Italy Stories – The Patron of Caffe’ Roma (Part 5)

The Cliffs of Polignano a Mare

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

On this final day of February 2012, I am celebrating the most successful month in the history of the blog with this final chapter. Have we seen the last of Mike and the Woman?

PART 5 

The two ate mostly in silence as the plates of fritto misto, calamari, and polpo alla griglia made their way to the table in a methodical and slow succession. The restaurant began to fill and the noise level was more than the couple could bear and continue their new dialog. Besides, as Mike had said, the food was the star of the show here; and of course the view.

Mike knew that the greatest part about a meal at Santos was the wonderfully chaotic arrangement of chaise lounge chairs strewn about the grass right at the edge of the sea. In the late spring and summer families pour into the restaurant for long lazy lunches then the adults spend the afternoon in a chaise, chasing elusive sleep while the kids play chase on the beach. Santos is a good place and Mike believed himself to be a good guy. [Read more...]

Italy Stories – The Patron of Caffe’ Roma (Part 4)

Lunch Along the Sea

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

I had no intention of continuing this story today; however, the overwhelming support of my fellow bloggers has pushed me to go forward. This will be the penultimate chapter. Cheers!

Mike looked down at the floor of the A5. He noticed little dirt or anything that would suggest the car had been parked at a country villa. He thought this woman must have slaves doing her bidding to keep the car this clean on the infamous white rock  roads of Puglia.

The windows were down and the car was streaming along the coast road to Savelletri. Mike was impressed at how little traffic there was along the sea.  For so many days now it seemed the stream of preening and bronzed revelers would not cease until there was a snowfall; but he knew better. Italians could care less about the actual weather, it was seasons that dictate the cycle of life here. It was now late August and the hordes were returning to Rome, Milan, and Turin, leaving the roads empty and the ditches filled with refuse. [Read more...]

Italy Stories – The Patron of Caffe’ Roma (Part 3)

View from the Walk

PART 1

PART 2

Mike laughed out loud as he paid for coffee while the woman checked her iPhone. He knew this day started off as none had before and he wondered where this might lead. Would her husband show up like the one in Ft Worth who sidled up next to him in a restaurant booth while he sat chatting with the man’s wife?

Mike played that one very cool and made the guy seem foolish for his accusatory behavior. Mike slept with the man’s wife only two days later and while he enjoyed the drama of the chase he had little regard for the awkward sex. She visited him again some months later and the sex was even worse. He knew he would never see her again after that. Mike found out a few weeks later that the girl’s husband had hung himself in the bedroom when she went to work and their baby was asleep in the other room. The toddler found her father strung up and thought it was a game. When the mom came home, the 29 month old said “Daddy’s not here anymore.” Mike only knew this because the girl called him hoping for a little solace; Mike had none to offer. [Read more...]

Italy Stories – The Patron of Caffe’ Roma (Part 2)

San Nicola - The Patron Saint of Bari

HERE IS THE LINK TO PART 1 - in case you missed it

(a moment of silence broken by shouts from Pasquale the vegetable dealer- ”dovete assagiare dovete assiagiare Dai! Dai!”)

Woman – Does that guy ever stop shouting?

Mike – He is selling his veggies and he is a local icon

Woman – Look, this isn’t Rome or Florence. There are not hundreds of new people everyday coming to this guy’s market. Everyone here knows him. Surely that old bag (pointing to a bent-over woman of about 75) does not need to be swayed by Pascal there to buy some greens for her fucking pasta tonight.

Mike – Didn’t you need to find an ATM?

Woman – Did I offend you? Are you attached to the little provincial people of this board game?

Mike – You just looked like you needed a little help and I always want people to like it here.

Woman – What are you some kind of salesperson for Apulia?

Mike – In a former life (laughing to himself a bit)…there is a Deutsche Bank less than 5 minutes walk from here, why don’t I take you?

Woman – Wow, for some lover of Italian culture you sure know how to rush a girl through her coffee. [Read more...]

Italy Stories – The Patron of Caffe’ Roma

It All Happened Here

Italy Stories – The Patron of Caffe’ Roma is Part 1 of 5 in a series on living and working as a writer in Puglia, Italy.

Mike walked into a small coffee shop just outside the main square of Monopoli, Italia. The market was raging just outside the door and he could see the comings and goings of local men and women from his miniature table and 2 chairs positioned just inside the door. For reasons he did not know the shop was called Caffe’ Roma. There were a few token photos of the Spanish Steps on the walls and some other indicative art but nothing about the place aside from being in Italy gave one a feeling of being in Rome. The place was tidy with gelato in myriad flavors on offer just across from the row of tiny tables where he sat. Men in white shirts, white pants, and black bow-ties moved at an elevated pace most people in this region reserved for house fires and boarding trains. The only female working at the Roma was a woman of about 60, smartly dressed, lean in build, and very clearly in charge of the money. Cashiers in Italy always come across as a mix of proprietor and armed guard Mike thought as he motioned a barman to visit. [Read more...]