Antonio has a few bad habits. They make it hard for him to win a girl's favor.
For instance, when he's face-to-face with a girl of pure Mediterranean beauty, he's thinking about how to slip the sugar cubes from the coffee table into his pocket.
The war ended twenty years ago. Somalia no longer belongs to Italy, nor to Britain. But Antonio still can't help his grubby impulses. Buy a bag of oranges, and he'll steal an apple. See ketchup left on someone else's plate, and he'll lick it clean.
When Antonio was eight, he became a prisoner in the Horn of Africa. The prisoner-of-war camp was one huge rat's nest, and everyone survived by stealing food.
"We were defeated, but we didn't lose. We only returned Somalia to its mother."
His father, who said those words, never left Asmara.
Only after returning to his homeland did Antonio gradually understand that his father had lied to him.
"Rome, benefactor of the world, has always had two suns, each illuminating a different path: the path of this world, and the path of God."
But beyond the reach of the sun, there is a third path, leading to Africa, a symbol of greed.
In Somalia, people have to live by lies.
The memoirs of an Italian soldier in East Africa, recording a chapter of history that people have forgotten.
Set around World War II. A short story, slowly written and updated irregularly.
Blurb screenshotted on 2020.02.02.
Theme: Farewell to Somalia
