Enders In Exile

though,
that Valentine
was
with Ender in the observation
deck, working on the book, when an Italian woman and her teenage
daughter walked up to Ender and stood there, saying nothing, waiting to
be noticed. Valentine knew them because they were both in her Common
class.
    Ender noticed them at
once and smiled at them. "Dorabella and Alessandra Toscano," he said.
"What a pleasure to meet you at last."
    "We were not ready,"
said Dorabella in her halting Italian accent. "On till your sister
could taught us English good enough." Then she giggled. "I mean
'Common.' "
    "I wish I spoke
Italian," said Ender. "It's a beautiful language."
    "The language of love,"
said Dorabella. "Not is French, nasty language of kissy lips and
spitting."
    "French is beautiful,
too," said Ender, laughing at the way she had imitated the French
accent and attitude.
    "To French and deaf
peoples," said Dorabella.
    "Mother," said
Alessandra. She had very little Italian accent, but rather spoke like
an educated Brit. "There are French speakers among the colonists, and
he can't offend any of them."
    "Why will they be any
offended? They make the kissy mouth to talk, we pretend we not to
notice it?"
    Valentine laughed
aloud. Dorabella really was quite funny, full of attitude. Sassy, that
was the word. Even though she was old enough to be Ender's
mother—considering her daughter was Ender's age—she
could be seen as flirting with Ender. Maybe she was one of those women
who flirted with everybody because they knew of no other way to relate
to them.
    "Now we are ready,"
said Dorabella. "Your sister teaching us good, so we ready for our half
hour with you."
    Ender blinked. "Oh, did
you think—I took a half hour with all the colonists who were
going to travel in stasis because that's all the time I had before they
became unavailable. But the colonists on the ship—we have a
year or two, plenty of time. No need to schedule a half hour. I'm here
all the time."
    "But you are very
important man, saving of the whole world."
    Ender shook his head.
"That was my old job. Now I'm a kid with a job that's too big for me.
So sit down, let's talk. You're learning English very
well—Valentine has mentioned you, actually, and how hard you
work—and your daughter has no accent at all, she's fluent."
    "Very intelligent girl
my Alessandra," said Dorabella. "And pretty, too, yes? You think so?
Nice figure for fourteen."
    "Mother!" Alessandra
shrank down into a chair. "Am I a used car? Am I a street vendor's
sandwich?"
    "Street vendors,"
sighed Dorabella. "I miss them yet."
    "Already," Valentine
corrected her.
    "I am already miss
them," said Dorabella, proudly correcting herself. "So small
Shakespeare planet will be. No city! What you said, Alessandra? Tell
him."
    Alessandra looked
flustered, but her mother pressed her. "I just said that there are more
characters in Shakespeare's plays than there will be colonists on the
planet named after him."
    Ender laughed. "What a
thought! You're right, we probably couldn't put on all of his plays
without having to use several colonists for more than one part. Not
that I have any particular plan to put on a Shakespearean play. Though
maybe we should. What do you think? Would anyone want to be ready to
put on a play for the colonists who are already there?"
    "We don't know whether
they like the new name," said Valentine. She also thought: Does Ender
have any idea how much work it is to put on a play?
    "They know the name,"
Ender assured her.
    "But do they like it?"
asked Valentine.
    "It doesn't matter,"
said Alessandra. "Not enough women
ruoli, parti
—how
do you say it?" She turned to Valentine helplessly.
    " 'Role,' " said
Valentine. "Or 'part.' "
    "Oh." Alessandra
giggled. It was not an annoying giggle, it was a rather charming one.
It didn't make her sound stupid. "The same words! Of course."
    "She's right," said
Valentine. "The colonists are about half and half, and Shakespeare's
plays are what, five percent female parts?"
    "Oh well," said Ender.
"It was a thought."
    "I wish we could put on
a play," said Alessandra. "But maybe we can read them together?"
    "In theater," said
Dorabella. "The place for
holografi.
We all read.
Me, I listen, my English is not good enough."
    "It's a good idea,"
said Ender. "Why don't you organize it, Signora Toscano?"
    "Please call me of
Dorabella."
    "There's no 'of' in
that sentence," said Alessandra. "There isn't in Italian, either."
    "English has so much
'of,' everywhere 'of,' except where I put it!"