SUNNY HONEYMOON
643
"Why shouldn't we talk about it?" he said as gently as he
could. "Perhaps if we talked about it, we might understand one
another better."
Simona did not reply, and Giacomo walked on after her, in
an extremely bad humor. Now he was the one to feel the heaviness
and heat of the day, while Simona, intoxicated by the sight of the
distant sea, shouted:
"Let's run down the rest of the way. I can't wait to get into the
water."
With her bag bobbing over her shoulder, she began to run
down the path, emitting shrill cries of joy. Giacomo saw that she
was throwing her legs every which way, like an untrained colt.
Suddenly the thought "Tonight she'll be mine" floated through his
head and quieted him. What could be the importance of belonging
to a political party in comparison to that of the act of love, so age–
less and so very human? Men had possessed women long before the
existence of political parties or religions. And he was sure that in
the moment when he possessed Simona he would drive out of her
every allegiance except that of her love for him. Strengthened by
this thought he ran after her, shouting in his turn:
"Wait for me, Simona!"
She stopped to wait, flushed, quivering and bright-eyed.
As
he
caught up with her he said pantingly:
"Just now I began to feel very happy. I know "that we're going to
love one another."
"I know it too," she said, looking at him out of her innocent blue
eyes.
Giacomo put one arm around her waist, catching her hand
in his and compelling her to throw it over his shoulders. They walked
on in this fashion, but Simona's eyes remained set on the water below.
Giacomo, on the other hand, could not tear his thoughts away
from the body he was holding so tightly. Simona was wearing a
skimpy boy's jersey with a patch in the front. And her head was
boyish in outline as well, with the unruly, short hair falling over her
cheeks. Yet her slender waist fitted into the curve of his arm with a
womanly softness which seemed to foreshadow the complete sur–
render promised for the coming night. Suddenly he breathed into
her ear:
