Disclaimer

I'm not holding out on my readers just to heighten the suspense, as some have suggested. Yes, we have decided on an apartment, but the negotiations are snagged--temporarily, I trust--in an odd in-between state that makes me hesitate to proclaim this as a done deal.  The truth is that I'm convinced that doing so could jinx the whole transaction.

Everyone assures us that all is "a posto," in place, and that we have nothing to worry about. Which just makes us worry more. Why are they being so nice, unless they're planning to screw us?

Fidenza tonight is blanketed in winter fog. How can anyone tell what's going on?

I don't believe in God or fortune-telling or astrology, but I do have a deep, profoundly irrational belief that crowing about anything prematurely will surely cause lasting, possibly irreversible harm.

So apologies, and please join me in patiently waiting for a few more i's to be dotted. Then I can share our news without fearing the wrath of the gods.