ARROW - 85. Chapter 85

Tuesday morning, we started to repeat our morning jogs. Now we had the three boys along with us. Jogging through the hills, the boys saw some wild flowers. We had to stop while they picked a bouquet for Nonna. What normally took us 45 minutes, now took an hour and a half. The boys were having fun, that was more important than the time. This would become part of our routine for the two weeks we would spend in the village.

Carmella was running out of vases to hold all of the flowers the boys had gathered for her. I wasn’t sure of the boys’ motive. Carmella had a treat for them when they gave her the flowers,

After the first few days, the boys had the village children calling for them to come out to play. I noticed their Italian was improving, not only in pronunciation but also their vocabulary was growing. Even Colin’s Italian was improving.

Evenings we spent on the plaza, talking to old friends of mine and new friends, thanks to the boys. I had to make sketches for the boys with their new friends. They gave the sketches to their friends, Colin snapped photos, these I will use as subjects for my paintings.

Over the weekend, Carmella took us to see Tony’s homestead. She was right, it was in bad shape. I met the young man who took care of the garden, chickens and one goat. Carmella said this was the source of food for the widow and the young man.

Colin took photos, inside and outside. Carmella talked to the woman, she said the woman was ill and should be in the village where medical care was available.

That evening, I told Colin I wanted to buy that farm. “We could turn it into a hostel.”

“What about the woman who is living there and that young man working there?”

“Carmella said she is in bad health and needs medical help. We could move her to the village. I’m sure Angelo would have a room for her. Between Carmella and the villagers they could see she has a proper diet.”

“Do you think she’ll go for it?”

“Let’s talk to Carmella.”

Carmella got several of the village women together and visited the woman at the farm. They did it several days in a row and finally she agreed to move to the village. Now Armand sat down with the village’s men folk, explained his plans. Carmella agreed to keep Armand up to date.

The first week seemed to fly past. I hardly saw the boys except for our morning runs and meal times.

Our flight home was schedule for the coming Sunday. Colin wanted to fly to Madrid on Friday and he would meet us at the airport in Rome in time to fly home with us. Carlo is planning on getting married and he wanted Colin to meet his future wife. I didn’t have a problem with him visiting Carlo. My concern was the boys. Would they want to go and if they did, was their room for them at Carlo’s mom and dad’s place. Richie solved that problem, there were two young goats at Tony’s old homestead. The working boys at Tony’s, went and bought a goat with two kids. They took our boys and introduced them to the kids. That did it, Nonna no longer got flowers, the goats got them.

The boys working the farm, showed our boys how to milk the goats and how to tend the garden. Most of the chores our boys started, the hired boys finished. For the first few days everything went well, until, the village boys wanted to know where our boys were. Nonna told them, from that moment on the boys spent the early hours with the goats. They had wild flowers to feed them. When the village boys arrived, our boys decided playing was a better deal.

Friday Colin flew to Madrid where Carlos met him. They took a train to Carlo’s home where Colin met his bride to be.

The boys wanted to know when Pops would be back. I told them we will meet him in Rome. Carmella suggested why we don’t go and spend a day in Rome. I looked at the boys, they seemed eager to go. So Friday morning we went to Rome. I had to think of what to show the boys. I decided to show them some of my mural. It was fun with Colin but it was something else with the boys. Colin knew what to expect as do most adults, but to the boys, all of this was new. I had the car drop us off close to the Coliseum, I knew the boys needed to see this. I bought us tickets, and we followed the crowd, we were 50 percent of the crowd. The boys were all ears, that was the moment I made the decision, next summer we will spend more time in Europe.

After the tour of the Coliseum, we headed to the forum. “Dad, that arch is like the one at the club.” I smiled, this was going to be fantastic. Walking toward the restaurant we passed under another arch. Tommy looked at me, I smiled and winked. He whispered, “Dad, is this where you got the idea for the arches at home?”

“Yes and today you’ll see more.”

At the Trevi Fountain, all three had to toss in coins. “Did you make three wishes?” Three heads nodded yes.

We continued to walk to the Piazza di Spagna. On our walk I asked them what their three wishes were. One look from them, no one was going to tell. I was laughing, “Dad, are those the steps we have at home.”

“Yes, on the walls.” I’ll expect that question at least twice more.

“Before we start walking up those steps, we need to stop here.”

“What is this place Dad?” Tommy appeared to be the spoke-person for the boys.

“There was an English poet named John Keats who built this house and lived here. Now this is like a museum dedicated to his memory. When we get home, we’ll go to the library and you can read about hm.” The boys looked around and did take an handout from the person in charge. They will be surprised when Colin shows them his copy. Although they didn’t charge, there was a donation box. I gave each boy some change to deposit in the box. As they dropped the coin, the woman sitting next to various pamphlets, leaned over and kissed the boys on their cheeks. The people in the house, who saw, were laughing as we left. Now to tackle the steps.

As we climbed, the boys took out their cameras. I had forgotten they had them. They would run a few steps, turn and take a picture. When we got to the top, they all had to take a picture in front of the church. First individually, then in pairs and finally with me. I had to take one of all three.

“Dad, we’re hungry.”

“What do you want to eat?” I saw three heads go together, some whispering, “Pizza”

I knew the pizza they thought they would get wasn’t what they would get. There was a place selling pizza. I checked their menu, beside pizza they had spaghetti and salads.

We entered and were seated. Our waiter came over, he brought four glasses of water. I told him a chefs pizza for the boys and the spaghetti with a salad for me. The boys kept looking around, this wasn’t like a pizza place back home.

My salad came first and I knew what would happen, the boys were hungry and there was food on the table. I moved the salad so they could reach. When the salad was finished, their pizza came along with my spaghetti. The boys looked at their pizza, then looked at my spaghetti. The pizza topping was a tomato sauce that looked home made, cheese and in the middle a fried egg. The boys looked and then laughed. I took a knife and cut a piece for the boys, putting it on their plates, “Enjoy, you’ll find it is very good.” I took a small sliver to taste, I shouldn’t have.

The pizza was good, bread freshly baked, sauce had a rich tomato taste. I watched as the boys as they took their first bite. Smiling, “It’s good, Papa.” Then Richie sitting next to me asked if he could taste my spaghetti and I knew the other two would follow. They did, Richie put some of my spaghetti on his pizza, the other two did as well. The waiter watched and brought a new plate of spaghetti over for me. The boys laughed.

We finished eating, the fried egg was mine to eat, so they said. We went and made our pit stop and washed our hands. On the way out, I paid our tab, leaving a tip for our waiter.

We continued our tour, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Saint Peters, Sistine Chapel, Palatine Hill and the museum located there. Each of the boys picked out a different book.

I took one look at them, they were tired. I called our driver, he picked us up at the front of the museum. The ride back to the village was quiet. They were reading their books.