ITALY: The Rivet on Tony's Neck

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In the market place at Abbiategrasso the women were in a dither. "And this man in Milan," one of them was saying, "can tell, simply by touching a photograph, whether the person in the picture is dead or alive." At the edge of the chattering group dark-eyed, eleven-year-old Antonio Costa listened entranced. He decided to go home and try the trick himself.

Carefully Antonio bandaged his eyes with torn bits of his mother's undershirt and started caressing a picture of his cousin, a war prisoner long unheard from. Nothing happened. Antonio burst out crying, then he remembered something said in the market about metal discs. He ran to a junk pile and picked up an old rivet. With this pressed firmly on his neck he stroked the picture once more. Suddenly, as if on a movie screen, the lost cousin appeared, dressed in a faded uniform and strolling down a grassy slope. "Where are you?" shouted Antonio. The cousin stopped, turned and silently moved his lips. Antonio lip-read his words: "In Nairobi, fed up with prison."

Since that day, a year ago, the Costas have known scarcely a moment's peace. As the news of Antonio's clairvoyance spread, all Italy began beating a path to their humble, stuccoed doorway. Rich & poor stand in line outside, week after week, armed with snapshots of lost loved ones; Antonio takes them on at the rate of 40 a day. The poor he admits free, but Mama Costa carefully tots up the "spontaneous contributions" of the wealthier. When Anthony fails to see a vision, he gets furious, rushes out to play until he is relaxed.

Thanks to Antonio, the Costas may soon be able to move to roomier quarters. Meanwhile the hubbub has become too much for Papa Costa, a glass worker. Recently Papa took to disappearing mysteriously. One night Mama Costa blindfolded Antonio and pressed the rivet on his neck. "Where's Papa?" she asked sternly. Antonio caressed his father's photograph for a moment. "In front of a table covered with green cloth," he answered. "He's holding a jack of hearts, a seven of clubs and an ace of spades."