Page 236 - The Grotesque Children's Book

Tozzo: That was so long ago. Who can remember?
Aurelio:
It’s important to remember. Everything is connected. This salamander is
Tozzo: connected to the one in the story. This old woman is connected to the girl in the
Aurelio: gold demon story. They might even be the same person.

Tozzo: And...they might not be.
Aurelio:
Tozzo: Same hairstyle, same thin ribbon in her hair. They’re both barefoot. They both
Aurelio: have a shawl, though the older woman has hers wrapped around her shoulders. I
think we’re to think they’re the same person and this woman is longing to be young
Tozzo: again, like she was once. That’s what the blue-red-green pattern is telling us:
Aurelio: we’re to connect these two women. Note the shape of the loaf of bread.
Tozzo:
Aurelio: It’s oval.

Tozzo: It’s oval. Like a jewel.
Aurelio:
It’s oval like a cornetti.

The woman wants the bread to restore her. She’s looking for medicine, or a cure, or
some sort of restorative. She doesn’t want the salamander to be crawling so near.
She’s hoping to find something to eat or drink which will restore her youth. In her
youth her scarf was green, the color of spring, of new growth, of Fertility. The
scarf of her youth was supple and free, flowing in the wind. In her old age, her scar
is more rigid, clinging to her, white...almost like a shroud.

Now you’re pushing it!

Am I? I know Santi. He’s trying to tell us something about an old man who has
some connection to his death.

Or disappearance. You keep saying he’s dead. I won’t believe that.

Oh, Tozzo. Even in my mind you’re naive and trusting. The world’s not a good
place, and bad things happen to good people, whereas bad people can buy their way
out of many awful circumstances.

You’re driving me to drink.

Yes, blame it on me. I’m almost done: As a young woman, she was naked and
innocent. As an elderly woman, she must needs cover up the sings of her life. Her
dress is red. Red is, of course, the color of blood which is the sustenance of life, but
it is also associated with fire, strengthening the idea that she is about to be
immolated like or by the salamander.

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