A GREAT NIGHT AT BRIGHT PARK

A GREAT NIGHT AT BRIGHT PARK

It was eleven in the evening when Alex called Clara, who was having a snack, before going to bed. “ Then, darling, but , oh, what’s happening? We haven’t seen you yet, but you’re coming, aren’t you? Oh, you can’t miss the wonderful party in our very magnificent park!  Up, we’re all waiting for you! Do you want someone  come and get you?” Alex spoke at breakneck speed. She could hear the crush of impatience in his voice, in his words. Impatience for the admirable, fantastic performances which were about to happen there in the park, impatience also for her arrival. So Clara didn’t feel like saying she wouldn’t go. She knew that, if she said: “ Don’t wait for me, I will not come”, oh, how many questions would be, which she really preferred to avoid.

The great party in the Bright park was an event that everyone  had been talking about for months, not only her friends, her colleagues, but even her acquaintances. The baker had often told her about it, also the greengrocer, also the bartender , at the bar where she had usually breakfast . And then also her Aunt Erminia,  and her cousin Estella had talked to her about the great party. And the hairdresser too, and don Fulvio, and sister Elizabeth had talked to her about the very big event in the widest park of the city, in the most green park of their beautiful city. Everyone seemed to have high expectations for that night when a spectacular big party would take place in the Bright Park. The wonderful, very big party , to which not only the inhabitants of the city of Poppi were invited, but also the inhabitants of the province, but also the inhabitants of the region, had been wanted and organized by  the councilor for culture and entertainment , Max Ciulli. He had spared no expense for the very big event. So much so that it was ( had been )rumored , not only among  the oppositions exponents, that Max Ciulli , with that magnificent party, which  should have astonished_____and more malignant people said: stunned too____all those entitled to vote , he actually intended  to promote his candidacy for mayor of Poppi, even though the elections would take place the following year.

“ Listen to me, Clara, this party is absolutely not to be missed” Alex had continued to say to her about the fabulous event, with an irrepressible , really overflowing enthusiasm.  “ Think, Clara, at midnight the pool screenings will start! But , oh , can you imagine eh, what it is, seeing ( to see) famous movies scenes projected on the water surface? A truly unique show! Not to be missed! Come on, Clara, hurry up, come soon! I can’t believe you want to miss such an exceptional show ! Which, oh, but where, on the earth, could you happen to see it again? “   She, Clara, who had decided not to go to the big party, in the face of the enthusiasm with which Alex  was talking to her about the great event , with which he invited her to run to the party, had not felt like telling him that….she was about to go to bed. So she pretended she was going to the party. She assured Alex she would go. But as soon as the phone call ended, she went to bed.

And it happened that she dreamed that she had gone to the Bright park, where the very big party was taking place. But how strange , the park was not crowded with people as she had expected….In the park it was resounding a hissing music, in hiccups, which seemed to come from afar, perhaps from under the ground. The lights were shining, blazing. Colored lights turned on and off, with a dizzying effect , especially when they invested you…..” Ah, you have come, finally” Alex, Peter, Ludmilla and the other friends said, cheerfully. “ How wonderful, right?” They said, smiling, pointing at the park around. “ Oh, look! The park, our great park ,is an enchantment tonight! It’s a dream! It’s the garden of wonders! But look!”

“ Yes, the parlk is really wonderful, a marvel indeed..yes…..but where are the people? You know, I thought I would finf it crowded of people “ Clara said, looking around. There were only a few people, groups of three, four people , who(which) seemed lost in the very wide area of the park.

“ Oh, but really there is a lot of people! You don’t see them here because ( since) now they all went down to the cellar to drink.” Alex told. “ You know where the park cellar is , don’t you?” Ludmilla asked, pointing her thumb towards the ground.

“ Ah, more than a cellar, one could say that it’s a distillery! Ah! Ah! Ah!” Peter said, laughing.

“ Yeah, they distill schnapps  all the time” Alex agreed .

“ To tell all the truth they also drink schnapps all the time!” Peter chuckled.

“ Come on, let’s go and drink a grapnel down in the cellar, we too!” Peter exclaimed.

“ No, I don’t drink alcohol” Clara said. ( murmured). She suddenly , at Peter’s invitation,  had been taken by the fear that they, her friends, wanted to take her to the cellar to kill her.

“ Ah, yeah, you just drink water, ah! Ah!” Peter sneered . “ Water like that of the ( swimming) pool! Ah! Ah! Ah! But do you know? It seems that also the swimming pool is filled with schnapps tonight! Ah! Ah! Ah! “

Suddenly, with (like) the suddenness of dreams, there was a change of scene. Scenes of well known films were projected on the surface of the water in the pool. Oh, here is Scarlet in Gone with the wind, just when she was saying nonchalantly : “ I KILLED A MAN. I ‘LL THINK ABOUT IT TOMORROW” Enchanting Scarlet, right in the situation, in the joke that she, Clara , had always preferred, finding it absolutely irresistible, even when she didn’t dare to say it.

Oh, now  here’s her , flawless blonde in a dazzling red dress , in the scene, the most unforgettable scene for Clara in Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder, when she, Grace Kelly, is attacked at home by the killer her husband hired to get her out. Just as the killer is about to kill her, she manages to grab, from the table she is leaning , those big scissors , that she holds in her hands, behind her back. The big scissors stand out on Grace Kelly’s red dress. The man who is about to kill her does not see those scissors, he does not know that the woman, he is about to kill,(she) has that weapon in her hands.

Those big scissors are shining, even shimmering on the red fabric of Grace Kelly’s dress, held by her hands. They were about to be used as a weapon when Clara heard a cry: “ They killed a man! They killed a man!” She, Clara, who was now walking barefoot in the park, said to someone , who was a complete stranger to her: “ But sure, it was  Scarlet O’ Hara who killed a man “ “ No, it was Grace Kelly instead to kill a man. She killed him with scissors” Someone said, who(m) Clara didn’t see.

“ Oh, but Grace Kelly only killed as a character in the Hitchcock’s film “ Clara said.

The following morning Clara learned that at the big party in Bright park a man had indeed been killed. The mayor of Poppi had been shot . His body had been found in the pool, during the screening of the Hitchcock’s film____Deal M for Murder____on the water surface of the same pool. The main suspect in the murder of the mayor was the councilor for culture Max Ciulli.