Then he put ditto marks on Aprile and Maggio, and for Giugno wrote, "Walk one, jog three, gallop three and one-half."
As he lifted the page for Luglio he solemnly circled the second, the Festival of the Visitation of the Madonna, the day of the Palio. He turned then to face Gaudenzia and found her blinking at him, yawning in contentment.
"Our life-threads squinch closer and closer together. No?" he asked of her. He wanted to say more, to show her he grasped the total wonder of their fate, but there were things he could not put into words.
With the training program laid out on paper, Giorgio went to work with a frenzy. He felt that no force on earth could stop him. Each day he glanced at the calendar on the wall as if it were a generalissimo barking out orders.
One morning when Gaudenzia stood bridled and ready for exercise, Babbo burst into the stable with startling news.
"The government!" he announced proudly. "It has jobs—for you and for me!"
"Jobs?"
"Si, si. Down the slope of Mount Amiata we must plant trees."
"But already there are many!"
"More they need, to hold the soil. You see," he explained, "the rain washes away the earth, causing great damages. The pay is not much," he added, "but it helps. We both go."