Before the Day Starts

By Raffaele Crispino

The meeting between Vittorio (a very famous writer no longer in his early youth) and Kevin (apparently just a promising young writer) took place early in the morning.
Vittorio, who already knows this will be his last day, is going to encourage Kavin to follow him through his memory places. He offers him his life, a life he's lived and which is made of good and bad things. Together with Kavin he'll walk around Rome, and will take him to Ostia station in order to show him the poverty and the degradation of the human being. He' 11 show him the flat where he stayed the first time he arrived in that town.
He'll bring him back in time, will drag him into his life, into his soul, into his mind. Kavin, with the passing of time, will learn to appreciate the places, the people Vittorio has known and will condemn someone else. He'll also hate Vittorio with all his might because of his cynicism, and will pity him for all the pain and sorrows he's suffered. He'll love Monica and envy Vittorio for all the pleasures he's felt with her. Vittorio spends the whole day with Kavin until they return back to his house late at night.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raffaele Crispino
• Release date: Feb 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301654857

Raffaele Crispino

Raffaele Crispino was born in Frattaminore , lives in Formia ( a beautiful seaside town surrounded by mountains ) . He began writing a twenty years ago. He began with a story : The unemployed doc . For this story has won the 1st prize of the Italian Literary Club for fiction . His books range from humor to yellow up to thrillers and horror . Amateur painter , paints , mostly nudes and flowers. He loves to fish though never fails to fill the network. He worked for the railway company Trenitalia. Now retired just in time. The sun is there, the sea also and now there is also the health. Viva la vida.He published :1 " The unemployed doc ( or the art of doing nothing )A semi-serious discourse on unemployment..2 " A pizza with the Queen " ( A chat with Anita Resort Garibaldi in Caprera . A hot chocolate with Cavour to Piazza Castello in Turin . Humorous )3 " The elevator . Boston- ( a thriller you do not expect . After reading this book you will have a fear of taking any lift. )4 “Before the day starts”Crispino Raffaele è nato a Frattaminore,vive a Formia (una bella città di mare circondata dalle montagne). Ha cominciato a scrivere un venti anni fa. Iniziò con un racconto: Il disoccupato doc. Per questo racconto ha vinto il 1° premio del Club Letterario Italiano per la narrativa. I suoi libri spaziano dal umorismo al giallo fino ai thriller e horror . Pittore per passione, dipinge, per lo più nudi e fiori. Ama pescare anche se non riesce mai a riempire la rete. Ha lavorato per la compagnia ferroviaria Trenitalia. Ora è andato in pensione appena in tempo. Il sole c’è, il mare pure e per adesso c’è anche la salute. Viva la vida.Ha pubblicato :1 " Il disoccupato doc (ovvero l'arte di non fare niente)Un discorso semiserio sulla disoccupazione..2 “ Una pizza con la regina” (Quattro chiacchiere con Garibaldi nel Resort Anita a Caprera. Una cioccolata calda con Cavour a piazza Castello a Torino. Umoristico)3 " L’ascensore. Boston-( un thriller che non ti aspetti. Dopo aver letto questo libro avrete paura di prendere un qualsiasi ascensore.)4 Prima che comici il giornoCrispino Raffaele è nato a Frattaminore,vive a Frattamaggiore in provincia di Napoli . Vive a Formia. Quindi è italiano. In inglese per attraversare l’oceano. Dipinge, per lo più nudi e fiori. Ama pescare anche se non riesce mai a riempire la rete. Sfortunato? Ha lavorato per la compagnia ferroviaria Trenitalia. Ora è andato in pensione appena in tempo. Il sole c’è, il mare pure e per adesso c’è anche la salute. Viva la vida.Ha pubblicato :1 " Il disoccupato doc (ovvero l'arte di non fare niente)"Un discorso semiserio sulla disoccupazione.Per questo racconto ha vintoIl 1° premio del Club Letterario Italiano per la narrativa.2 “ Un anno,un giorno”( romanzo che analizza gli aspetti contraddittori dell’ambiente cinematografico della Roma degli anni 90.)3 “ Le interviste alla storia” (Quattro chiacchiere con Garibaldi nel Resort Anita a Caprera. Una cioccolata calda con Cavour a piazza Castello a Torino. Umoristico)4 - L’ascensore. Boston- ( un thriller che non ti aspetti. Dopo aver letto questo libro avrete paura di prendere un qualsiasi ascensore.) In attesa di traduzione in inglese5 - Prima che comici il giorno- (Quando l’assassino bussa alla tua porta)6 -Artemio il monaco- thriller una vicenda oscura7 - L'oro di Cleopatra- Un giallo? Un thriller o piuttosto una grande storia d'amore8 - Frequenza di contatto- Thriller

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Before the day starts

di

Raffaele Crispino

PUBLISHED BY:

Raffaele Crispino on Smashwords

Before the day starts

Copyright © 2017 by Raffaele Crispino

*****

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously

*****

1 KAVIN

It was rather warm in that second class coach of an old railway car, not suited to the international rules.

Maybe the electric heating didn't run properly. Kavin Melzi felt bored by that stifling heat. He tried to unlace * his tie knot; then he unbuttoned his skirt, but not even then he felt satisfied: he didn't get a great result from that operation.

Then, bored, got up from his seat and stretched his hand to switch on the light in that coach.

When he noted the temperature handlebar-bar set to the max, he turned it and brought the indicator to the minimum level; He wished to avoid the heating, but he didn't know how.

He sat back again and gave a look around to see if something could engage him: now, that he had waken up, he needed a pastime just to make those hours go by, before arriving at Roma Termini.

He laid his eyes on those illustrated pictures that are in the car coaches for long distances. What he had in front of him had to be a copy of a painter of the school of Leonardo, but it was not very clear because the paper was yellowed. The other picture should have been replaced for short, because the paper was not yellowed. Kavin thought that it was a picture from the Fifteenth Century. It was "Saint George and the Drake" by Paolo Uccello.

The heat didn't seem to decrease; so Kavin got up again to open the window and let some fresh air come in, but after some attempts he renounced. Maybe the window was driven in, or he hadn't strength enough to let down such a big window.

He thought to switch off the light; perhaps temperature would decrease a little; in the darkness he was well, he felt sheltered.

He tried to sit better. He laid his feet on the front seat. In that position he felt well. Had he known that under his back a current of around 220 volts was flowing, he would have suddenly stood up.

For few times he passed his hand on the window, but despite the fact that in the end it was clean, it was impossible to see almost anything, nor could one see in 'what area the train was traveling: it was four o'clock in the morning and the sky was still dark.

Suddenly Kavin heard the screeching of the brakes. He noticed that the speed was decreasing quickly, until when the brake stopped, setting free in the air its last shriek.

Then, one could feel only the night darkness and the stillness all around. It seemed that the train was hanging in the air, or that it was a ghost, and Kavin thought that he was the only traveler there. This idea made him feel uneasy. He was troubled.

He got up again, opened the coach sliding door, and he reached the empty dark corridor. Maybe there were other travelers, maybe, or perhaps really nobody was there.

Kavin walked a little forward and backward in the corridor, hoping to meet perhaps the ticket inspector, but no one was there. He went back, upset, to his coach.

He heard the inspector's hoot, he noted a jerk, then a second one, as if the train couldn't find the strength to take its travel again. Then, after winning easily the first attrition resistance, the train started to flow over the railway line.

About five minutes had passed, and Kavin had closed his eyes, in the hope to fall asleep, when he heard the door of his coach opening. Then the light was switched on... This frightened him.

Everything could happen. It could be a thief, or even a crook with those cursed gas sleeping devices, that can turn you to a salami. But he cheered up.

«Tickets, Sir» the inspector said, trying to be as kind as possible, considering the circumstances.

«0h, yes. Right. The Ticket» answered Kavin, looking for the ticket in his pockets.

The inspector punched the ticket. There was somebody on the train, then ... He was not alone.

«Sorry, Sir, the heating doesn't run. Couldn't be possible to ...» added Kavin kindly.

The railroader put his bag on the seat, drew near the window, and after bustling near the stop that brakes the window, pulled it down with energy, saying pleased: «Now it's quite cool.»

The fresh night air came in. Then he approached the temperature handlebar. He turned it many times toward left and right, until he set it to the lowest temperature.

«Sometimes, in this way, it's possible to set the temperature properly. They are very sensible sensors, and a little wrong act is enough to make it out of work» he said, showing up his knowledge on the heating system.

The man drew toward the window again and he let it up, leaving just a little hair hole, to let the fresh breath in; then he set out his cap and sat just in front of Kavin. Maybe he wanted to wait a bit, to check if he had succeeded in setting the temperature; maybe he stopped because he needed someone to speak with, since Kavin didn't seem to sleep.

«Everything should run properly, now. I don't think the regulator was broken.»

«Well, let's hope so. Is it electric?» asked Kavin, wondering that the man in front of him had so much free time.

«Yes, it's an electric-heating system. These are obsolete wagons. They are even not standardized.»

«Standardized?»

«I understand your surprise. You do not know how we are organized. I just meant that this kind of wagon is not allowed to go abroad; they would be stopped at the border. Only those wagons signed with UIC X may travel abroad ... I was telling that the heating is electric. Do you know what does it mean...? That under your seat around 220 volts are flowing. »

Kavin, by instinct, seemed to stand up.

«Oh, don't worry, nothing will happen to you. The heaters, which are special devices, are well protected. Nobody has ever died. Certainly, it could be dangerous... The new wagons are better, of course, the standardized ones. Those have a blown-air heating system.»

«Well»

Kavin answered briefly. Actually he was not very willing to speak, but what the other man was telling, was of a certain interest to him.

«The warm air is conducted to the different coaches through some slits under the windows. The heaters are under the box, which are far from the passengers. »

«Sometimes I wondered how the engine driver can find his way during the night, when he has to go into a big station. How can he disentangle himself in that network of lines and find the right one?» said Kavin, who had already thought about this question before.

«The engine-driver doesn't do