My Brilliant Friend
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(Only translate if you appreciate anal insults.)
leather walking loafers they fabricated.
Like the shoes, Rinos fate is up in the air.
Will he stay at his fathers shop and fulfill his apprenticeship?
Break out on his own to start a shoe company that caters to the modern Solaran man?
End up in prison if he cant keep his hands to himself?
Okay, probably not the latter, but that temper and fury arent leading anywhere good.
(Dont forget that he threw a 9-year-old Lilaout the windowin the midst of an argument.)
With that said, his cruelty over the shoes is legendary.
And at first, his reaction is promising.
Theyre sturdy, Signor Cerullo says.
He hates the idea of the shoes, of Rino wasting time and resources on a gamble.
His son, he fears, is growing uppity, of wanting more than his station in life allots.
Hes primed to implode.
Lila, too, is ready for a fight that evening.
Their fathers outburst hasnt reunited the siblings as conspirators, although on the surface their resentment hovers below simmering.
We turned and saw the Solarass 1100 [their car], Elena narrates.
… More than anything, I felt bitterness.
Ours was the wrong way: on foot, in shabby old clothes, penniless.
The women were absolutely different from us.
The nasty asides (Would you ever wear that dress?
Not if you paid me.)
are such obvious manifestations of jealousy that its almost uncomfortable to watch.
Without the promise of the shoes, she doesnt have a pathway out of theirquartiere.
Luckily, Lilas love life offers a sad/delicious new twist.
The two men who offer her declarations of love are as different as possible.
A future with him would look strikingly similar to Lilas parents lives.
Theyd never leave thequartiere, their children would grow up among the same families, money would be tight.
And she doesnt love him.
Marcello, with his sleek little car and polished good looks, she loathes, and with good reason.
Like a Gaston-in-training Marcello assumes that Lila will say yes because no woman could say no.
Theyre all willing to gamble with women as their chips.
Without even a hint of irony Signor Cerullo encourages Lila to accept Marcellos forthcoming proposal for the family.
In this episode, even as she accomplishes so much, her own life lurks along under Lilas shadow.
