Chapter 19

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“What is it with hospitals and loud clocks?”

Antonio looked up over the top of his newspaper. “You what?”

Luca pointed at the clock. It was ticking. Loudly. Hence the question. Duh, Antonio.

“I don’t fucking know.”

“I’m bored.”

“I can tell,” Antonio grunted. The consultant had stepped out ten minutes ago to discuss Luca’s test results with one of his colleagues, and Luca was bored of waiting. He was fine. No stupid pains, no coughing, no dying in the middle of the night. He wanted to go already.

“Surely other people need to see the doctor more than I do?” he complained.

“Basta!”

“But―”

“For the love of God, shut up. You’re enough to drive Mamma mad.”

“You don’t have to be here,” Luca groused.

“Yes, I do,” Antonio grumbled, and put down the paper with a sigh. “Will you stop twitching? The quack won’t be long and then I’ll drop you back off at home and you can get on with whatever’s clearly so stupidly important.”