As we do each issue, we devote some pages of the magazine to children, telling the stories of some of our "great friends" with drawings and short, easy-to-read texts.
Text excerpted from "THE BOOK OF ALICE" by A. Sturiate, published by Rizzoli, and adapted by Maria Teresa Mazzarotto. The book was presented in OMBRE E LUCI no. 57 - 1997.
Illustrations by Lia Goffi.
Alice was a special child: special in her intelligence and sensitivity, in her joy of living, in her gift for connecting with others.
Special too because of the spinal muscular atrophy that gradually weakened her muscles, and the four surgeries she had to endure.
But Alice was different above all in "the gentleness with which she accepted" her condition.
"Alice's story" is the story of a person who lived her twelve years fully, able to grow creatively without being crushed by her limits—instead transforming them into occasions for growth".
For all these reasons we offer her as one of OUR GREAT FRIENDS.
Alice
In nursery school, Alice played the "fairy queen." Beneath her beautiful costume was a wheeled walker that held her upright, while the attendant fairies held her by the hand.
By elementary school, she had to use a wheelchair all the time. She was a very good student. One day in second grade, her teacher said, "Now it's snowing thick and hard." Alice felt "a surge of joy," looked toward the window, and imagined she saw Santa Claus.
One day Alice took a ship to visit her great-grandmother, whom she hadn't seen in five years. She was so happy that when she saw her, she cried out with joy so loudly she woke the whole building.
Alice loved all animals, and especially her cat Berty, who followed her everywhere.
In fifth grade, Alice met Don Carlo, who lived in a monastery in the Camaldoli forest. Don Carlo told her he had tamed a fox that came to his hand every night to eat.
Alice describes herself: she has long, straight hair like oil, and she's very proud of it. She has green eyes, some freckles on her face, and two large protruding teeth like White Fang. She's outgoing, a bit nosy, always wanting to know everyone's secrets.
During the summer break after fifth grade, Alice took a trip to France. With her cousins, aunts, uncles, and parents, she sailed on a boat for a week on the Sarthe River and had a wonderful time.
In elementary school, Alice had a close Vietnamese friend named Phuong, to whom she shared her joys and worries. When Phuong left for Australia, Alice felt like "a punch to the stomach," but she comforted herself by thinking she would surely visit her there.
Alice loved her mother dearly and dreamed of giving her a house on top of a mountain, deep in the woods, with a room for her secrets and a winged horse to go wherever she wanted.
At Christmas 1993, she met Don Benedetto at Camaldoli, a friar with a beard and hair as white as snow, blue eyes, and a sweet smile. Behind the friar was a fresco of another Don Benedetto, identical to him, which made Alice laugh.
Alice was a Scout, and with the Cubs and patrol leaders, she went on week-long camps every summer and occasional two-day outings.
In the summer of 1995, Alice had a wonderful vacation. She had so much fun, especially at the sea in Sardinia with friends and cousins: she stayed out late at a bar or pizzeria, joked around, and even had her first crush.
In seventh grade, in the winter of '95, she had two serious surgeries. In January she wrote to her friend Don Paolo that she felt changed, more grown up, that she was trying to be good and to pray—that she wanted to be with him out in nature.
Alice left us suddenly, on the morning of February 20, 1996, at school, laughing at a joke from a classmate. She never stopped smiling at life. Not even then."