#181

The block of ice was so large, I wanted to ask where they got them, or if they were delivered, or if there was some kind of special ice artisan in the neighborhood but by the time I got to the front of the line, things moved fast and it was tamarindo e limone for me. The woman in the kiosk took a large metal spatula in her hands and started shaving, while I handed over the €4 to what must have been her daughter. The ice fell neatly into the cup below, and when it was full and heaping, she put the tamarind syrup and fresh lemon juice on top - a sight for hot eyes on an extremely hot night where the only thing that will give sustenance is a piece of cold watermelon and a coffee or a grattachecca.

We were just a couple of streets over with friends standing in the piazza under the yellowish lights while kids played on old jungle gyms and dogs wandered around the slew of people keeping watching at this time of evening, after dinner, but too early to go to bed because the heat will wear itself out soon enough and the cool nighttime will emerge. I wanted grattachecca, no one else seemed fussed, so I walked the few blocks to the kiosk and waited. I didn’t have my wallet, she had it in her purse, because my linen shorts didn’t really suit a wallet, and plus, I hate having things in my pockets, so I asked her to hold it for me.

Me: can you hold these for me?
Her: you need a man's purse.
Me: Please?

So I had a few coins in my pocket that I was sure would be enough for the smallest, if not the media, size, and sure enough it was and I felt very glad. Walking back, chuffed as could be, the piazza seemed even livelier. In the fifteen minutes I was gone, someone had bought beers all around and a few dogs seemed to be engaged in a game of tag with each other.

Me: Pleseant, I like this. It feels like life happening.

I wasn’t talking to anyone specifically, more myself, more my state of mind these days where I’ve been in a cloud, lost, floating, adrift, not steady on my feet, but tonight, tonight things hit right, they click.

Her: R has invited us over for wine if you want to go, it’s just around the corner.
Me: of course.

Later, after we finished two bottles between the four of us, and listened to some defiant jazz, we walked the quiet streets and passed two nuns, giggling to themselves as they hurried along.

Me: I wonder where they’ve been.