by Rita Siligato
“Aunt Redenta? Duncan here…”
“Duncane, dear!”
She hasn’t figured out how to memorize a telephone number on her brand new cellphone yet. Every call is a surprise for her.
“How are you, and The Professor? And Rachele?”
“All well, aunt Redenta. I am calling to tell you that Jasper and I will be in Trieste next Monday! How do you feel about it?”
Duncan is the only one that still speaks Triestino, after so many years.
It’s nine in the morning on a hot day in July.
Redenta is sitting on the chair near the telephone, in her kitchen. She is nearly eighty now, and the idea of having her nephews at home with her is puzzling.
“You know I refurbished mama’s home… I could arrange a couple of beds for you boys in the living room.”
“Thank you, auntie. Everything is settled already. We will stay in Trieste for a week. We booked a hotel near you. We will be with you for lunch and dinner every day, if you want. But we would like to treat you and take you to some trendy restaurant, sometimes!”
“Oh my! You know I’m a married woman now, you will have to treat Dario as well!”
Redenta has mixed feelings about the boys coming. So many things happened over the years. Nella died in a car accident on Christmas Eve in 1988. Harry lived alone for two years, after that, and during his last summer he came to Trieste for a short holiday. He looked wasted and badly shaved, the ghost of the happy-go-lucky man she knew.
Rachel is married and lives in the North, in Scotland. Something happened between the brothers and her, because when they write – they still write short paper letters and cards for her birthday, and every time Redenta has to ask someone for a translation – they don’t tell her anything about the others. But she knows that Duncan and Jasper remained close: they still live in Liverpool and they have extended family. Their children are friends to each other.
She stands up and then sits down again: she must call Dario, tell him all about the visit.
With trembling fingers, she presses the digits on her cellphone: “Dario, the boys are coming!”
“You naughty girl! You always have guys hanging around you!”
“Dario, listen! Duncane and The Professor are coming! They will be here on Monday! We will have to arrange something, hire a car to pick them up at the station…”
“Are you sure they will be traveling by train? I think they will fly. In Liverpool they have the John Lennon Airport!”
“How do you know it?”
“I’m a musician. Now, keep calm, don’t fuss. Call Duncane again and ask him. I am sure they panned everything.”
Redenta does not like to call Duncane on the phone. What if Janet answers? But she is lucky this time: “Auntie?”
“Duncane? Will you come by train or plane?”
“By plane, auntie. And we booked a car at the Venice Airport, so you don’t have to worry about picking us up. We are travelling light.”
On Monday she could not sit still. She cleaned the house, rinsed the dreaded blue and white teacups Nella gave her as a present many years ago, arranged the slices of the almond cake the boys loved when they were children on a large glass dish that belonged to her mother’s dowry.
Duncane asked her to wait at home, he called her from Venice: they will be there at four in the afternoon. They know the way, of course. The day is so hot, they want to freshen up at the hotel before visiting her.
Four in the afternoon: she is sweating, and she could not stand up nor sit down. She peeps out of the window. Two gentlemen are approaching her front door. They are ringing the bell: she must go and buzz them in.
And the two gentlemen are Duncane and The Professor: the youngest looks older than his brother, he still wears glasses, even if now they are fashionable and light, but he sports a potbelly and his hair is almost gone. Duncane is fit and trim, unbelievably tan: he still has his curly dark blond hair, the envy of his mother.
She pulls herself together: she smiles, opening the door and looking up, because now they are so much taller than her.
“Kupp’a tee?”
“Thank you, auntie Redenta. It would be refreshing. But tell us about the wedding!”
Che belle le sorprese!