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SEVEN STORIES

BY

DINO BUZZATI

TRANSLATED FROM ITALIAN

BY

REBECCA HEATH

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One morning in March, after a day's train ride, Giuseppe Corte arrived in acity where there was a famous sanitarium. He had a slight fever, but even so heinsisted on walking from the station to the hospital, carrying his small suitcase.

lthough showing only the earliest signs of the disease, Giuseppe Corte had

been advised to seek treatment at the renowned sanitarium where theyspeciali!ed in treating "ust this one malady, guaranteeing a high level of medicalcompetence and the most rational and effective use of the facilities.

#hen Giuseppe Corte caught sight of the hospital from a distance $ and herecogni!ed it from having seen its photograph in a brochure $ the sanitariummade an e%cellent impression on him. &he faade of the white seven$storiedbuilding was broken by a series of alcoves that gave it the appearance of a hotel. (twas surrounded by a perimeter of tall trees.

fter a brief medical e%amination, pending a more detailed one, GiuseppeCorte was put in a cheerful room on the seventh and last floor. &he furniture andupholstery were light in color and in good condition, and the wooden armchairshad cushions covered in multicolored fabric. window opened on to a view ofone of the most beautiful districts of the city. )verything was serene, hospitableand reassuring.

Giuseppe Corte went to bed immediately and, once the bedside light was on,began reading a book he had brought with him. short time later a nurse came into ask if he wanted anything.

Giuseppe Corte did not want anything, but gladly started talking to theyoung woman, asking for information about the sanitarium, and it was throughher that he learned of the hospital's unusual features. &he patients weredistributed floor by floor according to the severity of their illness. &he seventh,that is, the top floor, was for those who were only slightly sick. *atients who wereonly moderately ill but needed monitoring were assigned to the si%th floor. On

the fifth they treated those who were more seriously ill and so on, floor by floor.Gravely ill patients were on the second floor and hopeless cases were on the first.

&his odd system, besides greatly e%pediting the operation of the hospital,prevented a patient who was only slightly sick from being disturbed by anotherwho was dying, and ensured the same atmosphere on every floor+ it alsofacilitated the matching of treatment to the condition of the patients.

ccording to this scheme, the patients were divided into seven progressivecastes. )ach floor was like a small world to itself, with its own special rules, withits own special traditions. nd since every section was entrusted to a differentdoctor, there were small, but distinct differences in how the cases were handled,even though the director general had impressed on the hospital the need for

single set of guidelines. #hen the nurse had left, it seemed to Giuseppe Corte thathis fever had disappeared and he went to the window, not to look at thelandscape, even though it was new to him, but with the hope of catching sight ofother patients on the lower floors. &he structure of the building, with its largealcoves, allowed this type of observation. (n particular, Giuseppe Corte fi%ed hisattention on the first floor windows, which seemed far away and which he couldview at an angle. ut he was unable to see anything interesting. &he ma"ority ofthem were tightly closed by gray sliding window shutters.

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earliest stage $ he said to him $ but very slight+ in two or three weeks it wouldprobably pass.

&hen do ( stay on the seventh floor0 Giuseppe Corte asked an%iously atthat point.

ut of course5 the doctor answered, giving him a friendly slap on the

shoulder. nd where did you think you were going0 Maybe to the fourth0 heasked, laughing, as though hinting at the most absurd possibility.&hat's better, that's better, said Corte. /ou know how it is+ when you're

sick you always imagine the worst.(n fact, Giuseppe Corte remained in the room which had been assigned to

him originally. He got to know some of his hospital companions on the rareafternoons when he was allowed to get up. He carefully followed the plan oftreatment, and did everything he could to get better 2uickly+ nevertheless, hiscondition remained the same.

bout ten days had passed when the head nurse of the seventh floor came into see Giuseppe Corte. 6he had a favor to ask of him7 the following day a lady withtwo children was going to be admitted to the hospital+ ad"oining Corte's were twoempty rooms, but they needed a third one+ would Mr. Corte be kind enough tomove to another room, "ust as comfortable as his0

Of course Giuseppe Corte made no ob"ection+ one room or the other was allthe same to him+ perhaps he would get a new and more attractive nurse.

( really thank you, the head nurse said then with a slight bow+ from aperson like you ( confess that such a chivalrous gesture doesn't surprise me. #e'llmake the transfer in an hour if you don't mind. ('m afraid you'll have to move onefloor down, she added in a hushed voice, as if it were a matter of no importance.4nfortunately, on this floor there aren't any more free rooms. ut it's atemporary arrangement, she hurried to say, seeing that Corte, getting up

suddenly from his chair, was on the point of opening his mouth to protest. ssoon as there's an empty room, and ( think that'll be in two or three days, you'llbe able to come back up here.

('ll admit, Giuseppe Corte said, smiling to show her he was not a child, ('lladmit that a move like this doesn't please me in the slightest.

ut there's no medical reason for this move. ( understand completely whatyou mean+ it's "ust a courtesy to this lady who doesn't want to be separated fromher children... please, she added with a laugh, don't think for a moment thatthere's any other reason5

Maybe so, Giuseppe Corte said, but it seems like a bad omen to me.

6o Corte moved to the si%th floor and although he was convinced that thismove didn't correspond to a worsening of his illness, he was uncomfortablethinking that an obstacle was being placed between him and the normal world ofhealthy people. On the seventh floor, the port of arrival, he was in a certain waystill in contact with the regular world+ in fact it could almost be considered ane%tension of his usual world. ut on the si%th he arrived at the real heart of thehospital+ already the mentality of the doctors, of the nurses and of the patientsthemselves was slightly different. On that floor you reali!ed that truly sick people

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were being treated, even if their conditions were not terribly serious. -rom hisfirst conversations with his neighbors, Giuseppe Corte reali!ed that on that floorthe seventh was looked on as a "oke, a place reserved for dilettantes who weresuffering from hypochondria more than anything else+ it was only on the si%th, soto speak, that things began to get serious.

However, Giuseppe Corte understood that his desire to go back upstairs, tothe place where he belonged according to the gravity of his illness, was going tomeet with some opposition and that in order to return to the seventh floor he hadto set in motion a comple% organism. &here was no doubt that if he had notbrought up the sub"ect, no one would have thought of moving him back to theupper floor of the almost well.

Conse2uently, Giuseppe Corte decided not make concessions and not to giveway to the temptation of habit. &o the companions of his ward he stressed that hewas there for only a few days, that it was he who wanted to go down as a favor tothe lady and that as soon as there was a free room he would go back upstairs. &heothers listened to him without interest and nodded with scarce conviction.

Giuseppe Corte's opinion found a full confirmation in the "udgment of thenew doctor. He, too, admitted that Giuseppe Corte could certainly be assigned tothe seventh floor+ his type of illness was ab$so$lute$ly tri$vi$al $ and he stressedthis definition to give it emphasis $ but, in fact, he maintained that on the si%thfloor Giuseppe Corte might receive a more appropriate treatment.

3on't start giving me these stories, the sick man interrupted decisively atthis point. /ou told me ( belong on the seventh floor and ( want to go backthere.

8o one's said anything to the contrary, replied the doctor. My advice waspurely and simply that of a true friend, not of a doctor. /our form of the sicknessis, ( repeat, e%tremely slight+ it wouldn't be an e%aggeration to say you're not evenill, but in my opinion it differs from similar conditions by its somewhat greater

spread. 9et me e%plain7 the intensity of your illness is minimal, but its e%tent isconsiderable+ the destruction of the cells, it was the first time that GiuseppeCorte had heard that sinister e%pression, the destruction of the cells is absolutelyin the initial phase, perhaps it hasn't even begun, but it tends, and ('m only sayingtends to strike large parts of the organism at the same time. (t's only because ofthis, in my opinion, that you can be treated more efficiently here, on the si%th,where the therapy is more appropriate and intense.

One day he was informed that the director general of the sanitarium, afterlong consultations with his staff, had decided to make a change in theclassification of the patients. )ach one's grade $ so to speak $ was to be lowered byhalf a point. On every floor the patients were grouped, in accordance with the

seriousness of their condition, in two categories :this subdivision was actuallymade by one's respective doctor, but only for internal use;, and the lower of thesetwo halves was moved to the floor below. -or e%ample, half of the patients on thesi%th floor, those with slightly more advanced cases, had to move to the fifth andthe more serious cases on the seventh moved to the si%th. &his news pleasedGiuseppe Corte because in such a comple% scenario of transfers, hisreturn to the seventh floor would be easier.

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#hen he hinted at this hope to the nurse, however, he had a bitter surprise.He found out that he was to be moved, but not to the seventh, but rather to thefloor below. -or reasons that the nurse was unable to e%plain to him, he had beenincluded in the more gravely ill patients on the si%th floor and had to go downto the fifth.

Once his initial surprise was over, Giuseppe Corte became furious+ heshouted that they were cheating him, that he refused to hear anything more ofgoing down, that he would return home, that one's rights were one's rights andthat the hospital administration could not disregard the medical diagnosis insuch a bra!en fashion.

#hile he was shouting, a doctor arrived to calm him down. He advised Corteto get a grip on himself if he did not want his fever to escalate, and he e%plainedto him that there was at least a partial misunderstanding. He continued to agreethat Giuseppe Corte would be in the right place if they put him on the seventhfloor, but he added that he had a slightly different opinion concerning his case, ifonly a personal one. asically his illness, in a certain sense of course, could beconsidered grade si%, given the e%tent of the disease symptoms. He himself,however, was not able to e%plain how Corte had been classified in the lower halfof the si%th floor. *robably the director's secretary, who that very morning hadcalled to ask Giuseppe Corte's e%act clinical state, had made a mistake in writingit down. Or, even more likely, the hospital management, acknowledging thedoctor's e%pertise, but considering him too lenient, had slightly downgraded thedoctor's diagnosis. (n short, the doctor advised Corte not to worry, to make themove without protesting, because what mattered was the illness, not the placewhere the patient was located.

6o far as the treatment was concerned $ added the doctor $ Giuseppe Cortewould have no reason to be sorry+ the physician on the floor below certainly hadmore e%perience. He was virtually dogmatic that the doctors' abilities increased

with the decrease in the floors. &he room was "ust as comfortable and "ust aselegant. &he view was e2ually spacious+ it was only from the third floor down thatthe view was cut off by the trees.

6uffering from an evening fever, Giuseppe Corte listened to the detailede%cuses with a growing lethargy. (n the end he reali!ed that he lacked thestrength and above all the desire to oppose the un"ust transfer. nd withoutfurther protest he let himself be moved to the floor below.

Once he was transferred to the fifth floor, Giuseppe Corte's only consolation,however slight, was to find out that in the unanimous opinion of the doctors, thenurses and the patients, he was the least sick person in the ward. On that floor, inshort, he could be considered by far the most fortunate. ut, on the other hand,

he was tormented by the thought that now he was separated from the world ofnormal people by two barriers.

s the spring advanced, it became warmer, but Giuseppe Corte no longeren"oyed going to the window as he had during his first days at the sanitarium+even though such a fear was nothing but an absurdity, he was stirred by a strangechill seeing the windows of the first floor, the ma"ority of them closed, that weregetting progressively closer.

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His illness got neither better nor worse. fter three days on the fifth floor, atype of ec!ema appeared on his right leg that showed no signs of disappearing inthe days that followed. (t was a condition $ the doctor told him $ that wascompletely independent of his principal illness, one which could strike thehealthiest person in the world. (n order to get rid of it in a few days he needed an

intensive treatment of digamma radiation.nd isn't it possible to have the digamma radiation treatment here0' askedGiuseppe Corte.

Certainly, replied the doctor, complacently. Our hospital is e2uipped witheverything. &here's "ust one problem 1

#hat asked Corte with a vague foreboding. problem only in a certain sense, the doctor said, correcting himself.

#hat ( mean is that the radiation e2uipment is located only on the fourth floorand ( advise you not to make such a trip three times a day.

6o there's nothing you can do0#ell then, until the ec!ema is cured, it would be better if you'd be willing to

go down to the fourth floor.)nough5 screamed Giuseppe Corte, in e%asperation. ('ve had enough of

going down5 )ven if it kills me, ('m not going down there.s you wish, the doctor said calmly, so as not to irritate him, but as your

attending physician, ( can't let you make the trip downstairs three times a day.&he bad thing was that the ec!ema, instead of getting better, was slowly

spreading. Giuseppe Corte was unable to get any relief and tossed and turned inbed. He did not give way until, after three days, he could not take it any longer.6pontaneously he begged the doctor to let him undergo the radiation treatmentand to be moved to the floor below.

Once he was on the fourth floor, Corte noted, with undisguised pleasure,that he was an e%ception. &he other patients in this department were in decidedly

worse condition than he and were not even able to get out of bed for a moment.He, on the other hand, was able to reach the radiation treatment area from hisroom on his own two feet, to the compliments and ama!ement of the nursesthemselves.

&o the new doctor he emphasi!ed his very special position. patient whoactually belonged on the seventh floor, but was now on the fourth. s soon as theec!ema was cured he intended to go back upstairs. He would absolutely not standfor any new e%cuse. He, who belonged legitimately on the seventh.

On the seventh, on the seventh5 e%claimed the doctor who had "ustfinished e%amining him. /ou patients always e%aggerate5 ('m the first one to tellyou that you should be satisfied with your condition+ according to what ( see in

your record, there hasn't been any great deterioration in your health. ut to gofrom this to talking about the seventh floor $ e%cuse me for being brutally frank $there's a big difference5 /ou are one of the least worrisome cases, ( agree, butnevertheless, you're still ill5

#ell then, well then, Giuseppe Corte said, his face getting red, what floorwould you put me on0

Oh, God, that's hard to say+ ('ve only made a brief e%amination. (n order tomake a decision ('d have to follow your case for at least a week.

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-ine, insisted Corte, but you must have a rough idea.(n order to calm him down, the doctor pretended to think for a moment and

then, nodding to himself with his head, said slowly, Oh God5

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day, from the very first day, you understand0 to one of the lower floors. ('d evenget myself admitted on 1

&he first0 Corte suggested with a forced smile.Oh no5 8ot on the first, the doctor replied ironically, not that. ut on the

third or even on the second, certainly. On the lower floors the care is much better,

( guarantee you, the e2uipment is more e%tensive and more powerful, and thepersonnel is more capable. 3o you know who the heart and soul of this hospitalis0

(sn't it 3r. 3ati0=ight, 3r. 3ati. He's the one who developed the treatment that's used here,

the person responsible for the entire organi!ation. #ell he, the head$man, divideshis time, so to speak, between the first and second floors. His authority emanatesfrom there. ut ( guarantee you his influence doesn't go beyond the third floor+beyond that point his authority diminishes, his orders aren't followed as well asthey might be, they're misconstrued+ the heart of the hospital is on the lowerfloors and on the lower floors is where you need to be to get the best treatment.

&hen, in short, Giuseppe Corte said with a trembling voice, you advise meto 1

9et me add something, the doctor continued undismayed, let me add thatin your own case what we need to do is get rid of the ec!ema. (t's a matter of littleimportance, ( agree, but rather tiresome that in the long run could depress your'morale+' and you know how important it is for a cure to be in good spirits. &heradiation treatment that ('ve prescribed for you has only been halfway effective.&he reason0 (t might be that it's pure chance, but it might be too that theradiation hasn't been strong enough. #ell then, on the third floor the radiationmachines are much more powerful. &he chances of curing your ec!ema would befar greater. 6o you see0 Once you're on the road to recovery, you've taken thehardest step. Once you've started making progress, the chances are you won't

relapse. #hen you start feeling really better, there's no reason for you not tocome back up here or go even higher, depending on your condition, even to thefifth, the si%th, or ( might even dare to say, to the seventh.

ut do you think that this can speed up the cure0&here's absolutely no doubt. ('ve already told you what ('d do if ( were in

your shoes.)very day the doctor had conversations like this with Giuseppe Corte.

-inally the moment came when the sick man, tired of suffering from the ec!emaand despite his instinctive reluctance to go down, decided to take the doctor'sadvice, and move to the floor below.

s soon as he moved to the third floor he noticed there was an air of gaietyin the ward among the doctors as well as the nurses, even though this floorhoused a number of e%tremely serious cases. He noticed that this gaiety wasincreasing from day to day+ after he had gotten to know the nurse a little better,and curious to know the reason, he asked why everyone was so happy.

Oh, you don't know0 replied the nurse. (n three days we're going onvacation.

#hat do you mean 'we're going on vacation'0

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ut yes. -or two weeks the third floor is closing and the personnel is onleave. &he various floors take turns going on vacation.

nd the patients0 #hat do you do with them06ince there are so few, we combine the two floors into one.#hat0 /ou mi% the patients of the third and fourth floors0

8o, no, the nurse corrected him, the third and second floors. &hose thatare here have to go down a floor.Go down to the second0 Giuseppe Corte said, pale as death. #ill ( have to

go down to the second, too0Of course. #hat's so strange about that0 (n two weeks, when we return,

you'll come back to this room. ( don't think that's anything to get concernedabout.

(nstead, Giuseppe Corte $ a mysterious instinct was warning him $ wassei!ed by a cruel fear. ut, seeing as there was no way to keep the staff from goingon vacation, and convinced that the new treatment with stronger radiation wasdoing him good $ the ec!ema was almost completely gone $ he did not dare toraise a formal ob"ection to the new move. He insisted, however, even though thenurses made fun of him, that on the door of his new room they attach a noticewith the words Giuseppe Corte, here temporarily from the third floor. 6uch athing had no precedent in the history of the sanitarium, but the doctors were notopposed, believing that with a nervous temperament like Corte's, upsetting himeven a little, could give him a serious shock.

(n short, it was a matter of waiting two weeks, not one day more, not oneday less. Giuseppe Corte set himself to counting them with stubborn eagerness,remaining for hours on end, immobile on the bed, with his eyes fi%ed on thefurniture, which was not so bright or modern as on the floors above, but seemedlarger with harsher and more solemn lines. nd from time to time he strained hisears because he seemed to hear from the floor below, the floor of the moribund,

the ward of the condemned, the faintly perceptible death rattles of the dying.ll this naturally combined to discourage him. nd his loss of composure

seemed to aggravate the illness+ his fever tended to climb, his general weaknessbecame more pronounced. -rom the window $ it was by now the middle ofsummer and the windows were almost always open $ neither the roofs nor thehouses of the city were visible, only the green wall of trees that surrounded thehospital.

fter a week, one afternoon around two, the head nurse and two otherssuddenly entered, pushing a gurney. re we ready for the move0' the head nursesaid pleasantly.

#hat move0 Giuseppe Corte asked with a faltering voice. #hat kind of a"oke is this0 (sn't there still another week before the patients from the third floorgo back upstairs0

#hat do you mean, 'third floor0' said the head nurse as if he did notunderstand. ( have instructions to move you to the first, look here, and heshowed him a printed form ordering his move to the lower floor signed by noneother than 3r. 3ati.

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Giuseppe Corte's terror, his overwhelming rage e%ploded in long angryscreams that reverberated through the entire ward. Gently, gently, please, thenurses begged him, there are sick people here. ut that was not sufficient tocalm him.

-inally the doctor who was in charge of the department appeared, an

agreeable and courteous man. He found out what was happening, looked at theform and listened to Corte's e%planation. &hen he turned in anger to the headnurse, saying there had been an error, he had not issued an order of that sort,that for some time there was unbearable confusion, and that he was kept in thedark about everything. -inally, when he had finished venting his wrath on thenurse, he turned to the patient, and in a courteous voice, e%cused himselfprofusely.

4nfortunately, however, the doctor added, unfortunately 3r. 3ati left fora short leave "ust an hour ago and will not be back for another two days. ( amabsolutely devastated, but his orders can't be overridden. He'll be the first one toregret what's happened, ( guarantee you... what a mistake5 ( don't understandhow it could have happened5

y this time Giuseppe Corte was sei!ed with a pitiful trembling. His self$control had forsaken him entirely. &error had overwhelmed him as if he were achild. His slow, desperate sobs echoed around the room.

=eaching the bottom floor "ust because of that horrible error. 6ent to thefloor of the dying he who, basically, according to the severity of his illness, even inthe "udgment of the strictest doctors, had the right to be assigned to the si%th, ifnot the seventh5 &he situation was so grotes2ue that Giuseppe Corte almost feltlike bursting into laughter.

6tretched out on the bed, while the hot summer afternoon passed slowlyover the large city, he looked through the window at the foliage of the trees, withthe impression of having reached an unreal world, made of absurd walls of

sterili!ed tiles, of cold mortuary entrances, of white human figures devoid ofsouls. (t even seemed to him that the trees he saw outside the window were notreal+ eventually he was sure of it, noticing that the leaves did not move at all. &hisidea agitated him so much that Corte rang the bell for the nurse and had her givehim his glasses, glasses that he did not use in bed+ only then was he able to calmhimself a bit when he could see that they were real trees and that the leaves,though their motion was slight, moved every so often in the wind.

#hen the nurse had left, he spent a 2uarter of an hour in total silence. 6i%floors, si% terrible walls, towered over Giuseppe Corte with an implacable weightand only because of an error. How many years, yes, he had to measure the time inyears, how many years would it take him to climb back from the edge of that

precipice0ut why was the room suddenly becoming so dark0 (t was the middle of the

afternoon. #ith a supreme effort Giuseppe Corte, who felt himself paraly!ed by astrange lethargy, looked at the clock on the nightstand beside the bed. (t was>7>?. He turned his head in the other direction and saw that the shutters, inobedience to some mysterious command, were closing slowly, blocking thepassage of the light.

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