Questo thread è gemello di Arbor Gold, il vino della menzogna.

Nella precedente discussione ho messo in luce la connessione creata da GRRM fra il vino Arbor Gold e le menzogne dei vari personaggi di ASOIAF; in questa, invece, osserveremo un altro interessante parallelismo, quello tra gli zaffiri e i segreti presenti nella saga. Esattamente come per il vino dorato, le gemme blu rappresentano un messaggio in codice dell'autore ai lettori.

Di seguito presenterò riferimenti testuali e relative analisi libro per libro (fonti: Sapphires = Secrets e A Search of Ice and Fire).

A Game of Thrones

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The slim young serving girl took quick note of Ned's badge and the sigil on his doublet, and the master came hurrying out, all smiles and bows. "Wine for the King's Hand," he told the girl, gesturing Ned to a couch. "I am Tobho Mott, my lord, please, please, put yourself at ease." He wore a black velvet coat with hammers embroidered on the sleeves in silver thread. Around his neck was a heavy silver chain and a sapphire as large as a pigeon's egg. "If you are in need of new arms for the Hand's tourney, you have come to the right shop." Ned did not bother to correct him. "My work is costly, and I make no apologies for that, my lord," he said as he filled two matching silver goblets. "You will not find craftsmanship equal to mine anywhere in the Seven Kingdoms, I promise you. Visit every forge in King's Landing if you like, and compare for yourself. Any village smith can hammer out a shirt of mail; my work is art."

Il segreto di Tobho Mott riguarda il suo apprendista Gendry, ovvero che il ragazzo è figlio di re Robert.

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She could not hate Joffrey tonight. He was too beautiful to hate. He wore a deep blue doublet studded with a double row of golden lion's heads, and around his brow a slim coronet made of gold and sapphires. His hair was as bright as the metal. Sansa looked at him and trembled, afraid that he might ignore her or, worse, turn hateful again and send her weeping from the table.

Il segreto di Joffrey è la sua natura interiore mostruosa, nascosta dietro la sua bellezza. Da notare che la parola "zaffiro" è collocata fra le parole "oro" e "capelli", un indizio relativo a un ulteriore segreto (la sua origine incestuosa).

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When the Knight of Flowers made his entrance, a murmur ran through the crowd, and he heard Sansa's fervent whisper, "Oh, he's so beautiful." Ser Loras Tyrell was slender as a reed, dressed in a suit of fabulous silver armor polished to a blinding sheen and filigreed with twining black vines and tiny blue forget-me-nots. The commons realized in the same instant as Ned that the blue of the flowers came from sapphires; a gasp went up from a thousand throats. Across the boy's shoulders his cloak hung heavy. It was woven of forget-me-nots, real ones, hundreds of fresh blooms sewn to a heavy woolen cape.

Gli zaffiri di Loras sono riferiti a un inganno del Cavaliere dei Fiori (vedremo bene dopo), ma il collegamento con Ned e i fiori blu è un indizio su un segreto ben più importante: R+L=J.

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Ned heard applause, cheers, whistles, shocked gasps, excited muttering, and over it all the rasping, raucous laughter of the Hound. The Knight of Flowers reined up at the end of the lists. His lance was not even broken. His sapphires winked in the sun as he raised his visor, smiling. The commons went mad for him.

Il segreto di Loras è la tattica sleale che usa per sconfiggere la Montagna: cavalcare una giumenta in calore che induce in errore lo stallone di Gregor Clegane.

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"If one Hand can die, why not a second?" replied the man with the accent and the forked yellow beard. "You have danced the dance before, my friend." He was no one Arya had ever seen before, she was certain of it. Grossly fat, yet he seemed to walk lightly, carrying his weight on the balls of his feet as a water dancer might. His rings glimmered in the torchlight, red-gold and pale silver, crusted with rubies, sapphires, slitted yellow tiger eyes. Every finger wore a ring; some had two.

Il segreto è l'alleanza fra Varys e Illyrio: la vicinanza tra i rubini (pietre collegate solitamente ai Targaryen) e gli zaffiri sono uno spoiler del fatto che il redivivo Aegon è in realtà un impostore.

Cita

Lysa, freshly scrubbed and garbed in cream velvet with a rope of sapphires and moonstones around her milk-white neck, was holding court on the terrace overlooking the scene of the combat, surrounded by her knights, retainers, and lords high and low. Most of them still hoped to wed her, bed her, and rule the Vale of Arryn by her side. From what Catelyn had seen during her stay at the Eyrie, it was a vain hope.

Lysa, corteggiata da numerosi uomini, porta al collo degli zaffiri che simboleggiano il segreto dell'omicidio del marito Jon Arryn, da lei stessa perpetrato.

Cita

Jon could feel his breakfast churning in his belly, but he pressed his lips together and made himself look at the second body. Othor had been a big ugly man, and he made a big ugly corpse. No axe was in evidence. Jon remembered Othor; he had been the one bellowing the bawdy song as the rangers rode out. His singing days were done. His flesh was blanched white as milk, everywhere but his hands. His hands were black like Jafer's. Blossoms of hard cracked blood decorated the mortal wounds that covered him like a rash, breast and groin and throat. Yet his eyes were still open. They stared up at the sky, blue as sapphires.

Il segreto riguarda la trasformazione di Jafer Flowers in uno wight.

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"Symeon Star-Eyes," Luwin said as he marked numbers in a book. "When he lost his eyes, he put star sapphires in the empty sockets, or so the singers claim. Bran, that is only a story, like the tales of Florian the Fool. A fable from the Age of Heroes." The maester tsked. "You must put these dreams aside, they will only break your heart."

Approfondirò il tema dell'identità di Symeon (figura di rilievo dell'Età degli Eroi) in altre sedi. Qui ciò che conta è il suo segreto: gli occhi di zaffiro sono una connessione con gli Others, in quanto le pupille di queste creature e degli wights vengono spesso descritte nella saga come stelle di colore blu (vedere il caso precedente).

A Clash of Kings

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No one ransomed the northmen, though. One fat lordling haunted the kitchens, Hot Pie told her, always looking for a morsel. His mustache was so bushy that it covered his mouth, and the clasp that held his cloak was a silver-and-sapphire trident. He belonged to Lord Tywin, but the fierce, bearded young man who liked to walk the battlements alone in a black cloak patterned with white suns had been taken by some hedge knight who meant to get rich off him. Sansa would have known who he was, and the fat one too, but Arya had never taken much interest in titles and sigils. Whenever Septa Mordane had gone on about the history of this house and that house, she was inclined to drift and dream and wonder when the lesson would be done.

Il segreto di Wylis Manderly, prigioniero di Tywin a Harrenhal ma libero di muoversi, è che lui origlia informazioni con la scusa di andare a rifocillarsi nelle cucine: morsel, infatti, significa sia "boccone" che "notizia".

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"This Andrik may be a great fighter, but men do not fear him as they fear you."

"Aye, that's so," Dagmer said. The fingers curled around the drinking horn were heavy with rings, gold and silver and bronze, set with chunks of sapphire and garnet and dragonglass. He had paid the iron price for every one, Theon knew.

"If I had a man like you in my service, I should not waste him on this child's business of harrying and burning. This is no work for Lord Balon's best man..."

In questa scena Theon idolatra Dagmer, affermando che lui è un guerriero migliore di Andrik. Dagmer annuisce, ma in cuor suo sa che non è vero (lo si evince dall'intero dialogo).

A Storm of Swords

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"Tarth is beautiful," the wench grunted between strokes. "The Sapphire Isle, it's called. Be quiet, monster, unless you mean to make me gag you."

Tarth è conosciuta come Isola Zaffiro per il blu delle sue acque: per proteggere Brienne, Jaime si inventa la storia delle pietre preziose. Questo segreto sarà un elemento ricorrente nei capitoli di Jaime di ASOS. Mi limito a citare solo il primo dei tanti riferimenti.

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Wed to Ser Loras, oh... Sansa's breath caught in her throat. She remembered Ser Loras in his sparkling sapphire armor, tossing her a rose. Ser Loras in white silk, so pure, innocent, beautiful. The dimples at the corner of his mouth when he smiled. The sweetness of his laugh, the warmth of his hand. She could only imagine what it would be like to pull up his tunic and caress the smooth skin underneath, to stand on her toes and kiss him, to run her fingers through those thick brown curls and drown in his deep brown eyes. A flush crept up her neck.

Il segreto di Loras è la sua omosessualità. Mi spiace Sansa, non lo puoi sposare!

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Stupid stubborn brave bitch. She was going to get herself good and killed, he knew it. And what do I care if she does? If she hadn't been so pigheaded, I'd still have a hand. Yet he heard himself whisper, "Let them do it, and go away inside." That was what he'd done, when the Starks had died before him, Lord Rickard cooking in his armor while his son Brandon strangled himself trying to save him. "Think of Renly, if you loved him. Think of Tarth, mountains and seas, pools, waterfalls, whatever you have on your Sapphire Isle, think . . ."

Anche qui si menziona la natura omosessuale di un personaggio, stavolta Renly. È un segreto di Pulcinella, ma Brienne lo ignora.

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"The steel was sufficient for two blades, not three. If you have need of a dagger, take one from the armory. Robert left a hundred when he died. Gerion gave him a gilded dagger with an ivory grip and a sapphire pommel for a wedding gift, and half the envoys who came to court tried to curry favor by presenting His Grace with jewel-encrusted knives and silver inlay swords."

Il dono di nozze di Gerion Lannister a re Robert dovrebbe essere un riferimento alla tresca fra Cersei e Jaime, oppure al destino misterioso dello stesso Gerion.

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"What the Imp did or did nor swear scarcely matters now," said Lord Bolton. "Least of all to you." The wench looked almost wounded. Perhaps she finally felt the steel jaws of the trap when Roose Bolton beckoned to his guards. "Ser Jaime will continue on to King's Landing. I said nothing about you, I fear. It would be unconscionable of me to deprive Lord Vargo of both his prizes." The Lord of the Dreadfort reached out to pick another prune. "Were I you, my lady, I should worry less about Starks and rather more about sapphires."

Roose Bolton sta nascondendo il suo coinvolgimento nel piano che porterà alle Nozze Rosse: da ciò deriva la battuta sul non preoccuparsi per gli Stark.

Cita

He cut her off. "Take the bloody sword and go, before I change my mind. There's a bay mare in the stables, as homely as you are but somewhat better trained. Chase after Steelshanks, search for Sansa, or ride home to your isle of sapphires, it's naught to me. I don't want to look at you anymore".

Qui Jaime sta nascondendo il fatto che prova affetto nei confonti di Brienne.

Cita

"I've never had a crown on my head or sat my arse on a bloody throne, if that's what you're asking," Mance replied. "My birth is as low as a man's can get, no septon's ever smeared my head with oils, I don't own any castles, and my queen wears furs and amber, not silk and sapphires. I am my own champion, my own fool, and my own harpist. You don't become King-beyond-the-Wall because your father was. The free folk won't follow a name, and they don't care which brother was born first. They follow fighters. When I left the Shadow Tower there were five men making noises about how they might be the stuff of kings. Tormund was one, the Magnar another. The other three I slew, when they made it plain they'd sooner fight than follow."

In questo discorso abbiamo un caso di "negazione di zaffiri": Dalla non ha mai indossato zaffiri, quindi le parole di Mance Rayder sono sincere.

Cita

Amidst so much white marble even the sunlight looked chilly, somehow . . . though not half so chilly as her aunt. Lady Lysa had dressed in a gown of cream-colored velvet and a necklace of sapphires and moon-stones. Her auburn hair had been done up in a thick braid, and fell across one shoulder. She sat in the high seat watching her niece approach, her face red and puffy beneath the paint and powder. On the wall behind her hung a huge banner, the moon-and-falcon of House Arryn in cream and blue.

Altro riferimento al piano ordito da Littlefinger e Lysa per uccidere Jon Arryn (apprendiamo la verità poco dopo).

A Feast for Crows

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I know. It was on that very road that Ser Cleos Frey had died, and she and Ser Jaime had been taken by the Bloody Mummers. Jaime tried to kill me, she remembered, though he was gaunt and weak, and his wrists were chained. It had been a close thing, even so, but that was before Zollo hacked his hand off. Zollo and Rorge and Shagwell would have raped her half a hundred times if Ser Jaime had not told them she was worth her weight in sapphires.

Nuovo riferimento alla menzogna di Jaime in ASOS. Anche qui cito solo il primo fra tanti presenti nei capitoli di Brienne in AFFC.

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"Your uncle bought him," Tris said. "The Silence returned with holds full of treasure. Plate and pearls, emeralds and rubies, sapphires big as eggs, bags of coin so heavy that no man can lift them . . . the Crow's Eye has been buying friends at every hand. My uncle Germund calls himself Lord Botley now, and rules in Lordsport as your uncle's man."

Il segreto di Euron riguarda l'uccisione del fratello Balon.

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When she was not working, Arya was free to wander as she would amongst the vaults and storerooms, so long as she did not leave the temple, nor descend to the third cellar. She found a room full of weapons and armor: ornate helms and curious old breastplates, longswords, daggers, and dirks, crossbows and tall spears with leaf-shaped heads. Another vault was crammed with clothing, thick furs and splendid silks in half a hundred colors, next to piles of foul-smelling rags and threadbare roughspuns. There must be treasure chambers too, Arya decided. She pictured stacks of golden plates, bags of silver coins, sapphires blue as the sea, ropes of fat green pearls.

Questa citazione precede il dialogo fra Arya e l'Uomo Gentile, nel quale la ragazza prova a ingannare, senza successo, il maestro dicendogli che lei è "No One".

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Alayne did not know what to say to that. Thankfully, she was spared by the arrival of Robert Arryn. The little lord wore sky-blue velvet, a chain of gold and sapphires, and a white bearskin cloak. His squires each held an end, to keep the cloak from dragging on the floor. Maester Colemon accompanied them, in a threadbare grey cloak lined with squirrel fur. Gretchel and Maddy were not far behind.

Il segreto di Sweetrobin riguarda le sue precarie condizioni di salute, tema ricorrente del capitolo in questione.

A Dance with Dragons

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Illyrio was reclining on a padded couch, gobbling hot peppers and pearl onions from a wooden bowl. His brow was dotted with beads of sweat, his pig's eyes shining above his fat cheeks. Jewels danced when he moved his hands; onyx and opal, tiger's eye and tourmaline, ruby, amethyst, sapphire, emerald, jet and jade, a black diamond, and a green pearl. I could live for years on his rings, Tyrion mused, though I'd need a cleaver to claim them.

Il segreto di Illyrio è Faegon. Da notare che dopo lo zaffiro abbiamo uno smeraldo (pietra verde), un gaietto (pietra nera), una giada (pietra verde), un diamante nero e una perla verde. Nero + Verde = spoiler della seconda Danza dei Draghi.

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"Mice, we called them then. The older thieves were fools who thought no further than turning a night's plunder into wine. Varys preferred orphan boys and young girls. He chose the smallest, the ones who were quick and quiet, and taught them to climb walls and slip down chimneys. He taught them to read as well. We left the gold and gems for common thieves. Instead our mice stole letters, ledgers, charts … later, they would read them and leave them where they lay. Secrets are worth more than silver or sapphires, Varys claimed. Just so. I grew so respectable that a cousin of the Prince of Pentos let me wed his maiden daughter, whilst whispers of a certain eunuch's talents crossed the narrow sea and reached the ears of a certain king. A very anxious king, who did not wholly trust his son, nor his wife, nor his Hand, a friend of his youth who had grown arrogant and overproud. I do believe that you know the rest of this tale, is that not so?"

La collaborazione fra Illyrio e Varys presenta degli aspetti tuttora oscuri, legati al complotto Blackfyre. Da notare il passaggio in cui per la prima volta abbiamo un collegamento esplicito fra il concetto di "segreto" e gli zaffiri; in mezzo alle due parole troviamo "argento", il che potrebbe essere un riferimento a Daenerys: i segreti (Faegon) valgono più dell'argento (la vera Targaryen).

Cita

As they passed, each warrior stripped off his treasures and tossed them into one of the carts that the stewards had placed before the gate. Amber pendants, golden torques, jeweled daggers, silver brooches set with gemstones, bracelets, rings, niello cups and golden goblets, warhorns and drinking horns, a green jade comb, a necklace of freshwater pearls … all yielded up and noted down by Bowen Marsh. One man surrendered a shirt of silver scales that had surely been made for some great lord. Another produced a broken sword with three sapphires in the hilt.

Il segreto è il piano per uccidere Jon Snow elaborato da Bowen Marsh: la colpa del Lord Comandante è di aver accolto gli wildlings.

Extra (A Wiki of Ice and Fire)

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At the age of ten, Aemond lost his right eye during a fight with his nephew Lucerys Velaryon. He was later known to put a sapphire in place of the missing eye.

Aemond Targaryen, fratello di Aegon II, perse l'occhio destro in seguito a una zuffa con i figli di Rhaenyra Targaryen e Laenor Velaryon, e lo sostituì con uno zaffiro. Il segreto riguarda il vero padre di Jacaerys, Lucerys e Joffrey Velaryon, ossia Harwin Strong: fu l'insinuazione di Aemond a costargli l'occhio.

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Shiera was a great reader, even at an early age, spoke many languages, and maintained a large and arcane library. She also was reputed to share her mother Serenei's skill in the dark arts. Shiera was known to possess a heavy silver necklace, alternating star sapphires and emeralds to compliment her unusual eyes.

Shiera Seastar, amante di Brynden "Bloodraven" Rivers, indossava zaffiri: il suo segreto riguarda probabilmente i suoi poteri magici e, in generale, la sua figura alquanto misteriosa, la quale ha generato varie leggende.

Per carità tutto può essere ma alcune mi paiono tirate per i capelli. Alla fine chiunque ha "segreti" specie in ASOIAF.

Comunque bravo e complimenti, davvero!  

Stai aprendo un sacco di discussioni interessanti, nuove e originali in questa sezione che era "silenziosa" da tempo. 

Ti ringrazio per i complimenti! 

È vero che in ASOIAF i segreti e gli inganni sono numerosi, quindi la presenza di zaffiri può essere frutto di coincidenze, però alcuni abbinamenti sembrano inequivocabilmente piazzati in maniera studiata (vedi ad esempio le gemme di Illyrio, i fiori blu per Ned, l'occhio di zaffiro di Aemond per aver insinuato la verità...)

Penso che gli scrittori di saghe letterarie spesso e volentieri usino questi easter egg. Ultimamente ho scoperto in Harry Potter che

SPOILER HP

Sì alcuni sono sicuramente possibili, tipo i primi citati, altri un po' più "vaghi".

Sarebbe interessante sapere che caratteristiche vengono associate allo zaffiro, magari fornirebbe una chiave di lettura più chiara...

Curiosando un po' sul web, ho visto che lo zaffiro viene considerato un simbolo di saggezza e alcuni lo associano al disvelamento degli inganni, ma il tutto è abbastanza vago. Forse GRRM ha pensato allo zaffiro come simbolo di segretezza perché  lo ha collegato ai brillanti occhi blu degli Estranei.

Un altra chicca martiniana è che i cantanti hanno fatto quasi sempre una brutta fine (l'unico che si è salvato finora è Sevenstrings). Magari GRRM è stonato...

Già, la band del liceo non ha sfondato e si vendica così...

Le citazioni sugli zaffiri si possono distinguere in 4 tipologie:

1) Riferimenti palesi a inganni e segreti (si comprendono subito)

2) Riferimenti allusivi (si accompagnano ad altri simboli)

3) Riferimenti contestuali (comprensibili leggendo per interi i capitoli di appartenenza)

4) Riferimenti occulti (si capiscono col senno di poi)

Un altra menzione a zaffiri/segreti, tratta da Fire & Blood:

Cita

Yet even this did not long mollify the King’s Hand, for less than a fortnight later, the leading elements of the Velaryon fleet returned to King’s Landing bearing a cryptic message: Oakenfist had sent them on ahead whilst he set sail for Lys to secure “a treasure beyond price.”

These words inflamed Lord Peake’s suspicions. What was this treasure? How did Lord Velaryon mean to “secure” it? With a sword? Was he about to start a war with Lys, as he had with Braavos? The Hand had sent the rash young admiral around the whole of Westeros to rid the court of him, yet here he was about to descend on them once more, “dripping with undeserved acclaim” and mayhaps vast wealth as well. (Gold was ever a sore point for Unwin Peake, whose own house was land poor, rich in stone and soil and pride, yet chronically short of coin.) The smallfolk saw Oakenfist as a hero, his lordship knew, the man who had humbled the proud Sealord of Braavos and the Red Kraken of Pyke, whilst he himself was resented and reviled. Even within the Red Keep, there were many who hoped that the regents might remove Lord Peake as King’s Hand, and replace him with Alyn Velaryon.

The excitement occasioned by Oakenfist’s return was palpable, however, so all the Hand could do was seethe. When Lady Baela’s sails were first seen across the waters of Blackwater Bay, with the rest of the Velaryon fleet appearing from the morning mists behind her, every bell in King’s Landing commenced to toll. Thousands crowded onto the city walls to cheer the hero, just as they had at Lannisport half a year before, whilst thousands more rushed out the River Gate to line the shores. But when the king expressed the wish to go to the docks “to thank my good-brother for his service,” the Hand forbade it, insisting it would not be fitting for His Grace to go to Lord Velaryon, that the admiral must come to the Red Keep to abase himself before the Iron Throne.

   In this, as in the matter of Aegon’s betrothal to Myrielle Peake, Lord Unwin found himself overruled by the other regents. Over his strenuous objections, King Aegon and Queen Daenera descended from the castle in their litter, accompanied by Lady Baela and her newborn daughter; her sister Lady Rhaena with her lord husband, Corwyn Corbray; Grand Maester Munkun; Septon Bernard; the regents Manfryd Mooton and Thaddeus Rowan; the knights of the Kingsguard; and many other notables eager to meet Lady Baela at the docks.

The morning was bright and cold, the chronicles tell us. There, before the eyes of tens of thousands, Lord Alyn Oakenfist beheld his daughter, Laena, for the first time. After kissing his lady wife, he took the child from her and held her high for all the crowd to see, as the cheers fell like thunder. Only then did he return the girl to her mother’s arms and bend his knee before the king and queen. Queen Daenaera, blushing prettily and stammering just a little, hung about his neck a heavy golden chain studded with sapphires, “b-blue as the sea where my lord has won his victories.” Then King Aegon III bade the admiral rise with the words, “We are glad to have you safe home, my brother.”

Il segreto di cui è latore Alyn Velaryon è la sopravvivenza del giovane Viserys II Targaryen durante la Danza dei Draghi.

Aggiungo una buffa storia sul padre e la madre di GRRM, in cui uno zaffiro ha un ruolo di rilievo:

Cita

Smokey never even taught me craps . . . and craps was his game, the one he’d played during the war, among the camels and the carnage. He played it well enough to win that honkin’ big sapphire and the ten thousand dollars he’d brought back from Europe. Ten grand was a small fortune in 1946. My father could have bought a nice house with that money. He could have bought a great car. He could have bought five cars. He could have bought a house and a car. He could have gone into some sort of business. He could have invested in the stock market, in which case his ten thousand dollars would have grown to several million by now. Instead . . . well . . . he enjoyed it. Women, beer, nightclubs, the track. He had a good time. Ten thousand bucks went a long way then. Smokey never owned a car. Never drove. He always said that drinking and driving didn’t mix . . . and since he sure as hell wasn’t going to give up drinking, he took cabs. When my mother took us kids out somewhere, we all took the bus. If my father was with us, though, everyone squeezed into a cab. He took cabs everywhere. My favorite story about him dates from that postwar period, when he was flush. He was taking a date to a nightclub in New York, and wanted to impress her. So he phoned for two cabs. He told the first cabbie the address and sent it off empty. Then he got into the second cab with his date and said, "Follow that cab." I never saw that side of him myself. I heard the story from my mother, who’d heard it from his friends. She was not the woman in the second cab, sad to say. By the time Margaret Brady met and married Smokey Martin, he had blown through all of the ten thousand dollars. All he had left from his Army days was that honkin’ big sapphire, which wound up on my mother’s finger. As much as my mother loved that sapphire, I suspect she would have loved a house even more.