"... what did you do?"
"...nothing wrong! The restaurant had closed because, as the owners said, the final consequences of the crisis of '29 had arrived."
"Okay, go on."
"I had looked for work elsewhere but found nothing: no one was hiring, if anything they were firing. Then, so as not to weigh on my mother who had been widowed and worked hard doing the cleaning in shops and sewing and embroidering at home for strangers, I enlisted as a volunteer in the end, hoping to work my way up and become a non-commissioned office. I had been discharged from the service six years earlier, with honor, with the rank of corporal, which was recognized at the reaffirmation. And since I had already been in kitchens during the draft, after a refresher course on certain regulations, they had sent me in front of the pots again, apart from the periodic shooting exercises with the artillery, rifle and pistol. Thats how it was right through my military career, first as a corporal, then as a sergeant and, finally, as a non-commissioned officer18 : sergeant major manager of the kitchen of the officers' club.
The man had not turned a hair: "My career started with an apprenticeship: at twenty-eight, after I lost my job of assistant cook in a trattoria ..."
"... what did you do?"
"...nothing wrong! The restaurant had closed because, as the owners said, the final consequences of the crisis of '29 had arrived."
"Okay, go on."
"I had looked for work elsewhere but found nothing: no one was hiring, if anything they were firing. Then, so as not to weigh on my mother who had been widowed and worked hard doing the cleaning in shops and sewing and embroidering at home for strangers, I enlisted as a volunteer in the end, hoping to work my way up and become a non-commissioned office. I had been discharged from the service six years earlier, with honor, with the rank of corporal, which was recognized at the reaffirmation. And since I had already been in kitchens during the draft, after a refresher course on certain regulations, they had sent me in front of the pots again, apart from the periodic shooting exercises with the artillery, rifle and pistol. Thats how it was right through my military career, first as a corporal, then as a sergeant and, finally, as a non-commissioned officer18 : sergeant major manager of the kitchen of the officers' club.
After the armistice and the landing of our former enemies19 on our coasts, I was left in the lurch with my fellow soldiers in the hope of not running into Anglo-Americans or Germans. I hid, eating fruit and vegetables I took from vegetable gardens and, the few times someone put me up in a farmhouse, bread, milk and eggs as well. But farmers, or at least the ones I met, are not generous people, and they all asked me for compensation, first in money, and little by little I gave them what I had left of the last salary, then when the money ran out I had to leave my watch: it was steel, but a good brand; and to the last purucchio20 I gave my medal of San Genna' on a little chain, both in 18 carat gold, a gift from my parents for my First Communion, in exchange for the old shirt and the work overalls Im still wearing. I got myself into plain clothes and threw away the military dog-tag and the military documents too, because they are not only another color for us career people but they say that we are in fact military and our rank as well..."
"... I know"
"Yes, its like that for you too. I threw away my identity card and military license and only kept my civilian license. Then, no longer in uniform, I headed to my Naples and managed to cross the front line and last night I arrived in the city. I moved cautiously even though I was in civilian clothes and had a document with me, and I got to Piazzetta del Nilo, which is not far from the little house where mamma and I live in Vicolo Santa Luciella; and, because of my good heart, after what I had already been through, I still had the impulse to help that woman who was groaning and ... here I am, just when I was very close to home."
"How come your domicile in the area of Paestum is not indicated on your driving permit?"
"I had a room in the barracks, with another sergeant major who was a bachelor as well, I didnt have any place outside: I never considered the barracks my home and I never thought of having the address in Naples removed. I just had it changed on the identity card and the military driving permit because it was mandatory, apart from the fact that on the civil license I would often have to have the Department of Motor Vehicles change my address, since they moved me every few years. Whereas the military card and license were done again directly in the new department; and then, after all, I came back to Naples to see mamma every time I went on leave."
"You should know that well go to Vicolo Santa Maria to check if your mother really lives there and if other people know you."
"... and I thank you, Commissioner, because that is exactly where mamma lives and you will have confirmation about me from her and the neighbours as well. But please, I beg you with all my heart: dont frighten mamma. Tell her, please, that I have asked you to say hello to her since I couldnt come in person because of service reasons."