Chapter 18 hapless magician

hapless magician Alas, my diary, how unlucky I am! Things are not over yet.Because of this, everyone said I was going to jail.Aunt Bettina had said so before. I am so depressed.At home, adults don't even want to beat me.Mom took me back to the room and simply Said a few words to me: "It's better that you don't meet people... God have mercy on you. I, because of you, am the most unfortunate woman in the world!" Poor mother, just thinking of your worried face makes me want to cry... But, on the other hand, does everything I do, even the most ordinary things, lead to my undoing?

As planned, last night I performed a magic trick for everyone in the living room, and there was nothing wrong with it, really, everyone said: "Look, look, look at Morgan's opponent!" In the audience, apart from Mario Marley, who can write poems and bring candy, there are Miss Storley, whom my sister calls a skinny monkey, and Lawyer Marally.Carlo Nelli came too, and he was very well dressed.The last time he was angry after getting a photo that Virginia had written "old and pretty", but the two are now reconciled. "My first show will be fried eggs!" I said.

I took a hat off the coat rack and put it on the chair.The chair is still some distance away from the audience.Then, I took two eggs, cracked the shells, poured the whites and yolks into the hat, and put the shells on the plate. "Attention, gentlemen! Now we will smash the eggs before we fire them." I use a spoon to stir the eggs in the hat.As I had planned, I picked the yolks up the brim and slid them back into the hat. Watching me stir the eggs, Nellie laughed and said loudly, "It looks like it, it looks like it!..." Seeing that everyone is very interested in my performance, I am even more motivated.To make my performance as realistic as I've seen Morgan's perform, I say:

"The eggs are cracked now. Some gentleman, please, come up and take the hat, and I'll light the fire..." I turned to the Malali attorney nearest me and said, "You, sir! Can you hold my hat for a minute?" Lawyer Malally relented, held the hat in his left hand, glanced into it, and laughed: "I thought there was a layer in the hat, but I didn't expect that he really stirred eggs in it!  …" Carlo Nelli laughed even more than before, and said: "It's interesting...so funny!..." With great pleasure I brought in the candlesticks of lighted wax at the door, which I had prepared beforehand.I went back to Marali and let him hold the candlestick in his right hand, and I said:

"The candle is lit. Now please, sir, hold your hat over the candle, but watch out for burning the hat... Well, that's it! Now, when the eggs are cooked, we'll put out the fire. But, how What about it? Oh, I put out the fire with a pistol..." Morgan put out the fire with a real carbine and I with a kid's pistol.The bullet for this pistol is lead on one end and has a small red feather on the other end.I don't think it matters what gun it is.I held the pistol and stood in front of Marali. At this point in the performance, it was a critical moment for the success of the performance. I was supposed to put out the fire with a pistol, but suddenly two loud shouts distracted me.

Carlo Nelli suddenly realized that it was his hat that Lawyer Malari was holding.He stopped laughing and cried out distressedly: "Oh! This is my hat!" At the same time, Attorney Malali saw me holding a pistol, and the eyeballs behind the glasses were about to pop out.He said: "Is the gun really loaded?..." As he spoke I pulled the trigger, and immediately heard a cry: "Ah, you're going to kill me!..." Both the hat and the candlestick fell from Attorney Mallary's hands, and the eggs in the hat spilled over and stained the carpet.He sat on a chair, covered his face with his hands...

Miss Storley was about to faint, and the others cried out, and my sisters burst into tears like a fountain.Carlo Nelli threw himself at the hat and cursed through gritted teeth: "murderer!……" With the help of Mario Marley, my mother lifted Attorney Marali, and parted his hands to see the red-feathered bullet in the flesh near his right eye... Although I swear, I was sadder than anyone else, but I couldn't help laughing at the time, because the look of Malari who was hit by the red feather bullet was ridiculous... All the while Carlo Nelli was wiping his hat with his handkerchief in the midst of the commotion, and scolded in great annoyance:

"This kid is going to jail! . . . " I didn't dare to laugh any more because I began to understand that things were very serious. Mario Marli and the others took Marari by the arm and escorted him to the guest room; Carlo Nelli was in charge of calling the doctor. I was alone in a corner of the living room, sobbing, thinking about what happened just now... My situation was so miserable that I was ignored all night until I saw my mother, as I said before, She sent me back to my room. Attorney Malali's injuries appear to be serious.and I?Like everyone said: going to jail! ...

I'm hopeless, dizzy, I feel like my head's been smashed with a stick... I'm done, I'm done... * * * I felt better and fell asleep. what time is it now?It may be too late, because I smell the aroma wafting from the kitchen.It was this scent that lifted me out of this dead silence and made me a little happier. But a terrible thought haunts me all the time, that of being interrogated, imprisoned, and hard labored... How miserable I am!My family is so unfortunate! I looked out the window and saw Katerina hugging Cheki affectionately.Cheki was the one who got me out of the water.

It was clear that Katerina was telling Cheki about Lawyer Malali's eye being shot last night, and Cheki was fascinated.Judging from the gestures they made when they spoke, things were very serious.I saw Catalina stretching her hands to the sky, and I grew more worried—poor Malari might be dead... My diary, though, I have to confess, I can't stop laughing at the way the two of them gesticulate when they talk. Am I really a criminal like Carlo Nelli said last night? My diary, oddly enough, makes me want to cry just thinking about being a born criminal.Because the more I think about it, the more I feel that I am a boy who brings pain to himself and misfortune to others.I can't help but say to myself:

"Oh! Cheki would have let me drown in the river that day!" Lightly, there seems to be footsteps... what!Maybe Malali is really dead... Maybe the military police came to catch me, the murderer... * * * What kind of military police! ...It's my mother, it's my good mother who brought me food.She brought me news of Mr. Malali... Ah, my diary, I feel the weight of my heart drop. I jumped up and down the room, dancing like a madman for joy...Malari wasn't dead, not even in danger of dying. Apparently, it's an eye problem.He had hurt his eye and probably a nerve...but the doctor was sure that Malali would be out and about in ten days. Mom entered the room with a serious expression on her face, but she left as relaxed as I did, because she understood the real reason why things were the way they were. I was scared when my mother came in because I thought it was the gendarmes.she said to me: "Well, it wouldn't be so bad if there were no other problems. You regret what you did?  …" I didn't speak.At this time, my mother took my arm and looked at me. Instead of blaming me, she cried: "Look, my Gannino, how many unhappiness and disasters have been caused by your fault! . . . " To comfort her, I replied, "Yes, I saw it. But what has this disaster to do with me?" She blamed me and said that it was caused by my magic.I said to her: "But when I was doing the magic trick, all the people in the living room were very interested and happy..." "Yeah, everyone didn't expect what you were going to do? Later..." "Can I predict it? I'm not a fortune teller." "So, do you remember about Carlo Nelli's hat? He walked away in a huff because you stained his hat with eggs." I said, "Yes, it was an unpleasant business, because the hat I just took off the rack was his. But I didn't know it was his then." "So, my Garnino, is he not offended if it's someone else's hat?" Mom said so, and I was waiting for her words. "Yes, there would be no anger for Carlo Nelli... In fact, he found out that I can't do magic tricks at all, and the hat is dirty. But Carlo Nelli laughed, Because he thought the hat belonged to someone else and said 'Ah! That's great! How interesting!' But when he found out it was his, he said I'm a born criminal...everyone is! . . . Mr. Malally was laughing too, and he thought it was amused, for he saw that the hat was not his, and would have been terribly happy if the bullet hadn't hit him in the eye. . . but unfortunately it did. So , everyone put the blame on poor Gannino, shouted in unison, 'Gannino should go to jail...' This is always the case, and it is the same with everyone, even Aunt Bettina said the same thing... To put it bluntly, I What the hell did I do? I just pulled up a gentian that wasn't worth much... I was born a criminal because this gentian was given to Aunt Bettina by Ferdinardo , according to her, the plant contains the soul of this gentleman..." When I said this, my mother interrupted me curiously and asked me: "What, what! Slowly start from the beginning, what did Aunt Bettina say? . . . " My mother asked me to tell the story of gentian from beginning to end.I repeated what Aunt Bettina had said.My mother laughed after hearing this, and she said to me: "You stay here obediently... I will come again later. If you are obedient, I will bring you some canned fish for snacks." Mom went downstairs.I heard her calling Ada and Virginia, and saying: "Come! I'll tell you a piece of news! . . . " Yes, I always say, of all people, my mother is the most reasonable, she can distinguish between carelessness and mischief. Ada brought me food.She also wanted me to tell about Aunt Bettina and the gentian. She brought me good news.The doctor, who had come an hour ago, said that Attorney Malali was not seriously ill, but that he would be in the house for at least another week. I know that being indoors for a week is not a pleasant thing, but it is even more unpleasant to be shut up in a room when you are not sick, as if I am forced to stay here. It takes patience.Ada told me that Dad was very angry and he didn't want to see me again.Therefore, we need to wait until his anger subsides.At that time, my mother will say something nice next to me, and things will pass safely. At this point I went to bed because I was very sleepy. November 1