Carmella Commands
“I’m up!” shouted Raffaela before Carmella was really awake.
“So’m I!” echoed Paola.
And both began racing into their clothes. But this morning Carmella was tired. All night she had dreamed of the day’s negotiations, hoping they could be accomplished without Tommaso’s learning how she had tricked him. She addressed the clock:
“Damn you! Damn a clock that does what you thought you wanted it to the night before!”
Lazily she rolled back to the pillow, and dozed again.
Her sisters, meanwhile, finished their dressing and prepared to go downstairs. Surprised by the silence in Carmella’s room, they looked in, and exchanged glances which suddenly clicked into a common thought. Here, for the first time they could remember, they were in a position to work revenge on their older sister. Silently, but as if by prearranged plan, they moved to opposite sides of her bed, glanced a t each other in a mutual signal, and then suddenly stripped off the bedclothing and began pummelling.
Carmella’s reaction was instantaneous and sure. Leaping to the floor, she flung out her fists with ready force and skill. But her sisters were fully dressed, while she was handicapped by the vulnerability of night clothing. The younger sisters had a temporary advantage, and in the flush of enthusiastic revenge were willing to accept blows that in other battles
[99]
