'A tavula 'mbandita

'A tavula 'mbandita: the table laid for a feast. Eighty-two is the most Neapolitan number there is after Pulcinella — the table with everything on it, the family around it, the din of voices. It isn’t only an abundance of food: it’s an abundance of people, which in this culture is worth far more. In dreams, eighty-two shows up when there’s fullness that’s shared. A family lunch, a gathering that went well, a time when nothing is missing and there’s someone to share it with. And it shows up in reverse, when the table is set and someone isn’t there: in dreams it’s one of the images that hurts the most, precisely because the scene is a happy one. The images that lead here are the laden table and singing. Singing is what makes the hours together after dinner last — and it goes on when everyone else has gone to bed and two people keep going, softly. If eighty-two showed up in your dream, there was a table. Look at who was sitting at it: the Smorfia supplied the number, but only you know the guest list.