Italian–English parallel text
Il numero sbagliato
The Wrong Number
DuoText
A bilingual Italian–English edition: the Italian text with the English beside it, paragraph by paragraph.
Opening the reader…
Un piccolo errore
One small mistake
Wanjiru viveva a Nairobi. Aveva ventinove anni e faceva la parrucchiera.
Wanjiru lived in Nairobi. She was twenty-nine, and she was a hairdresser.
Lavorava in un salone pieno di clienti nel centro della città. Ma il salone non era suo. Il proprietario teneva la maggior parte dei soldi.
She worked in a busy salon in the city centre. But the salon was not hers. The owner kept most of the money.
Ogni mese, Wanjiru risparmiava un po’. Aveva un piano. Un giorno, voleva un salone tutto suo.
Every month, Wanjiru saved a little. She had a plan. One day, she wanted her own salon.
Venerdì sera, si è seduta sull’autobus per tornare a casa e ha aperto la sua app della banca. C’erano 210.000 scellini sul suo conto.
On Friday evening, she sat on the bus home and opened her bank app. There were 210,000 shillings in her account.
«Duecentodiecimila,» ha detto a bassa voce. «Ancora novantamila, e posso iniziare.»
“Two hundred and ten thousand,” she said quietly. “Ninety thousand more, and I can start.”
Poi il suo telefono ha squillato. Era sua madre.
Then her phone rang. It was her mother.
«Wanjiru? Sono la mamma. Come stai, figlia mia?»
“Wanjiru? It’s Mama. How are you, my child?”
«Sto bene, mamma. Sono sull’autobus. Va tutto bene?»
“I’m fine, Mama. I’m on the bus. Is everything OK?”
«Va tutto bene. Beh, quasi. È di nuovo il tetto. Ha piovuto molto ieri sera, e l’acqua è entrata in cucina.»
“Everything is fine. Well, almost. It’s the roof again. There was a lot of rain last night, and the water came into the kitchen.”
«Di nuovo? Hai chiamato l’uomo del villaggio?»
“Again? Did you call the man from the village?”
«Sì. È venuto stamattina e l’ha guardato. “Cinquantamila,” ha detto. “Posso iniziare lunedì.”»
“Yes. He came this morning and looked at it. ‘Fifty thousand,’ he said. ‘I can start on Monday.’”
Wanjiru ha guardato il numero nella sua app della banca. Cinquantamila scellini erano cinque mesi di risparmi.
Wanjiru looked at the number in her bank app. Fifty thousand shillings was five months of saving.
«Mi dispiace, figlia mia,» ha detto sua madre. «So del tuo salone. Non mi piace chiedertelo.»
“I’m sorry, my child,” said her mother. “I know about your salon. I don’t like asking you.”
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