looked out and saw that the water was already touching the edge of the terrace so he exclaimed:

«Other than Rovezzano l'Arno is already here; let's get dressed and try to save as much as possible."

No sooner said than done, we quickly got dressed and started moving the low things onto the tables, we didn't think the water would get very high since we lived on a raised ground floor. Some tenants from the floors above who were also alarmed came to lend us a hand and so, while the water rose rapidly, we carried away drawers with the linen, clothes taken in armfuls from the wardrobes, the mattresses of the beds and everything edible there was in home, also emptying the refrigerator; an antique-style sitting room was saved because the person helping us, having found it in the middle of the house, had taken it outside because it was taking up space; we couldn't do more because the water was already up to our waists, the last other thing that survived was a bookcase which, lightened by books, came floating out of the door.

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The complete story on the book DREAMS OF SUMMER NIGHTS