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Consolation (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)

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The Story

A healthy young couple, a barber named Manica and a hairdresser named Arlia, marry, in spite of the misgivings of Arlia's uncle, Father Calogero, who knows that tuberculosis runs in their family. He had become a parish priest, thereby keeping moderately healthy and avoiding many of the troubles that beset the urban poor.

Each year, Arlia becomes pregnant, affecting adversely her work; Manica, too, is unsuccessful financially as a barber. Child after child dies of tuberculosis; the costs of medicine, special broths and food, and burial expenses offset any...

[The entire page is 1559 words long]

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