Page 91 - What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours

anything; he taught Arkady patience, looking at him with wonder and saying:

“Arkady is good.” It was Giacomo who was good. His ability to give the benefit
of the doubt never faltered. The swindlers didn’t mean it, the jeerers didn’t mean
it, and those who would stamp on a child’s hand to make her let go of a banknote
she had been given, those people didn’t mean it either.
Their other companion was a vizsla puppy, now a deep gold–colored dog,
who began to follow Arkady and Giacomo one day and would not be shooed
away, no matter how fierce an expression Arkady assumed. Since Giacomo’s

alphabet and numerical coordination were unique to him, it was rare for him to
be gainfully employed, so the dog merely represented an additional mouth for
Arkady to feed. But the vizsla’s persistence and tail-wagging served him well, as
did his way of behaving as if he had once been a gentleman and might yet regain
that state. The vizsla waited for Giacomo and Arkady to help themselves to

portions of whatever meals they were able to get before he took his own share,
though sometimes Giacomo pressed the dog to begin, in which case he took the
smallest portion and not a bite more. Giacomo named him Leporello. On
occasions of his own choosing Leporello turned backflips and earned coins from
passersby. And yet he couldn’t be persuaded to perform on demand; no, he
would give looks that asked Arkady to perceive the distinction between artist
and mere entertainer.

—

THE THREE of them settled in a building at the edge of the city. The view from the
building’s windows was an unexpectedly nice one, covering miles and miles of
marshland so that the mass of drowned flesh looked like water, just muddy
water, if not wholly pure then becoming so as it teemed toward the ocean.

—

ONE DAY WHILE ARKADY was out working one of his three jobs Giacomo came
home from a long walk, stopped on the wrong floor of their building, and
accidentally opened the door to a flat that wasn’t the one he shared with Arkady
and Leporello. The tenant wasn’t at home, so Giacomo could have seen or taken
anything he wished. But what he sought was a view from a new window, and

that was all he took. Ten minutes looking out to sea. And he soon discovered
that the same key opened every door in the building; their landlord counted on it
not occurring to any of the tenants to try opening doors other than their own.
When Giacomo told Arkady of his discovery, Arkady was all for having their