Marble Kisses

Giovanni loved her from the moment he first saw her. He paid for her out of his savings, loaded her in the back of his truck, and took her home.

He stood back and gazed at her after unloading her in his studio. She was transcendent, or soon would be. He walked around her, inspecting the possibilities. He nodded, satisfied. The proportions were perfect. His new woman would, in time, become a beauty for the ages.

“You are impeccable, my dear,” he muttered before walking away and turning off the light.

Giovanni took a bath, soaking his tired muscles in hot water, thinking of Renata. That would be her name; it meant born again. He dressed for bed, wondering what it would be like to live with her. It had been thirteen years since he had lived with a woman, and the years had been cold and lonely and quiet.

He had no illusions about the woman. She wouldn’t match what he once had with Anna. He had learned to accept that Anna’s soul was in Heaven, leaving his heart under constant need of repair. Renata would take Anna’s place, but would never replace her. She would be there for him, a constant companion who would give him only what he allowed her to give. That was the deal he made with himself before he handed over twenty-five grossi for her.

Giovanni went to bed, thinking of how to approach her in the morning.

Bright beginnings reveal dark endings.

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                                                                    Day 1

Giovanni caressed the smooth, cool marble. Taking a hammer and chisel, he approached the block of stone, hesitating for a moment. The first strike was always the most dangerous, for too much force could create a crack that ran through the entire piece.

“Don’t worry, Renata. I’ll release you,” Giovanni whispered, his nerves tingling with anticipation.

“See that you take care, Giovanni. I have no wish to die before I have lived.”

Giovanni lept back, casting about for the source of the voice. He rushed to the hidden side of the granite, seeing no one. He felt a presence, nonetheless.

“Who is here? Show yourself, coward!” Giovanni stood in the middle of his cavernous studio, feet apart and hammer raised, ready for battle.

“I’m right in front of you.”

Giovanni stared at the marble. He stood, rooted to the spot, gaping at the marble as if he were seeing God Himself.

“Now, as to pose. You should have one arm on my belly and the other touching my cheek. Crane my neck just a little, and make sure you show my breasts, for they are magnificent. Above all, show the fullness of my figure.” Her soft, mellifluous voice echoed through the empty studio.

Giovanni blinked and shook his head. He was too stunned to speak, so he didn’t, which roused the ire in Renata’s voice.

“Let’s get to it, Giovanni! I’ve been encased in this marble prison for thousands of years, and you can imagine how anxious I am to be released.”

Words continued to fail Giovanni. He felt a heaviness in his chest, and feared that he might expire, or at least faint.

“I need a sturdy base, so carve me out up to the middle of my calves. And don’t forget to give my long, elegant fingers their proper due.”

“But how can you speak? It’s incredible! I have never —”

“No, because you have never loved a piece of rock. They have all been commissions, nothing more. I am personal, however. I am the piece of stone you love.”

Giovanni nodded absently. A million thoughts ran furiously through his mind, all of them unsettling. Perhaps the wine I drank last night was too strong. Perhaps my mind is finally coming undone. Perhaps —

“Well?”

Giovanni deserted his musings and returned to the situation at hand. “Well what?”

“What are you waiting for?”

He didn’t know what he was waiting for, other than an explanation of the impossible. Since none was forthcoming, he shrugged, decided to accept that he may be crazy, and began working.

Giovanni worked until the small hours of the morning. His hands hurt from the labor, his heart ached from memories, and his mind throbbed with thoughts of the future.

Madness reveals what the granite hides.

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                                                            Day 23

Giovanni stood back and viewed his work thus far. His gaze reached her eyes and he paused. They needed to be polished well. And the lips, well, they were transcendent. The kind of lips that even the gods would want to kiss.

“Tell me about Anna,” Renata spoke, though her magnificent lips didn’t move.

Giovanni chipped at the left shoulder. Satisfied, he filed away the edges before starting on the other shoulder. Carefully he molded the right shoulder to be symmetrical with the left.

“She was dangerously careless. Often, she would go out with bare shoulders and no hat. She drank and sang in public, and reprimanded anyone who talked down to her.”

“And you loved her for it.”

“I did, but I was always worried that the authorities would punish her for her actions. They never did, though. I think they were enchanted by her, for she had aplomb, grace.”

“I am confident that she kept you happy, especially in the marital bed.”

Giovanni blushed. It had been years since he thought of such things, and it saddened him. Her soft touch had ignited his soul; it was a touch born of love and amiability. The warm nights, the smell of jasmine, the songs of the crickets — they all contributed to the symphony of desire that he always felt for her during their moments of intimacy.

“Anna,” he said brusquely, “was a wonderful wife in all respects. No more need be said on the matter.”

“Ah, true, no more need be said. Your eyes tell me all. The only regret I have is that I won’t be able to offer you the same comforts at night.”

Giovannie regarded her pensively, nodding his head in agreement.

“So why do you do it? Why do you love me when I cannot offer you the pleasures of the flesh?”

Giovanni put down his tools and sat down. He suddenly felt tired. Thinking of Anna robbed him of the little vitality he had.

“I don’t know, Renata. I can’t seem to help it. Ever since Anna died, I’ve been in despair, wanting to join her as soon as possible without offending God. Then I saw you and I wanted, more than anything, to sculpt you.”

“And I,” Renata whispered, “have been waiting for you for thousands of years.”

Giovanni stood up, bowed to the unfinished statue, and departed. He badly needed rest, time to reflect, and a bottle of wine to go with his nightly meal of bread and cheese. When he retired to bed for the night, his mind finally quieted, allowing him a final, lucid thought before falling into a deep slumber.

The chisel reveals what the heart understands.

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                                                               Day 201

Giovanni gave the statue a final polish and stepped back, eyeing the visage critically. The entire surface was smooth, the proportions correct, the pose resplendent. It was his finest work, but it would never be sold.

“You’ve done well, Giovanni. I am as I was meant to be, once you freed me. For that, I’m eternally grateful.”

Giovanni sat on a workbench and put his forearms on his knees. He was tired, so very tired, but for the first time in years, he was happy. Almost as happy as he had been with Anna.

“I’m a very good sculptor, Renata, but you are by far the best thing I’ve ever created. My soul is in every strike of the mallet.”

“And now? What of the future?”

Giovanni looked up wearily, shaking his head. “I’ve given it no thought. You have consumed me.”

“Was that wise?”

“No, but it was necessary.”

Giovanni approached the marble beauty and kissed her hand. The cold, hard marble felt comforting, and he could swear that a finger moved. Absurd! I’m simply tired, and imagining things.

A quick meal sufficed for the night. Giovanni was too tired to do anything more than take a bath afterwards, and fall into bed. His mind was, for the first time in a long time, devoid of despair, empty of the grim thoughts he had of the future. Tomorrow would be tomorrow, but he would have Renata.

Present contentment reveals the power of unrelenting sadness.

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                                                          Day 202

Giovanni spent the day inspecting Renata. Something was different about her, some aspect of her that didn’t seem correct. He walked around her a dozen times but couldn’t spot the difference.

“I must be going crazy, my love. Something has changed. Some little alteration in the posture, perhaps? A finger slightly out of place?”

“You have always been slightly mad, Giovanni. Why would you expect to not be crazy now?”

Giovanni laughed, nodding in agreement. “Yes, yes. But now I have you.”

Giovanni heard a creak and looked at Renata, startled. “What was that sound?”

“Sound? I heard no sound.”

Giovanni walked around the statue again. The marble remained smooth and flawless. He searched his studio for the source of the creak, but could find nothing. He decided to ignore it; otherwise, it would bother him all day long.

“Anna would love you as well. She appreciated my work, though she was no connoisseur. But she understood beauty. She saw beauty in everything, even me, an ugly man with gnarled fingers and a nose that offends the senses.”

“Did she understand love?”

Giovanni looked up, surprised by the question. “Of course! How could you ask that?”

“I simply ask.”

Giovanni huffed, turning away from Renata.

“What are you doing now?”

Giovanni had started working on a flat piece of marble.

“A new commission. Headstone for a client.”

The day slipped by as Giovanni worked. His ire at Renata dissipated as the hours crept by, and he kissed her hand before retiring for the night.

“You are my muse, Renata. Everything I do from this point forward will be better than ever. Even headstones.”

“Who is the man?”

“For the headstone? Hmm. Let me see,” Giovanni rifled through the work order, “ah, it’s Carlo Santini. His family is rich, so they want the finest marble for Carlo.”

“And when you die? Who will make your headstone?”

Giovanni laughed, but it was humorless and bitter. “Me? No one, my love. All I want is to be buried by Anna. That is enough for me.”

“You deserve better, Giovanni. After all, you gave me my freedom.”

Giovanni’s shoulder drooped just a little. “But you are still just a hunk of marble. You may be able to speak, but you are trapped. I fear I may have made your lot in life worse.”

“Relieve your mind of that thought. I am happy to be where I am.”

Giovanni gazed at Renata and smiled a sad, pathetic smile. His dream of having Renata in his life wasn’t turning out to be what he had imagined. He wondered if he had made a mistake in creating something to replace Anna.

“And I am not so happy now. I fear I may have committed a sin against Anna, and she is speaking through you to tell me of my sin.”

“Don’t do anything rash, Giovanni.”

“Ah! So you understand me.”

Renata seemed to shrug. Giovanni rubbed his eyes and looked at her again. Despite what he thought he had seen, she remained as she had been. But she shrugged, he was sure of it.

“I am very tired, my love. I need to sleep, and to contemplate our future.”

“Yes, sleep. Tomorrow, things will be different.”

Giovanni trudged up the stairs to his simple apartment and went straight to bed. He was growing more and more exhausted from his daily efforts. Renata had become both a comfort and a rebuke, a gentle presence that reminded him that what we lose can never be regained.

Mornings reveal truths that the night never shares.

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Giovanni woke up suddenly. He had not been asleep very long. The church clock told him that it was a little after two o’clock in the morning, and the silence outside felt heavy, oppressive. He opened the window to let in the gentle breeze that blew across the neighborhood, hoping that its coolness would let him get back to sleep.

Giovanni climbed into bed again and lay back, the peace of sleep far away. He rolled over and felt something next to him.

A body.

With a gasp, he threw the covers back.

Renata!

“What —”

“You freed me, Giovanni. Completely. And I am here to free you,” Renata whispered, kissing Giovanni and stroking his thinning hair. She moved closer to him and removed his nightshirt.

Giovanni, stunned, didn’t resist. Renata stroked his chest and kissed his neck, sending shivers of delight through Giovanni’s body. He no longer felt tired, but invigorated, young, strong. With a passion that consumed him like a tidal wave, Giovanni returned Renata’s affections.

They spent the night as passionate lovers do. Giovanni had the strength of a bull and the endurance of a young man full of ardor. He reveled in Renata’s sighs and moans, delighted in the feel of her warm body pressed close to his. Their sounds escaped into the silent night, through the window, before they fell asleep, exhausted, an hour before dawn.

Impossible acts reveal desperate desires.

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                                                                   Day 205

“Heart attack. I’m sure of it.” The gendarme, Antonio, spoke matter-of-factly.

“Giovanni Caravella. I know the man. Sculptor by trade. Close to eighty years old, according to the old crones who live around here.” Antonio stared at the cold, ashen figure in front of him for a moment before heading to Giovanni’s studio. As far as he was concerned, the old man died naturally. He had seen it many times.

Enzo Fabricio, the younger of the two gendarmes, pointed at a headstone. “Looks like the old man knew God was taking him. Made himself a fine marble headstone.”

Antonio glanced at it, noting that the date was two days earlier. Although this seemed out of the ordinary, he didn’t find it suspicious. The old man saw it coming.

Enzo pointed to the far end of the studio. “What’s that?”

“A plinth,” Antonio said, “for a statue, to keep it from breaking off or falling over. But no statue.”

“And no pieces of a broken statue.” Enzo pointed out.

“I think we have seen all there is to see. Giovanni died a natural death. He made his own headstone and had a plinth with nothing on it. His neighbors said the old man was crazy, so maybe he just made a base with nothing on it.”

Enzo nodded. “The old man died peacefully, I think. He had a smile on his face.”

“Thinking of his dead wife, no doubt. The story is that he was madly in love with her, and that he never recovered from her death.”

The gendarmes left, hoping that they wouldn’t encounter another dead body today.

Death reveals little to the living.

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                                                              Day 223

“It’s a lovely day, Giovanni. Now that you’re dead, you can appreciate it,” Renata laid flowers by the twin gravesites and sat down.

“As promised, I set you free. I hope Anna appreciates it as well. All those years without you must have been hard on her. Perhaps now, you can understand that we helped each other in ways that most couldn’t understand.”

Renata stood up, brushing off her skirt and putting her purse back on her shoulder. She bent down and kissed the cold, marble headstone before walking away.

All is revealed with a marble kiss.