Fausto didn’t often come over for dinner. In fact, they rarely saw him outside the bakery, and the family hardly ever sat down to have dinner together. Their mother spent most of her time in and out of her study, in and out of the garden, in and out of the house, and no one was ever quite sure what exactly she did with her time. Fabi and Falk usually ate dinner separately.

Fabi, therefore, had few occasions to wear his nicest suit outside of festivals, and he never refused any opportunity for formal dress. He dreamed of someday owning a full closet of nicely hemmed, well-decorated vests, and ultimately owning a coat to complete his suit. But, for the time being, his small-town family was too poor to afford anything more than one lovely, cerulean vest.