Trafika Europe 14 - Italian Piazza

Edgardo Franzosini

on the stair landings. They were waiting for the Zeppel in to cross the sky again. But the enormous cigar did not reappear. It would come the next day or the day after that, was the common refrain as they peered at the sky. Whi le waiting they could not remain inert, they had to take precautions. And so they marked with chalk the houses that had a cel lar or an underground room that could provide shelter, where mattresses and food suppl ies could be arranged. In the courtyards they prepared buckets of water to extinguish f ires. But they also contemplated less immediate, less evident possibi l ities. For example, the zoo was located next to the train station—a sensitive target—and therefore there was a big risk that those bombs that fel l with a hiss, leaving a f i lament of l ight in the sky, would free the animals. Then they would swarm the streets in packs. Sni ff ing at doors, defecating on the townhouse stairs, bathing in the fountains. Trying to cl imb up to the windows of the homes. Perching on the huge signs that boasted the qual ity of Kub boui l lon cubes. Or else, i f a bomb should strike the cages and slaughter the animals, their bodies would lay rotting in the sun, since no one doubted that soon, very soon, there would no longer be any way to bury people, much less animals. It was a question of publ ic health. And also of publ ic order! There was a danger that the marabou, ostriches, and leopards might come

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