They reached the lobby, where the aroma of warm coffee mingled with a light breeze seeping through the windows, carrying with it the scent of toasted bread.
The morning light flowed gently over the furniture, as if painting its warmth on every corner.
Dr. Julio sat on the sofa, his back leaning calmly against the backrest, sipping his coffee with enviable leisure.
On the table in front of him was a carefully arranged stack of papers, some of them bearing traces of fresh ink, as if his day had begun with work before it had begun with life.
"Ah, good morning, little ones."
Dr. Julio raised his head as soon as he saw them, and a calm smile appeared on his slightly tired face.
Before he could answer any questions, Sally beat him to it with an excited voice, one of her hands still clinging to Maldo:
"Where's Uncle Daniel?!"
Not a moment later, the sound of breaking glass echoed from the kitchen, followed by a brief silence, then a long sigh from the direction of the door.
Sally's eyes widened, then she turned to Maldo with even more excitement and said with a laugh:
"Hey! Looks like he's in the kitchen!"
The two rushed toward the kitchen with quick steps, Sally almost dragging Maldo by the hand.
As soon as they crossed the threshold, the scene awaited them like a small absurd painting.
Daniel stood in front of the table, staring at a piece of burnt bread with a stiff expression, while shards of a broken cup were scattered on the floor.
In his hand was a small towel with which he was trying to salvage what he could from the mess.
"Oh... good morning," he said in a suspiciously calm tone as he looked at them.
Then he added with a wry smile, "You know what? I think the cup fell on me... not the other way around."
Maldo stood in place, contemplating the scene in heavy silence, then closed his eyes as if his mind was trying to comprehend the logic of what was happening in front of him.
I don't really think so... What a mess.
He sighed softly and resigned himself to the situation, while Sally laughed lightly as she approached the table to help collect the small pieces of glass... or at least, make a mess of things.
"No... no, no, don't touch anything!" Daniel said nervously, quickly reaching out to Sally, who was about to pick up a piece of glass.
Then he added in a firm tone, but not without the tenderness of an exhausted father:
"Sit there, okay? I'll get you some milk... and I'll give you some bread and jam too."
Sally nodded and laughed softly, pulling Maldo with her toward the chair, while Daniel turned to him and said:
"And you, come on, you too. There are some cookies on the plate, take what you want before they disappear."
Maldo looked at the plate of cookies hesitantly. Some of them were burnt around the edges, as if they had survived a battle in the oven.
He shyly reached out, picked one up, and watched it for a moment before taking a small bite.
His face showed contemplation... then confusion... then resignation.
"Bitter..." he whispered, as if he didn't want anyone to hear him, then added after a moment, with a seriousness unbefitting his age:
"But it's good... at least."
"Luca's the reason, he burned it," said Daniel from the sink, brushing the glass shards off his hand.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the kitchen door opened with a slight bang, and Luca appeared with his hair tousled and his features tense, as if his entrance were a declaration of culinary war:
"Hey! Do you think it's fair to blame me now? I was just watching from afar!"
Sally laughed softly as she sat on the wooden chair near the table, then put her hand over her mouth, trying unsuccessfully to stifle her laughter.
Maldo turned toward her, and for a few seconds, he forgot everything: the nightmares, the fear, and even the teddy bear in his hands.
He laughed too, a small, hesitant laugh at first... then clear.
Everyone stopped moving for a moment, as if the kitchen itself had fallen silent to make room for that little sound.
Daniel and Luca exchanged glances, then both smiled slightly.
It was just one laugh, but it made the place seem warmer than the cup of coffee on the table.
After breakfast was over and the smell of toast and coffee filled the table, Daniel got up and wiped his hands with a small towel.
He walked over to Dr. Giulio, who had carefully rearranged his papers on the table in the lobby.
Daniel said in a calm, apologetic voice, accompanied by that slight heaviness in his tone:
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Giulio."
The doctor looked up with an understanding smile, while the others followed with light steps... Luca with his usual curiosity, Sally clutching her teddy bear, and Maldo walking behind them shyly and silently, as if something in the adults' conversation attracted him without him fully understanding it.
Daniel sat down in front of the doctor, while the others stood close enough to listen, or perhaps to pretend they weren't.
Dr.Giulio handed Daniel some papers. They were thick, filled with fine lines and complex medical drawings.
The doctor said in a low voice, with a heavy tone of sadness:
"This is what I have concluded... in my latest research."
Everyone exchanged glances in tense silence.
Daniel slowly took the papers and began to read.
Within seconds, his expression gradually changed... His facial muscles tightened, his eyebrows furrowed, and his focused gaze turned to muffled shock.
He continued reading, page after page, until the room was filled with silence, broken only by the rustling of the papers between his fingers.
Daniel muttered in a low voice, trying to muffle it as much as possible so that the children would not hear what he was saying:
"A brain tumor... in the second stage."
He paused for a moment, then looked at the children with determined eyes, but a mixture of concern and tenderness was evident, and he calmly motioned to them:
"Maldo... Sally... Go play in the garden."
Sally smiled immediately, as if she had heard nothing but the word "play," and shouted cheerfully:
"Okay! Of course I want that!"
She almost dragged Maldo with her, while he tried to resist a little, but quickly gave in to her childish enthusiasm.
Daniel laughed softly, then turned his face to Dr. Giulio, trying to hide his complex feelings under a cover of professional calm.
"Is there no cure? I'll do whatever I can to save her!" Daniel muttered determinedly, his eyes burning with concern and determination as he gripped the edge of the table tightly.
Luca sat quietly beside him, placing his hand on the table near him, and said in a low, serious tone:
"Sally is sick then... I suspected this from the beginning."
Dr. Giulio looked up, his eyes conveying experience and cautious concern, and said in a calm but decisive voice:
"Operating on her will be extremely complicated... The tumor is located in a place that is difficult to deal with. Any wrong move could be disastrous."
From the corner of the hallway, Maldo stood hesitantly, about to enter the room, but he stopped suddenly when he heard their conversation.
A tumor...! What is this? Is it that bad? Maldo thought in shock, his little heart trembling.
Then he saw Sally about to enter the room, so he ran outside, even though he was dying of curiosity to know the truth.
Inside the room, Daniel asked nervously:
"What about Maldo... Are his test results out?"
Doctor Giulio replied, handing him some more papers:
"Yes... His left ear was severely damaged, so he will never be able to hear with it again. As for his memories... I believe the reason he lost them is due to dissociative amnesia."
Daniel trembled for a moment, then was completely shocked. He raised his hands to his face and bent over, muttering angrily and brokenly:
" Damn this...!"
Maldo and Sally went out into the garden, the cool air gently touching their faces, the morning sunbeams filtering through the leaves of the trees, dancing on the ground as if playing with the shadows.
Sally ran excitedly, her laughter echoing among the trees, pulling him to run with her despite his hesitation.
Maldo tried to keep up with her, but he was thinking about what he had just heard inside.
They sat on the green grass, Sally clutching her teddy bear tightly, her eyes following the birds preparing to migrate, their wings glistening in the morning light.
Maldo finally looked at her, his voice soft but hesitant:
"You seem happy..."
Sally smiled brightly, her eyes sparkling with childlike joy:
"Yes, of course! Today is a wonderful day... It's the first day we're playing together."
Maldo felt a strange warmth flood his chest, as if her simple words had managed to lighten the weight he felt inside.
He smiled slightly and lifted the teddy bear a little, as if to share her joy, even though he still felt some tension in his heart.
"Sally..."
His voice came out calm, hesitant, as if he were afraid of awakening something dormant inside him.
He raised the little teddy bear—Gigi—toward the sky, and the grass beneath him swayed with a light breeze.
His eyes followed the movement of the clouds before he muttered in a low voice, as if talking to himself:
"My real name... isn't Maldo."
Sally stopped playing, blinked twice, and tilted her head slightly as she looked at him with sincere curiosity.
"Huh?"
She leaned forward, her red hair sliding over her shoulder as she said in a childish tone full of wonder:
"Then... what is it?"
"I don't know..." Maldo said in a low voice, his gaze lost in the distance.
He hesitated for a moment, then added in an even weaker voice:
"I've lost most of my memory... just about myself."
He paused for a moment, his eyes slowly moving toward the ground, as if trying to pick up the remnants of his real name from the dirt.
Really, why... just myself?
The thought echoed in his head with a heavy silence, like a question no one wanted to answer.
"It's okay..." Sally said after a short silence, her voice soft and full of spontaneous sincerity.
Then she lay down on the grass, raising her arms to the sky with a bright smile:
"I like the name Maldo... It's wonderful."
Maldo's eyes froze, and a mysterious sparkle flashed in them for a moment, as if her simple words had awakened something inside him that he did not yet know the name of.
He felt a strange tingling in his chest, a vague need to talk... or perhaps to understand.
Before he could speak, Sally continued in a soft voice, barely audible above the rustling of the wind:
"Actually... I'll tell you a secret too."
His eyebrows rose, he blinked twice, then turned toward her with childlike speed:
"A secret? What is it?"
She kept looking at the sky, her green eyes sparkling in the pure morning light.
She smiled a small, unchildlike, sad smile and said quietly:
"I... I'm going to die."
She paused for a moment, then added, in a hesitant voice, as if trying to correct the word:
"I think."
Is this... Sally's disease? Death?
Maldo thought, stunned, as if the words she had uttered were still ringing in his ears, refusing to translate into a comprehensible meaning.
He opened his mouth slowly, his voice hesitant and faint:
"You're... going to die?"
She nodded slightly, her gaze wandering into the void.
"Yes... That's what I heard my mother say when she was talking to the doctor."
A cold breeze blew at that moment, stirring her red hair and playing with his too, as if the air itself sighed with them.
Maldo's features tightened as he muttered softly:
"Your mother?"
Sally reached out and took the teddy bear from his hand with a gentle movement, then wrapped her arms around him and said in a low voice:
"Yes... my mother. Just a few weeks before she left me."
Maldo couldn't comprehend a single word she said after that. He looked at her, listening but not hearing, as if his inner voice had completely stopped thinking.
Sally continued in a calm voice, her innocence mixed with sadness:
"One day, my mother left me on the road. She said to me, 'Sally, wait here for me. I'll come back with the best doctor.
I waited for hours... and then more hours... but my mother didn't come back. No one came."
She hugged the teddy bear to her chest and continued with a weary smile:
"Gigi is all I have left of my mother. Then I felt very sick, and everything became foggy... until my uncle Daniel appeared. He saved me and brought me here."
She fell silent.
The morning air continued to blow gently through the trees, carrying the scent of dew and the scattered sounds of birds.
Warm rays of sunlight filtered through the branches, casting broken shadows on the ground that resembled still paintings.
Maldo didn't know if what he was feeling was sadness... or fear that he would lose her too.
"Are... are you okay?" Maldo could find nothing to say but these simple words, yet they carried all his concern and care at the same time.
"Yes... I'm fine..." said Sally, her voice warm, her eyes sparkling with a small but steady smile. " I'm sure my mom will come back... someday... on October nights."
"Why... October specifically?" Maldo asked, his voice laden with surprise and curiosity.
"Because they say October is the month when the person you love most comes back..." she replied, her tone carrying both longing and certainty.
Maldo paused for a moment, his inner voice panting between surprise and the mysterious warmth that spread through his chest. He didn't know what to do, but he found himself raising his hand, placing it on her shoulder, then smoothly pulling her into his embrace, hugging her without saying a word.
"I'll wait for your mother with you... every October... until we see her... We'll wait for her together," he whispered, his voice low but firm, as if planting a small, unbreakable promise.
Sally's eyes fluttered, her tears almost falling, but she controlled them, dropped her teddy bear into his lap, and rested her head on his chest. "Yes... Thank you, Maldo..." she whispered, her voice trembling slightly, as if her words came straight from her heart.