CESIRA AND '48
I
"No, you can not!" Snapped Father Sandro. The
urlaccio rang loud from the canonical among the aisles of the church of San Martino, so powerful as to induce the Beguine, intent on acting aspirations, with a start to stop the list of titles of honor of the Mother of Heaven, convinced that the good Father Trinca (this was the affectionate nickname of Father Sandro) was yet another fatal glass too.
And it does not.
few seconds passed, and the old sound again heard the voice of the Salesian alteratissima: "No and no! Did you hear what he said the Pope! God will not forgive NEVER such a sin. "
"Nghèèèèèèèèèèèèèè" a cry of dismay woman emerged from the rectory, as well as to recall the shrill call of a siren factory.
The Beguine looked at each other and made the sign of the cross.
"Oh my God! And what a pity it be? "Said Ida Buonadonna, whose real surname was Vicenzi, but he earned a law that nickname because of that, until a few years before, had been the sill of the most prosperous country groped , and blushed, thinking of all the times she had gone to confess to Father Sandro's rudeness made good man dell'Ernesto her husband, God rest his soul, that was really good, but even so bill that, if the horns were really dull, he would have difficulty in passing under the overpass. Yet father Sandro, except for some particular fondness for the juicy details, had never seemed so Cerberus, it was to tell everything, absolutely everything, and became very red when Ida was beginning to show some new fancy place or any particular situation but ultimately inevitable, came absolution, preceded by the inevitable lecture, always the same: "Oh, Ida! Ida! You're just naughty! But, as Christ said to the men who wanted to stone the adulterous woman: 'He that is without sin cast the first stone!'. The important thing is that you are truly sorry for what you did, and promise to the Lord not to do it anymore ... or at least try not to do it ... and now, an act of pain ... "And she recited, contrite, the little prayer in Latin that are not grasped the meaning, and heard his father say the wording that free from any scruple of conscience:" Ego te absolvo, in nomine Pater, Filius et Spiritum Sanctus ... "followed by the usual penance, which ranged from ten Hail Marys at the recitation of all the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious, depending on the quantity and quality of rude references to her husband. But now
Ida felt almost envious: who was addressing the good Father Sandro? What sin could have ever done that woman that she had failed to do?
"Maybe ... killed someone! "he suggested, with a wisp of wind Irma the spinster.
"Oh my God! And how? "Said Ida Buonadonna, thinking that perhaps, among the youth of the country, there were now some of her most skillful in the art of love.
"However, he did something serious, very serious," she said, pale as a sheet, Adeline, the doyenne of the old ladies of the Rosary.
"Yet," Irma said, "I have the years that I have, and I know that priests have always forgive all the colors ... "
" Maybe ... "she whispered Ebe the teacher, the only one who knew Latin and had read that sometimes the Gospels" has done perhaps the only unforgivable sin ... "
" And that is ? "asked the other, anxious to know what was this unforgivable sin. "Maybe ... Sin against the Holy Spirit, "said Hebe with the wide-eyed young teacher, and to support his thesis added a classical quotation in Latin, acted as an ancient ritual to curse:" Omne peccatum et Blasphème remittetur hominibus; Spiritus autem Blasphème not remittetur ! "
The words were spoken with such enthusiasm and such that for some gloom the second was heard echoing in the church echoes of those threatening words: "... remittetur tetur ... Etura ... "as if they were delivered personally by God the Father angry.
"Ooooooh!" They chorus consternation in the Beguine.
"Not only! To be more clear Jesus said, Et, quicumque Dixerit Filium contra verbum hominis, and remittetur; here autem contra Dixerit Spiritum sanctum, and not remittetur Neque hoc in saecula ... "tragic pause, he added, gloomy:" Neque in the future! ! He said just like that! "
" Oooooooh! "Repeated the old ladies, in awe, taking her face in her hands, eyes wide and mouth open as if they were to swallow an egg in one piece.
"Terrible! Really terrible! "Said Irma.
Then, however, which recovered from the shock, he asked: "But, sorry, but we have others here all the license of second grade ... but does that mean? "
" Yeah, what does that mean? "they chorus in the other.
"What was good and dear Jesus, forgive any sin, but who dared to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, are angry like a hyena! No forgiveness, either now or never! "
The other ladies looked at each other, puzzled. Ida was
Buonadonna to argue on behalf of all: "But then, Ernesto, the late lamented My husband ... poor, he could not see well ... "
" What's that all about? "said Hebe.
"And I told him: 'Big plant to me, the paintings on the wall, then I know where they are better ...' But he did not, stubborn! He said and insisted: 'No, this is men's work!' It does not seem right here ... "
" But why, he ... has "asked Hebe.
"And then he did it out of respect: the dear departed ... God, Jesus Christ and the saints respected them! When you pull the hammer a few finger here, a few moccolone has launched ... but he did not know that the Holy Spirit was so pissed! He has mica never read the Bible! And the priests do not tell her these things! Otherwise it would be addressed to the Virgin Mary, like everyone else! "
" Oh, poor thing! "Did the other ladies in the choir, but this time their exudes a wry smile: if you already saw it before, good Ernesto Vicenzi, ox more ox in the province, collapsed in the flames of hell for an occasional mistake, attending to the triumphal entry into heaven of the faithless wife, by virtue of the hundreds of acquittals of Father Sandro. Horned and bouquets ...
"mysteries of divine justice," said Hebe surplus for the teacher.
And all that time could not help but laugh, including Ida Buonadonna.
II
They had not yet stopped laughing when they saw out of the rectory Cesira, with the face of a distraught Lady of Sorrows. His eyes could not hold back the tears that flowed copious chubby face, normally placid as few.
And then the gossips of Rosario stopped laughing, and their joy turned to puzzlement. All Cesira knew, and knew it was not the type to be blasphemy, nor against the Holy Ghost, or against anyone else, not even a cherub of fourth order.
"Ma .. but it is the Cesira "Irma said the spinster.
"Perhaps she too ... planting some bad nail ... "suggested Ida Buonadonna.
"Naaaaaa!" Cried the little old ladies in chorus. "It can not be!"
"Chiediamoglielo, what happened," said Adeline.
"But I do not think the case ... maybe it's something personal ... "
" But we take it away ... I do not worry! "concluded Adele decided.
He rose from the bench and headed for the Cesira in mourning. Stopped just before the exit of the church.
Cesira! Ma .. all these tears ... but why? "
" Nothing ... nothing ... that big head of my husband ... but never mind ... "Cesira snapped, and walked away crying, without adding more.
Adelina, his eyes haunted, he reached back to the group of other pious ladies.
"I understand! I understood everything! Cesira ... wants to separate from her husband! "he said, with the expression of a mischievous cat who just caught a mouse.
"Ooooh! It 's impossible! That's the pity, "said Ida Buonadonna. "Surely the Bepi Sgarro has made some ... and she can not forgive ... not all are like the late lamented my husband! "
" What has any lover? "
" Who? He or she? "
" Well! Surely one of them has some history! But with whom? The village is small ... are certain things you know ... "
"We must investigate," said the ladies in unison, and for that day, the rosary is not said more. There were more important things to do.
III
Cesira came home sad and began to shred the vegetables for the soup in the evening. Bepi workshop would be back soon, tired, smelling of sweat and, above all, angry as usual. And who would have the courage to tell him the thing he wanted to do was a sin but a sin so great that you could not just forgive? There was the excommunication, even! No more sacraments, no more mass, and hell off!
There could think Cesira. Of course, her husband was just ...
"Just a nice Bausch" snapped Cesira, chopping parsley.
"Testun!" Repeated a few moments later, cutting the carrots.
"crap of dry wood," cried a little further, peeling potatoes.
But this should not suggest that the Cesira did not love her husband. It was precisely because she loved him with all my heart, that despite its flaws, is worried about his soul.
It was not the love of youth, when they had young children, based on the passion of the senses. Moreover Cesira had never found her husband very nice.
Cute, yes. For that he had married, despite the court party much more advantageous, including that of Perdigiacomo, who was then a young doctor fresh out of college and was now even become the primary hospital of Bologna. The Bepi
had married because it made her laugh, its outputs with those from clumsy lout, like that which has become proverbial, the time had come for the Advocate Anselmi do not know what consultation, the lawyer offered him a cigar Bepi now you know that among his many vices, also boasted to spit the phlegm that was forming in my throat when smoking: just could not help but ...
So the story is this: should Bepi Advocate and, according to his concept of politeness, accepted the plea Tuscan these are the offers, it lights but you realize suddenly that you forgot the handkerchief. So after some inevitable ': "Spit!" And a green patch on the ancient Persian carpet designs of the professional. Dismay of the legal, partly because, not far from Bepi there is a beautiful vase, finely decorated, which overlooks the role of our man, "I've never seen a vessel so beautiful Bepi think, and do not understand why the notary after approaching him his act insane, go ten minutes, the Bepi not resist and "Spit!" another chiazzone be the first company to Bukhara on the study, and indeed that the notary, visibly flushed, still close the vessel to Bepi that ignores what a spittoon, so, when after ten minutes the Bepi complete his triptych on the green carpet, and the notary's put in front of the spittoon, the Bepi can not help but comment: "Hey , Dutturi, I would not be rude, but if you see me approach a little more 'it ends up that we spit in! Then they say that I am rude ... "
short, already quest'aneddoto, you realize that person is the Bepi. Not bad, but rough, like a sculpture of wood, not sgrezzata.
Good, in his own way. And instead now ...
"Oh Signuri" said Cesira by pouring the prepared vegetables into the pot.
IV
That evening Bepi came home later than usual.
"E 'come to them!" She thought, furious Cesira, as he watched the soup that was shot.
Bepi When he came home, overwhelmed with the Cesira a raging torrent of words: "You went from there, right? What did they say? Which, when you win, kill the Pope! And they say that because we, all women should be made in common! Because this is what they want! Turn the world from top to bottom! "
" And even if it was! It's not right? In the world there have always been three categories of people: those who command, those who want to lead, and the people who is always just below and obey! But now it is time to reverse things, because we the people are looking up ... because the bourgeoisie has set in motion a process that can not be stopped, and at the end of this process the people take the power! It 's inevitable! It '... is ... dialect in the process of history! "
" The process ... dialect? "
" But still ... they use big words ... are all educated people ... But in order to control us! E 'fate! "
" commanded all those like you! But are you sure about that? Bepi the turner ... President of the Republic! Maybe you have also said such a thing! "
" Embee? It can not be? In Russia there are many workers in the government! Stalin himself, it's not a dottorone! In fact, you know that Stalin was the first to know the truth? He was a seminarian! I'll show you that when you too will join the Party, and start reading serious books, intelligent, and not those fools prayer books, you also open your eyes ... and as I know, maybe you are applying for a place in the Parliament! You would not be happy? "
" Never! Sandro father told me that in Russia those who disagree with his companions kill them! I'd rather die free, and not live under a dictatorship! "
"But that is of a transistor ..." Bepi said.
"A. .. transistor? "
" Well ... transistors ... is something that is done only for a while '... until there are bourgeois and reactionary ... until you have eliminated all those who do not accept the change ... then yes! Then simply paradise in the sky! We'll have heaven on earth! Made by men, and not by a God who does not know if there is "
" Oh my God! I hear that! Anyway ... I went to Father Sandro ... "
" And you said, the reactionary? "
" that communism is the greatest ever invented by the devil ... erez and those who follow the Communism goes to hell! He said the Pope! "
" But what do they know the priests? They went to see? In my opinion, the Communists go to heaven, because fighting for social justice, and priests go to hell! Who is right, eh? Is there a way to determine who is right? "
" Father Sandro says yes ... and that is why I invite you to go to Mass on Sunday before going to vote ... "
" And how would convince me? With his sermon by a priest? "
" I do not know ... but says they are convincing arguments ... convincentissimi ... based on the Bible! It seems that Jesus has now announced two thousand years! "
"But I do not believe ... these things, "said Bepi, coughing, as if something had gone askew.
"Listen ... if you come to Mass, I promise I'll think about it ... "
" What? "
Cesira And then, with a solemn tone, he made his promise:" If the priest did not say things convincing, I promise that I will vote 'COMMUNIST Me too! "
" If so, I'm ... I am sure that the priest will say just nonsense ... "concluded the Bepi, defiantly. Apparent challenge, because the Bepi, despite the profession of atheism, was very gullible, and sincerely interested in what he said two thousand years before Christ, on the advent of the Communists to power.
V
In that fateful Sunday morning of April 18, 1948, entered the church with the Bepi step fearful of a soldier intent to cross a minefield.
was in the lair of the reaction, the stronghold of enemies of the proletariat, he was convinced.
The "comrades" had lectured very well when the day before had announced that it would come to church to listen to what the priest had to say about the biblical prophecies concerning the proletarian revolution.
"What?" Pugacioff reproached him, alias Rocco Sindell, the secretary of the local section of the PCI, Stalinist hard and pure, applying the analytical tools of materialism dialectical also in discussions with his wife "Do not you know? Jesus Christ never existed! It 'was an invention of the subordinate classes for sending the hopes of the people exploited in an afterlife that does not exist! You never read the Essay on the Religion of Lenin? "
" No! Nor me interested ... "said the Bepi.
"Aaah! Too bad! So you will remain ignorant and gullible, "said Pugacioff pedantic.
"And you ... and you ... You never read the Bible? "
Pugacioff promptly replied:" No! But I do not care ... "
" See? ANCA YOU ARE IGNORANT! "Bepi concluded.
Pugacioff did not react for pure political calculation: the beating Bepi the cause of proletarian victory would lose a vote, and since the policy was announced fiery duel, he thought well that his immediate reaction would not have done nothing but fuel the anti-revolutionary forces, but immediately after the Bepi had left the section, wrote in his notebook:
Bepi-Counterrevolutionary FILOPAPISTA - make them pay after the proletarian revolution ...
VI
Bepi stepped cautiously among the rows of the pews with his side Cesira, wherever he turned his gaze, however, saw nothing but representatives of the hated bourgeoisie to the right of the notary bib, the richest of the country, Secretary section of DC, with their wives chinchilla furs, the mayor Taglialerba, liberal, hitherto known for his exaggerated anti-clericalism, and now appeared as the most pious of baciapile, perhaps because it was whispered around that the party was intending to offer, the next administration, a candidate for the region. To her left even the Staralli, former mayor of the times of the two decades, now merged into the current De Gasperi. And then all the commanders and landowners in the area, all with their ladies.
Bepi walked along the aisles, looking for an empty seat. But wherever he saw only seats occupied. All the "no friends" had left that morning to mass, perhaps omens of a future in which there would be no more nor the Eucharistic which kneel, or more likely to ask God for the miracle of a proletarian impossible to defeat. So
Bepi Cesira and ended up finding only the first bench seat, just below the pulpit of his father Sandro, and right next to the Marquise Serbelloni Mazzanti Vien dal Mare with his dreaded Benito Adolfo: for, after all, the non Benito Adolfo that was a pure bred Yorkie, but he was a bastard in the depths of the soul that no one doubted, more than one subject of the Marchesa had been bitten by the creature sacred to the parties, which, however, everyone knew had an assured place in heaven.
She went like this: one day the Serbelloni Mozzanti, affectionate to his carognetta, and worried by the thought that the animal would not have been able to accompany the kingdom of heaven, he turned to Father Sandro.
"Father Sandro, I would like to baptize Benito Adolfo ..." he said.
"That's impossible! I do not see that it is a be ... "
" Oh what a pity! I was going to make a donation to the parish of ten million! Vabbuò, it is not doing anything ... "
Father Sandro, he snapped. "How much, ten million? BUT I DO NOT YOU HAD SAID THAT THE CA ... BENITO ADOLPH WAS CATHOLIC! "
And so the dog receiving the sacraments, the entrance into paradise insured (where, to say the Serbelloni Mozzanti workers and peasants would never come, because of its particular interpretation of the parable of the talents of Jesus and the slogan: "a who will be given to those who have shall be taken even what he has ") and Father Sandro found a way to appease his daily obsession with peripatetic lifetime.
The Latin Mass was an exercise in patience that put a strain on everyone, especially the Bepi, who usually managed to keep my eyes open no longer than the first reading, and so it happened that day, but unfortunately for him the words in latinorum had the effect of a lullaby implacable had already reached the snoring noise level, when an elbow Cesira roused him painfully. From his pulpit
Sandro father looked at him with wild eyes, the priest was even more purple than usual, but it was impossible that he had been drinking, because the tone of his voice was firm and dramatic: it was time for sermon.
"Brothers" debuted father Sandro "Today is an important day for our future. One day that transcends the relative importance of an election, one day in the field that involves interests that go beyond the immanent, eternal interests and opposites, that crash since the day of man's creation, are about to face the last battle ... "
" Ugh! that two ... "he murmured Bepi, for which the sermons of Father Sandro were even more difficult to understand the latinorum.
"Today I will talk about the plan of God and his eternal adversary, the devil ... Today I'll talk about that part of the Gospel which announces the final moments of this war thousands of years, and the true, the only, hope of the Christian ... that follows the end of the fight ... the struggle between the forces of good and evil ... "and here the voice of Father Sandro became dark, dark, artfully designed a pause was intended to underline words that was about to say: "Today I will talk about the end of the world, as he announced Christ two thousand years ago." The "is ... ago ... ago ... "seems to echo the concluding long on people's heads and muted Bepi shudder in the depths of the marrow. "Reactionary propaganda" tried to think, but it was no longer so sure.
"But it is not my words that will convince you, for I am but a poor man, an impotent witness of history. Will be writing the words of Christ and the Apostles who should get! Therefore, today, we'll make a exception, and translate the Scriptures in Italian ... and comment because everyone will understand! Because there will be no excuses, before the tribunal of Christ, "Father Sandro's words rang like the threat of impending doom in the great church.
"Religion is the opium of the people," he repeated to himself the Bepi, to give strength. Sandro
Father continued: "We will start with addressing the issue using the very words of Christ, as can be found in the oldest of the Gospels. Will be considered in Chapter XXIV of the Gospel according to Matthew. Listen well to what the Lord says: When Jesus left the temple, went away, his disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple. But he said them: "You see all these things? Truly, I say: Do not stay here one stone upon another that will not be ruined !"... This, dear brothers, is a first run on what will happen at the end of time! The temple of Jerusalem destroyed, once and for all! And who is the one who wants the ultimate destruction of the people of Moses? It 'the same one that wants the destruction of our holy religion! And 'he, the devil! But of those who serve the evil one to carry out his nefarious plan? We continue to read, and we'll find out! "
Bepi became attentive. This sermon was intrigued him more than a political rally. There was everything he had always wanted listen: the good are persecuted, the very bad and his minions. Cesira, on the other hand, had always believed that a good God who would eventually forgave all, could not understand why God allowed the Devil to do so? He could not destroy it immediately?
Father Sandro went ahead in the reading of the Gospel: "When Jesus came on the Mount of Olives, he sat down, then his disciples came to him on the sidelines and told him: 'Tell us, when shall these things and what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the world ' And Jesus said to them: 'Take heed that no man deceive you! For many shall come in my name saying, 'I am the Christ' and many people will be misled 'Think about those words, and understand how many people throughout history has failed and has arrogated to itself the characteristics of the son of God, the infallibility of the judgments and actions, being higher any other man on Earth, the right to decide over life and death of entire peoples, the feeling is to rule the whole world in the name of a cruel God or a historical necessity relentless: these are the antichrists MENTIONED IN WRITING : we had an example close to Germany, with Hitler, who killed not only Jews but also Christians, the handicapped, Gypsies and political opponents all ... but Hitler was worshiped as a god by the majority of Germans .... How far SEE THE POWER OF THE DEVIL! Millions of people are ready to sacrifice his life for bloodthirsty monsters, fools convinced by arguments based on human philosophies! And all these men to their gullible followers promise paradise on earth that will soon turn into hell! But let us go forward in the Gospel reading: Jesus said: When you hear be wars or rumors of wars, do not be upset, it is necessary that all these things happen, but not the end. It shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in various places, but this is only the beginning of sorrows. Now, Think of all that has happened in the last fifty years: wars, two world wars have shaken the world famine: in Africa, eastern countries and in many other places around the world are dying of hunger, and we too have suffered hunger in time of war, pestilence: think of the English flu, immediately after the end of World War I, which alone caused more deaths than the war ... and see that the prophecies on approaching the end of the world made by Christ is more current than ever. But we continue with the reading of the gospel, and we come to the description of what is the present moment: it is the fate that it's up to us Christians in the time of the test: then hand you over to torture and will kill you, you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. So many succumb, will betray one another hating each other ... This is the fate that awaits the people of God .. and tell me ... Is it not true that all the ideologies of the last one hundred and fifty years have fought the Christian faith, from the French Revolution on? The writing continues, saying many false prophets will arise, which will lead many astray. The names of many of them are well known. But the strongest enemy, an enemy that in Revelation is described as a red dragon-vivo is yet to come ... Tell me ... What makes you think of this red dragon, that the end of time will attack the Church? Which ideology expressly denies God, persecutes religious and committed in the name of false ideals of justice, each more horrible wickedness? We all know his name and 'Bolshevism! The last and most 'POWERFUL WEAPON OF THE DEVIL! And the decisive sign heralding the end of the world is clearly described by Jesus a few words later: "So when you see stay in the holy place the abomination of desolation ... what is the holy place that comes to mind? The capital of Christianity ... It 'clear, no? Jesus speaks of Rome, the city of the Pope! It's up to us, to all of us oppose the plots of the devil. WHY THE END OF THE WORLD WILL BE WILL When the Bolsheviks ITALY TAKEN! And chess, and perhaps killed the Pope in the name of their ideology, obeying the orders of Stalin! "
Bepi hours shaking like a leaf. How many times had heard from his comrades that the ruin of Italy were the Pope and the Church in general, rather than obsessing the people with his talk not possible to create a better world? That the first thing to do, once seized power in the world, was to hang the last Pope with the guts of the last King? Sandro
Father continued his sermon by listing all the calamities that would follow a day in the desolation which would enter the holy place, and concluded, declaiming:
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of heaven shall be shaken ... Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of man and then beat his chest all the tribes of the earth and see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory ... and then only those who has not been an ally of the powers of hell will be saved. That's it, my brothers. Think before you go to vote, because ... urn in secret ... GOD SEES! STALIN NO! "
The faithful stood up on their feet to applaud. A veritable ovation. Bepi just sat there, his face livid, and the Cesira sat by his side.
VII
That Sunday, for the first time in many years, did not Cesira communion. He did not know why, but felt there was something wrong.
left the church, at the end of the function, Cesira Bepi asked, "So? Convinced you? "
Bepi was still livid with fear, but, by golly! He was the breadwinner! He could show his wife that was left duped by rumors of a priest!
replied simply: "For me, I'm talking to all priests! Vote Communist! But you, you ... Do as you think ... "That afternoon the
polling was packed like never before. He seemed truly advance Doomsday. Finally came the turn of
Bepi and Cesira. The whole time they were in a row, and even before, at lunch, the Bepi had not said a word, nor Cesira had dared to bother. She too seemed to think things all his own, and then it was already a long time that the two had nothing to say. But that day at lunch Cesira not take our eyes away from her man: "My God," thought "my husband has always been a good man ... possible that ... for a vote ... no ... I do not want to believe. "
finally arrived for their turn: they presented the document and were given their cards.
On the wall behind the polling station they saw a crucifix hanging: "And remember, in the voting booth, God is watching you .. Stalin NO! "Bepi father remembered the words of Sandra with a shudder down my spine.
entered the voting booth, thought for a moment, made the sign of the cross said, "Lord, forgive me! I am a good man ... "and put the sign on the symbol of the shield crusader.
"God looks at Stalin and no ..." he thought, and smiled.
"Jesus looks ... I voted your party, "she said, her eyes raised to heaven.
and left the voting booth.
Cesira In the other car was in the throes of a whirlwind of emotions that could not control. If it was true that he had Father Sandro said that all the Bolsheviks would go to hell, then it was done for her husband because he had voted Communist.
The fire eternal ... by one vote! The end of the world ... because the elections in Italy would have won a party rather than another! How unfair it all seemed too much! The Bepi punished eternally because he was stubborn!
"If so, Signuri ... Bepi instead prefer to stay with you ... forever! 'Cause I love you then-heads ... here, "said Cesira, and put the cross dealt with on the hammer and sickle.
Exit polling booth, saw the Bepi, it looked uglier than usual and lout.
and smiled.
And, strangely, it seemed that even the crucifix on the wall was smiling.
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