James Carnarvon

@Summerabbacat to quote Emilia, “I’m just telling it how it is”. Throughout my trips to Italy, stray cats have been a constant feature. They live a fairly feral existence and, as far as I can tell, nobody takes responsibility for them. A programme of neutering would go a long way to addressing the problem. They seem less territorial than domestic pets. Of necessity, perhaps, they hang around in family or social groups and position themselves around people where they may get scraps or be able to predate on other scavengers. Gianni and Angelo’s plump, sleek pet Ennio is definitely in the minority in this regard.

I’m sorry to hear you lost your comment @Summerabbacat. But thank you! There have been some very insightful comments. Comments that reflect and speculate on characters are some of the most satisfying to receive, and I’m very grateful for them. As you say, it shows that the story has made an impact and people are thinking about it. Yes, the ads do cause problems. On my phone they frequently obscure vital links and buttons.

Yes, they are taking risks together. There’s a lack of a moderating influence. How far will they go?

I suppose kids of that age are not always able to deal with this sort of thing in the best way. Thanks to his own insecurities, Marco has managed to isolate himself. Dani himself is uncomfortable with what has happened but doesn’t know exactly what to do about it.

A bold prediction and not without good reason. I hope you're not too disappointed by what actually happens!

Indeed, and the main plot will be back soon as we approach the end, but at this point I felt Dani had earned a couple of chapters of generally good times!

Daniele left for school the next day itching to see Giacomo again. Sunday night had been his mother’s night off work, and she was already there when he got home. Eyes wide, Patrizia had asked him what on Earth he had done to his clothes. There was no way, Daniele realised, that he could tell her the whole truth; so he offered a vague excuse about mucking about with Giacomo in the dirt, which was at least partially true. Over dinner Daniele, who was still bursting with pride and enthusi

I'm glad you like the humorous bits @Summerabbacat. I wasn't going for humour in this story nearly as much as I was in Together We Can Fly, but the occasional bit of humour should be part of any good story. Which is what he was all along, of course. Mission accomplished - and thank you! That would be a whole other story. Hmmmmmm... (just kidding) 😉

The weekend had arrived by the time Daniele next saw Marco outside of school. Daniele and Giacomo had agreed to meet up again on Sunday. Daniele had a feeling the other boy was planning to go ahead with his rock climbing idea, although he had remained cagey about exactly where they would be going. In the meantime, Daniele had a whole Saturday to fill on his own. Once his parents had left to start their working day, Daniele headed into town with a few Euros in his pocket, hoping for a d

Another impressive fact! I've also seen "Giacobo" for Jacob, but I'll concede that it's less common. This Giacomo is "James" to me - but no, he's not named after me. We're really not alike!

Following further helpful discussions with @Freerider, I've changed "Giacco" to "Giaco" throughout the story. It'll take a bit of getting used to, but it amounts to the same thing. Basically "Jack-o". For anyone who likes these sort of facts, "Giacomo" ("Jack-o'mo") is the Italian form of "James".

Assuming 'stronzo' with a 'z' then the plural would be 'stronzi'. And 'fico' presumably 'fichi', but as @Freerider indicates it's probably better to avoid that one! Can we change the subject now? 😂

Thank you for the additional insights! Interesting spelling correction, too. Google translate recognises both ‘stronso’ and ‘stronzo’, but if you reverse the translation it offers the version with the ‘z’. I may make a change to my text if that is the more standard spelling. I’ve spent way too much time talking about curse words among the comments on these chapters. 😂

…which I absolutely don’t want you to forget. I’ve been told in the past that my (teenage) characters sometimes seem a bit too adult. There’s a case to be made for them being the way they are, but overall it’s an easy ‘mistake’ to make when trying to create a strongly relatable protagonist. I wanted there to be no such feeling with Dani. In the scene you mentioned he was overwhelmed: the hard reality of his divided loyalties suddenly hit him and he found himself torn completely in two. Poor kid. Fortunately Toto had enough insight not to spurn him for it. As to the truth Giacomo appears to be withholding… you’ll have to wait a while longer for an explanation to that. I’d be wary of relying on Google Translate to find curse words without further research. ‘Fico’ and ‘cagna’ may be literal translations of English curse words but is the context for their use the same? ‘Stronso’ (which is a curse word) and ‘fico’ have a similar literal meaning.

It would be a bit devious for Patrizia to concoct a culinary way to accuse a twelve-year-old boy of being a 'whore' 😅. I'm sure there'd be a more age-appropriate way for her to express her concerns, if indeed she has any. I could explain Patrizia's warning, but I'm not gonna. I'll let it stand on its own for now, but it flows from the characters. But yes @Ivor Slipper and @drsawzall, divided loyalties are definitely the order of the day! P.S. It's "Michele" (Mi-ke-le) not "Michelle". Is autocorrect tripping you up?

Yes, good knowledge! So called because the working girls could make it quickly and easily with ingredients that they would usually have in their store cupboard. "feisty little cuss" - I like that!

Tuesday at school passed in slightly uncomfortable style. Giacomo’s friendship with Emilia and Marco seemed to be in critical condition. The three of them barely spoke all day; from his seat on the far side of the classroom, Daniele watched his new friend wrestle with a conflicting mix of relief and hurt feelings as Emilia and Marco ignored him. At lunchtime, Giacomo made the bold decision to hang out with Daniele on the terrace. Their school was a small and confined world, and the oth

This is just the beginning. If you enjoy it, there’s plenty more potential reading ahead of you! Thanks for commenting.

Thank you @Summerabbacat! Being left alone regularly enhances self-reliance and may exercise the imagination, but I don’t think it begets enhanced empathy and emotional insight. That is something more innate to Daniele’s nature and yes, it is a rare gift for someone of his age. Maybe that’s his ‘superpower’. Cats do, indeed, rule.

Yes, it is rather the elephant in the room, isn't it?

Any number of things could be going on beneath the surface. Even in early adolescence there are crushes, comparisons, factions/cliques, alliances, enmities and the dreaded social pecking order. Schoolyard politics can be pretty complex even at 12/13.

Some great insights there @drsawzall. We’ll just have to see whether you’re right to worry, or whether his role is really just something simpler and more trite. 😅

@drsawzall Welcome back. You’re the first person to mention Marco. Do you think he has some kind of larger role to play in all this?

@Summerabbacat I had to look “cagna” up! But now I have it makes perfect sense. I’m more familiar with “cane”. In editing, I had to tone the Assunta/Fillipo scene down quite a bit, and I was doing so right up to the last minute. As originally drafted, her dialogue was too arch and the description of the room too much like a James Bond villain’s lair 😅. I didn’t want to lose one of my main selling points, which is my commitment to an earthy sort of realism within the overall inspiring setting. The scene is still not perfect to me.

“I ain’t dropped no eaves, Mr. Filippo sir!” 😆 I think you’ve pretty much got to the heart of Dani’s character there. This young wannabe hero is naive and impulsive, and his sense of proportion in risk may be a bit skewed. Let’s hope he comes through all this OK. I like dropping in a few Italian words. It helps to reinforce the setting, particularly when I don’t rely heavily on exaggerated / stereotypical Italian tics in my dialogue scenes. Because it’s such an expressive language, it also helps to punctuate fiery emotional moments, like the curse words I have used here and there or Marco’s quiet exclamation of “Che cosa?” upon seeing Dani and Giacomo together (it seemed so much more on point than just having him say “what?”). @drpaladin That’s a great fact!