In Over Her Head by Elsie Russell - Parnasse.com

gray transparency of a skull. Alessandro's cranium seen in profile, with
the soft tissues like eyeballs, lips and tongue disappearing in the black
depths. She handed the sheet to Penny, smiling politely, as if it were a
vacation photo. He was familiar with the pictures and didn't want to see
them.
Signora swept into the room, ignoring the transparencies for
now, and led them to the dining room.
They sat around the table in silence.
"We say grace, yes?" Signora prodded.
"Sandro?"
He made the sign of the cross, folded his hands together and
said Grace in Latin again, his face washed with peace.
"In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti,
…Amen."
Ula watched him in a trance. The stiff fabric was wrapped
around her head geometrically to look more like origami than anything
from the Arabian Nights.
They began with plates of little pasta nuggets in a white sauce.
Gnocchi, they were called and looked like big grubs. At least they didn't
misbehave like the spaghetti. Penny tried to curb her hunger, she could
have polished off two plates of those things in a minute whatever they
were. With a look of disgust, Ula impaled the gnocchi one by one as if
they really were grubs.
Watching Ula stab her grubs robbed Penny of any appetite, and
she lay down her fork to stare at her plate.
Signora said, "Penny, if you are hungry anytime during the day,
you may ring for food or water, tea, anything at all, whenever you like.
That is what the rope is for. The same goes for you, Ula, now that you
have joined us."
The plates were cleared and the next course, Scallopine al
Marsala was served accompanied by peas topped with leaves of wilted
lettuce. The meat smelled delicious but it tasted like wet cardboard to
her. Methodically she chewed and swallowed watching Ula prick her
peas one by one with the last tong of her fork. This gave Penny an
irresistible urge to laugh, but she gulped that down and continued to
move her jaw mechanically up and down on her meat and vegetables.
Alessandro watched them in a daze from the head of the table.
Signora had orchestrated this little summit impeccably, so
dinner rolled right along. No mention of the X rays, that was for later.
Even the gnocchi were part of her enigmatic strategy.
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