From the Land of the Moon (8 page)

D
ear
signora
,” the letter from the Veteran says, “I am flattered and perhaps slightly embarrassed for all that you imagined and wrote about me. You ask me to evaluate your story from the literary point of view, and you apologize for the love scenes that you invented and also, above all, for the true things you wrote about my life. You say it seems to you that you have stolen something from me. No, my dear friend, to write of someone as you have done is a gift. For me you needn’t worry about anything; the love that you invented between us moved me, and, as I read, excuse the audacity, I almost regretted that that love wasn’t really there. But we talked so much. We kept each other company, and even had some laughs, unhappy as we were, there at the baths, isn’t it true? You and those children who refused to be born, I and my war, the crutches, the suspicions. So many stones inside. You tell me that you became pregnant again as soon as you returned from the treatments, that you are hopeful again. I send you good wishes with all my heart, and I like to believe that I helped you get rid of the stones and that our friendship in some way helped you regain your health and the possibility of having children. You also helped me: my relations with my wife and child have improved, I’m managing to forget. But there is something else. And I imagine that you’ll laugh when you read what I’m about to tell you: I’m not so sloppy as I was a few months ago at the spa. I’m through with sandals and wool socks, T-shirts and wrinkled trousers. You invented me with that beautiful starched white shirt and the shoes that were always polished, and I was pleased by that. I was really like that once. In the Navy you’re in trouble if you’re not always in perfect order.

“But to return to your story. Never stop imagining. You’re not mad. Don’t ever believe anyone who tells you a thing so unjust and spiteful. Write.”

Milena Agus was a finalist for the Strega and Campiello prizes, and was awarded the prestigious Zerilli-Marimò prize for
Mal di pietre
(
From the Land of the Moon
), which went on to become an international bestseller. Agus lives in Cagliari, Sardinia.