2023-10-23 14:31:34
The sixteen-year-old is hanging from the cornice of the second floor of the school. A teacher has managed to grab her by the waistband of her trousers and desperately fights against her will to throw herself. Franco, the janitor, hears the screams and runs into the courtyard. He knows that girl well, she lives in the community. Every time he sees her arrive at school he asks her how she is and she always replies: “Good”. But then she lowers her eyes and continues on.
Seeing it dangling on the ledge brings to mind a story from four years earlier, when, returning home, he saw an overturned car in the middle of a meadow. There were three boys inside. Two were fine, but the third had tried to revive him with cardiac massage. In vain: he had expired in his hands. Since that day Franco has no longer been able to sleep well and so now, to the drama of the girl on the ledge, there is added his own: he doesn’t want to fail once again in the role of savior.
The belt of her trousers breaks and the girl falls down. Franco has no time to think: he puts himself in the path and, as soon as he feels the student’s weight on her head, he instinctively spreads her arms and rolls to the ground with her. They are both safe. The girl says nothing, not even this time, while the whole school applauds and she calls Franco a “hero”. He thanks, embarrassed. But someone heard him sigh: maybe tonight he will finally be able to sleep.
October 23, 2023 – Updated October 23, 2023, 12:41 pm
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
#Massimo #Gramellinis #monologue #story #Franco #hero #janitor #Corriere