The Garden of the Finzi-Continis

The rain that pushes Micòl and the narrator to hide in the carriage also delays the tennis gatherings. This signals the turn into winter and the impending end of the group. They all deny this. On the day after their last game, Micòl calls the narrator’s house. After this, they often have long phone calls to keep in touch. As much as the narrator tries, he cannot get enough details about where Micòl is physically. The way that Micòl always answers the phone so quickly confounds the narrator. He confesses that he imagines her waiting feet away from the phone. When she hears this, she laughs and explains that there is a personal extension that connects callers directly to her. As they pass hours talking together, she reveals her view out the window but won’t describe her room. Now that the group no longer meets, they always return to talk about the group. The narrator missed the drama of Bruno and Adriana secretly dating, but Micòl thinks that knowing about it will help his writing. Micòl dismissively talks about Malnate’s physique before discussing the narrator’s friendship with Alberto. When the narrator drops hints about visiting, Micòl decisively ignores them.