FLASHBACK – GARDEN OF A COUNTRY HOUSE – SUNNY AFTERNOON – 1970s
A group of children sits in a circle. Balloons, cotton candy, a train-shaped cake. The clown Pompelmo entertains the little ones with tricks and forced laughter.
CLOWN (waving a puppet):
And now little Mister Stinky sings with meee!
CHILDREN (laughing):
Ahahahah!
Suddenly: CLAAANG!
The gate bursts open. Faggioli’s father enters, covered in dirt, holding a hoe. He looks like a man who despises childhood.
FAGGIOLI’S FATHER (shouting):
What is this circus nonsense!?
Who paid this slacker?
BIRTHDAY BOY’S MOM (stepping forward, agitated):
Excuse me, sir, this is a private party! I must ask you to lea—
FAGGIOLI’S FATHER (holding up the hoe):
Ma’am, you see this?
This is your ticket to reality. 🤣
BIRTHDAY BOY’S DAD (trying to calm things down):
Please, lower that hoe… there are children here…
FAGGIOLI’S FATHER (shouting):
Children must learn the harsh truth!
Forget soap bubbles!
If you don’t dig, you don’t eat! 🤣
(Clown Pompelmo begins to back away, trying to keep a smile on his face.)
CLOWN (stammering):
Sir, I… I just do entertainment…
They pay me in meal vouchers!
FAGGIOLI’S FATHER (raising the hoe):
Then let me give you a shovelful of reality! 🤣
(The clown runs away screaming, tripping over a plate of chips. The children burst into tears.)
BIRTHDAY BOY’S MOM (furious):
Are you insane!? You’re traumatizing our children!
FAGGIOLI’S FATHER (solemn tone):
I’m preparing them for life. 🤣
(Little Faggioli, sitting on a tiny chair, watches with teary eyes. He clutches a licorice stick.)
YOUNG FAGGIOLI (whispering):
One day… I’ll have a hoe too. 🤣
Igor:
If bursting into strangers’ homes with a hoe was Faggioli’s father’s “ticket to reality,” then he was still three kilometers outside the entrance. 🤣
… Speaking of reality, according to him, a hoe-induced concussion was supposed to snap the clown back to it. Yeah — maybe to the afterlife’s reality! 🤣
… Instead of preparing the kids for life, maybe Faggioli’s dad was prepping them for the next world war! 🤣
… The kind where, out of nowhere, the enemy storms your house armed with a hoe! 🤣