the last book I ever read (Domenico Starnone's Trick, excerpt two)

from Trick by Domenico Starnone (Translated from the Italian by Jhumpa Lahiri):

Mario must have thought that the time for high jinks had now begun. Actually I’d simply meant to throw him a bone and then get back to work. We ate Sally’s food, which was delicious, and already, as we ate, I tried to capture one of the images that had come to me. I brought a morsel to my mouth with one hand and I quickly sketched small dense figures with the other, though I had to admit they weren’t turning out very well. The child’s fault: He never quit, he suggested, endlessly, that we play games after lunch that were, according to him, incredibly entertaining. In the end I gave in. Let’s cleam up and then we’ll do something fun, but just for a while, you know that Grandpa’s busy.