Valino didn't ask me to come up to the house with him and have a glass of wine. He picked up the bundle of withies again and asked Cinto if he had cut the green stuff for the rabbits. Cinto moved away and looked down without replying. Then Valino stepped forward and with his free hand took a cut at him with a willow branch. Cinto leapt away and Valino stumbled and got his footing again. Cinto, back in the gully, was looking at him now. Without speaking he set off up the side of the hill, the withies in his arms. He didn't turn round even when he was at the top. I felt like a boy come to play with Cinto - the old man had lifted his hand to him because he couldn't do it to me. Cinto and I looked at one another and laughed without speaking.
[The Moon and The Bonfire, Pavese, C.]
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