The rustling of sheets that slid on hot bodies caressed their hoarse and liquid breath. It was now time to get up and leave that magical place where you felt safe and protected, where the line between the irrational and rational is blurred, the place where dreams flatter life. They had always resolved everything like this, even the most serious problems: lying side by side breathing in unison with the certainty of tomorrow, the warmth of the present. And to think that according to her relatives, Lina had a bad temper… “You see her timid and reserved but she is stirred up with fury… ” They warned him… “And she will only get worse!”. But that perfume had bewitched Totonno. It hadn’t been the sensual mouth and doe eyes that struck him, let alone that great bosom, so heavy that it threw her off balance when walking, but only that perfume. Lina tasted of almonds and honey, with a sprinkle of cinnamon. She smelt of freshly baked bread and was truly irresistible. Totonno was convinced that his wife had bewitched him. She was good at making mixtures and potions to treat stomach aches and colds and often worked at removing “the evil eye”. That is why they had quarrelled. It didn’t really go down well with Totonno that his Lina had been paid to remove “the evil eye” from this Salvatore guy, the son of the rich countryman that believed, above all, in power. That good for nothing had justified himself by saying that his headache had lasted for days and that any medication that the doctor had recommended had not even relieved it…this had to be a “bewitching”. But Totonno really couldn’t stand that fool: how dare he come to his house, at dinner time and ask such a thing? Stuff you couldn’t believe in…