Where are they now?

On the morning of September 3, a Monday morning, I looked out at the parking lot. The morning before, all of the parking spaces had been taken. Now, there were just my two cars in it. That quickly, all the folks that come down in the summer for a few weeks or a few months of relaxation on the beach had disappeared, as if abducted by aliens, who had hundreds of special probes ready in their spacecraft.

After nights of wonderful entertainment in the 'cavea', and wonderful food afterward, and noise into the wee hours of every morning, and the smells of fresh coffee brewing coming from all the apartments starting around ten o'clock in the morning, everything was still. Everyone had left.

I started to really miss all the friends that I had spent time with over the summer. Then, five minutes later, I started to really enjoy the peace and quiet. I returned to my library and started reading at a fantastic clip. I took solitary walks to sunset point. I drove down to the beach, jumped in the water and swam around for a little while, without having to then stand on the beach and talk to all the guys about how nice it was to stand on the beach and talk to all the guys.

Monday night, I fell asleep reading at about 9 o'clock, and did not wake up until about 9 o'clock. It was wonderfully peaceful. A wonderful change. Ignatzia called me on three different days, with fresh lentils, then fresh eggplant, then fresh bread. The stores in town were no longer as crowded. Things had returned to normal.

When Friday night came, half the people came back to again enjoy the sun and the beach. The pace picked up. Pranzo with Franco and Giusy. Then Emilio and Mariarosa made pizza for their friends. There were about thirty of us, and they made about twenty Tabisco (family size) pizzas, and then calzones to go along with it. Then there were of course the sweets and the grappa, which I think they pump out of the diesel pump at the gas station.

The next afternoon, another friend stopped by. Her daughter was having trouble with an assignment in school, and wanted my help. She is in first year of University, and one of her courses has to do with the History of English. She was having trouble understanding two of the essays she had been assigned to read, so I read them over and explained the main ideas to her in Italian. She invited me to her family's apartment for coffee.

There was coffee that night, and the next night, there was more coffee, along with grilled pancetta, grilled pork chops, grilled sausage, grilled eggplant, grilled onions, and a wonderful salad. Vita, the mother, and Ninni, the father, have two daughter, and they were their with their boy friends. Their neighbors, Lillo and Mirella, were also there, with their son and daughter, also college students. And of course they had their findanzati with them. Then some other folks just seemed to drift in. I think there were about twenty of us when the kids got out a computer and started karioki on the terrace. Singing and dancing, and they asked me to sing 'All You Need is Love', and once they heard my voice, they switched to Italian songs. Mirella asked me to dance, and I did, after protesting. After a few minutes, she believed me when I said I could not dance. It was indeed a wonderful evening, and it was fun watching the kids, even if they were constantly distracted by their raging hormones.

And now, now it is Monday morning again, and the parking lot is empty again, and I can sleep late and read again.

Because of this duality, it is not a wonderful life, it is wonderful lives.