Looking at me, he touched his lips with an index finger while the driver started off, and I don’t know if he wanted to blow me a kiss or tell me to be silent.
-- Narrator (chapter 13)

Importance: This quote is in reference to a gesture Vincenzo directs at the narrator after their first kiss and before they part ways. They have not discussed their actions or their feelings; they never do. This ambiguous gesture of bringing a finger to his lips in the closest the two siblings come to acknowledging or discussing their situation. The ambiguous nature of this gesture is in keeping with Vincenzo's ambiguous and mysterious character. Furthermore, it underscores the fundamental conflict in the narrator's relationship with Vincenzo: their sexual/romantic encounters are clandestine and inherently wrong. The ambiguous question of whether Vincenzo intends to blow a kiss or to ask for silence is representative of the narrator's own...