Light, prolonged
春分 [31] / [33]
Thankfully, they were able to secure the cooperation of the Italian authorities, because Samuel Caporale, an old classmate of Cynthia's from the academy, was currently working there. Cynthia sent the DNA of the body to the Italian agency for comparison with that of Marino, who was currently institutionalized in a sanitarium because of her dementia. She didn't have any relatives, and she was in steady decline.
A few weeks later, it turned out that the mummy was indeed her grandson, Marcello Marino. After they got the results, Cynthia got a phone call from her former classmate Samuel in Italy.
"I visited the sanitarium where the grandmother Lucia is staying. She is almost 90, and her dementia is getting pretty bad. The nurse there told me that her health has steadily gotten worse since the grandson, Marcello, disappeared.
He was about to give up his travel plans-which were made a few years before, because he was worried about his grandmother. But Lucia insisted that she doesn't want him to give up everything because of her. He promised he would come back in 2 weeks, but never returned to her.
After we confirmed the identity of Marcello, I knew I couldn't keep the secret from her. I should say something. I knew she was still waiting for her grandson, regardless of if she even understands me or not.
I visited her again and told her. It was like speaking to a wall, or to somebody who is sleeping. I told her,
‘Signora, Marcello è in paradiso. Non ha più bisogno di aspettarlo, è li felice(Ma'am, Marcello is in heaven. You don't need to wait for him anymore, he is happy there)’. I lied.
Lucia just put her head down, and seemed not listen to me. Of course she heard me. And I got the phone call from the nurse of the sanitarium later that day. Lucia passed away a few hours after I left."
"She sounds like she is finally at peace," commented Alexander to Cynthia after she ended the call with Samuel.
"You know, she waited all this time for some confirmation about what happened to her grandson. Maybe she felt like she could go home."
Cynthia didn't say anything, but nodded. Her own grandmother had died after a long battle with alzheimer's. She watched helplessly as her grandmother slowly forgot everything; the most recent things at first, but, as time wore on, she reached the point where she didn't even recognize Cynthia.
"At least she has some closure,"
she responded.
