The Gladiator

"All right," she said, because that was in her mind, too.

And then he looked at her again, thoughtfully. "Eduardo said I was a fool because you weren't my girlfriend."

"Did he?" A

"Si, A

She almost laughed in his face. Only the thought that she'd keep on seeing him at breakfast and supper every day held her back at first. Her family and the Mazzillis needed to be able to get along with each other if they could. Because they'd shared so much for so long, though, they did have some notion of what made each other tick. Yes, Gianfranco was a year younger than she was. But there was more to him than she'd thought, even if it came out in his game and not in something really important. He might not be her very first choice for a boyfriend, but she realized she could do worse. A couple of years earlier, he would have been an impossible object. These days…? She looked at him with new eyes. No, he wasn't so bad.

She tried not to let any of that show. She didn't want Gianfranco getting a swelled head. That would make him impossible. All she said was, "Well, we've both got other things to worry about right now." He just nodded, which was a point in his favor.

A

"Did you see this?" Maria shouted. "Did you?"

"If you don't get out of my way, Maria, you'll see stars, 1 promise," A

The other girl paused for a moment, then decided A

"What's in the Red Ba

"Here. See for yourself."

Maria pointed to the story she had in mind. CAPITALIST PLOTTERS ARRESTED IN ROME! the headline screamed. The article said the Security Police had seized seven men and a woman on suspicion of trying to undermine Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism. They were accused of pla

When the Security Police came to this wicked den of iniquity, they found the proprietor and his henchmen fled, the story said. Their capture is expected momentarily, for they ca

"You should have listened to me." Vindictive pleasure glowed on Maria's face. It bubbled in her voice, like noxious gas bubbling up in swamp water.

Even if she knew what she was talking about, her attitude disgusted A

"Because I was right!" Maria exclaimed.

"A stopped clock is right twice a day. Nobody pays any attention to it anyway," A

She got what she wanted-she made Maria angry, too. It wasn't pretty. It was scary, because A

"Go ahead. Have your joke," Maria said now. "But they'll come after The Gladiator, too. And do you know what they'll do then? They'll come after you. And do you know what else? I'll be glad!"

She stalked off, as well as anyone so dumpy could stalk. People stared from her to A

Five

Gianfranco heard about The Conductor's Cap from A

"Why? Do you think they won't get my name?" Gianfranco said. "Not likely, not with the time and money I've spent there. Besides, I hope I know who my friends are."

The look A

He shivered. He couldn't help it. Stories about what the Security Police did to people were limited only by the storyteller's imagination. The worse they sounded, the more likely they were to be true. So everybody said, anyway. Gianfranco didn't know whether what everybody said was true, but he didn't have any reason to doubt it here.

Maybe my jather could keep me safe, he thought. Plenty of Party officials' children stayed out of trouble when other kids without co

And he didn't think he ought to rely on his father here anyway. "All I've done is play games and read books," he said. "How bad can that be?"

"As bad as the Security Police want to make it," A

By the way she talked, he half expected to see Security Police vans in front of Hoxha Polytechnic to carry off all the students who ever went into The Gladiator. No vans there. Everything seemed normal. Everything was normal. He had an ordinary day. He didn't butcher his algebra quiz, but he didn't think he aced it, either.

As soon as the closing bell let him escape, he headed for the Galleria del Popolo. It had started to drizzle by then, but the glassed-over roof held the rain at bay. He bought a couple oi biseotti and a Fanta to keep his own engine steaming while he played at The Gladiator.

Only one thing wrong-the shop was closed. When he tried the door, it was locked. Looking inside, he didn't see anybody. He went to the leather-goods shop next door. "Where is everybody?" he asked a man setting out wallets.

"Beats me," the fellow answered. "They never opened up today."

"It sure looks empty in there." Gianfranco remembered what had happened to people who played at The Conductor's Cap down in Rome. Worry in his voice, he said, "They aren't in trouble, are they? I mean, the Security Police didn't come for them or anything?"

"Not that I know of. What would the Security Police want with a game shop, for heaven's sake?" The man laughed to show how silly he thought that was. Gianfranco wished he thought it was silly, too. The man went on, "Scusi, per piacere, but I have to put these out." He reached for more wallets.

Get lost, kid. That was what he meant, even if he made it sound more polite. "Grazie" Gianfranco said, and mooched out of the shop, his hands in his pockets. He stood there on the sidewalk, staring at The Gladiator. It was as if the place would magically open up if he just stared hard enough.