I thought that was just going to be a little slice of life anecdote. We wereno elsi sa, a life anecdote like that. I remember only the dark bundle of the teacher's motionless body and lila staring at her with a serious expression. And then it goes on to describe many people in the sort of almost trivial ways that they die. One of the daughters of signora asunta, the fruit and vegetable seller, had stepped on a nail and died of tetanus. Aa, the sister of jusepina, signor peluso's wife, had died of tuberculosis at 22. Our world was full of words that killed, croup, tetanus