Page 324 - The Grotesque Children's Book

problems was that Santi was exhausted. He’d been working at such a pace to try to finish the
ceilings by October 1st, and in the evenings taking care of his father, preparing supper and the
next day’s meals, he could feel himself growing weaker and not a little frantic and occasionally
bewildered and lost. It was in this time period that one evening, against his weakened better
judgment, after his father had fallen asleep and Santi needed some refuge in alcohol, he’d gone
along with Tozzo’s ill-conceived plan to gamble on an evening of Birch Bough Blind. What a
mistake! Right after he’d lost his money, he’d immediately run off, sobbing, to the edge of the
Arno, contemplating ending his bungled life. And if it hadn’t been for his father’s dependency
on him, he would have jumped. Instead, he had merely wept. It was in that moment that Santi
realized he’d committed to stealing the jewels.

If he got caught, what would it matter? In fact, it might even be better for his father were
Santi to be caught and arrested, for his father would then be taken in by some convent, receiving
better care than he was getting from his pauper of a son. And...if he got away with it, why then,
happy days for everyone in merrie olde England.

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