The Whisper of the Wind

By Mauro Basso

Heléna, librarian, discovers that the loan of a book has been renewed for over six months. She can't contact John, the user who has the book on loan.
Curiosity leads Heléna to the threshold of John's house, where she learns from a neighbor that the man has been hospitalized, in a coma for months. Heléna rebuilds his life from the moment of the car accident in which he lost her wife and daughter until then.
When Heléna goes to visit John, in the drawer of his bedside table she finds the borrowed book, "The whisper of the wind". She starts reading it aloud...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mauro Basso
• Release date: Aug 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463313169

Book preview

The whisper of the wind

-

Mauro Basso

©2018MauroBasso

[e-mail]

The reproduction, even partial, of this book made by any means including a photocopy, even for internal or educational use, is not allowed if not authorized by the author.

Table of content

1. Sunday

2. Monday morning

3. Unexpected

4. Inattention

5. Take care of yourself, Heléna

6. Neighbors

7. I know him

8. Opposite direction

9. A new red rose

10. Empathy

11. The whisper of the wind

12. No answer

13. The day before

14. Homecoming

15. Ruffled her hair

1. Sunday

Sunday, that day Helen began early with the last preparations before departure.

- All this stuff will not be in the car - John

always hated that moment.

- These are all things we need - said Helen.

- Come on, we're not moving - he could not understand why they needed so much baggage.

The suitcases were ready from the night before, but something always seemed to be missing. At the Golden Island a triple room awaited them at the Seaside Hotel, so there was really no need to carry more than necessary.

- Do you remember the last time we went on holiday all three together? - asked him Helen.

- It must have been when Anne was eight

years old.

- You forgot her things at home.

- Actually you said you put them in the car - John was struggling to find a place for everything in the trunk of the car.

- Oh, really? - Helen smiled, casually slipping a plastic bag decorated with large colorful flowers in a corner of the trunk, she did not want to discuss nonsense.

The dull thud of the car door boomed in the rather cool air of that Sunday morning and a blackbird flew off the branch of a blooming peach tree. Helen got back in and went to the kitchen to clear the table

left there by breakfast.

- Anne, did you get everything you need?

She had to repeat the question, raising the

tone of his voice.

- Anne …

- Oh, sorry mom - the daughter took off her headphones and nodded, pointing to

the backpack resting on the sofa.

- We are ready, in a quarter of an hour we leave.

- Ok, I'm going to brush my teeth and get in the car - Anne jumped up from the couch and headed for the bathroom, followed by her mother's gaze.

Helen finished tidying up the kitchen and walked around the house to check that John had closed every window. The house was developed on one floor and anyone could enter by simply lifting one of the blinds and breaking a window pane. In the house next to them lived alone an elderly lady and she would not notice anything.

She pushed those worries out of his mind.

- What must happen, sooner or later it will happen - was a phrase from her mother that sometimes came back to mind.

Everything seemed fine, she saw Anne go out into the garden with her backpack on her shoulder and took one last look at the house, now immersed in the faint light that came only from the front door. She went out, closed and put the keys in the bag. Her husband was near the fence exchanging a few words with Mrs. Raffin who was going to take the dog out.

- She wants to know where we are going - she had never tied up with that old lady, perhaps because she reminded her too much of her mother.

John went to the gate to open it and Helen got into the car. Anne was in the back seat, again with her headphones in

her ears.

- Do you do the whole trip with those on?

The daughter did not answer her, so she felt strangely nervous. She was not used to being in the car a lot and even if they did not have to travel many miles, something was giving her a subtle agitation that she would not have been able to describe otherwise. John went up, led the car out and then went back down to close the gate. The metallic noise behind her made Helen think something was closing in their lives, not just that gate. Her husband left and followed the road that, passing near the

station, led to the highway.

At that time there were few people in the streets. The first days of June were still late spring and they would not have found much traffic. Helen looked into the rearview mirror and saw that Anne had removed her headphones. The daughter

noticed and exchanged a smile.

- It will be all right - it was not like her to say such ceremonious phrases, but that strange feeling had not yet left her and she

tried to exorcise it that way.

As expected, the highway was practically deserted. Even the heavy vehicles had the prohibition of circulation until the evening. So John could relax in the guide, even he

never made long journies by car.

- The hotel has a pool, right?

- Of course Anne, is a four-star beachfront, in that bag there is the brochure if you want to take a look - the father pointed to his shoulders.

In truth they had chosen the hotel at the last minute based on the excellent reviews of the other guests and the images of the brochure he had printed seemed to support the positive votes. Helen, she only cared about being with her family without thinking about anything but her vacation, so she left the organization to her husband.

The center line of the carriageway indifferently led their car to their destination. Now they were covering the stretch of the Route4 that ran through the low plain, parallel to the sea line. Soon they would take the exit for Serens and begin to notice the change in the landscape around them. The high embankments that ran along the rivers would start to appear, large plots of corn and soybeans would surround isolated farm houses, restaurants would begin to appear along the roadway with their giant signs and bright colors to attract tourists. All this awaited them only a few kilometers further, without them

needing to hurry.

- Helen - the voice of John penetrated the broken air, teared by the trickle of blood

that came out of his mouth.

She