Sand, Sea & Tamburello E-Book

Stefania Hartley

• Herausgeber: The Sicilian Mama
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

When Rosetta dries her hair on her balcony, she’s not interested in the sun’s warmth but in the young fishmonger who’s eager to warm her heart. Can Don Pericle be a gracious a host when an entire wedding party gets stranded at his villa? Tanino and Melina have a tough job competing with Valentina’s other grandparents who take her on exhilarating trips to the beach. What can Alfonso do when his neighbours’ karaoke parties become too much?
Ten stories that sparkle with the Sicilian sea, ring with the singsongs of fishmongers, and warm the heart like the summer’s sun.
Includes one brand new Don Pericle story.
 

Leseprobe

Sand, Sea & Tamburello

10 humorous and heartwarming short stories for Summer

Stefania Hartley

The Sicilian Mama

Copyright © 2024 Stefania Hartley

ISBN 978-1-914606-43-4 Publisher: The Sicilian MamaAll rights reservedThe characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.Stefania Hartley asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. Find more about Stefania Hartley and her contact details at the end of this book.Stories 1,2,3,4,6,7,9,10 were first published in The People’s Friend magazine. Story 5 was first published in The Other Side of Hope. Story 8 has never been published before.Cover by Joseph Witchall

To Sandy, friend, editor and all-round wonderful person. x

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Fishful Thinking

No Stone Unturned

Break The Ice

Best Served Cold

Sand, Sea & Tamburello

Safe as Houses

Not So Loud

A Gracious Host

A Drop in The Bucket

One Summer in Sicily

Books In This Series

Books By This Author

About The Author

Praise For Author

Fishful Thinking

Rosetta, the doctor’s daughter, had the most beautiful hair in the village. When she sat at her balcony to dry it in the sun, it shone like spun gold.

Wash, comb and dry in the sun. Every morning she did the same thing. 

“It’s not good for your hair to be washed so much,” her mother told her.

But Rosetta didn’t care about her hair. All she cared about was being at her balcony when the young fishmonger drove past in his three-wheeled Piaggio Ape.

He peddled his wares through the Ape’s loudspeaker in a velvety tenor voice.

“Swordfish, mullet, brill and eel—only ten euros: a wonderful deal!”

Every morning, he stopped under Rosetta’s balcony and looked up at her with his jade eyes sparkling against his golden skin. Rosetta’s heart skipped a beat.

“Would you like some fish today, signorina?”

“No, thank you.”

She shook her head, making her hair glitter in the sun.

“Your hair blinds me.”

“Then don’t look.”

“I can’t help it. I am like the fish when they swim up to the lights of the fishing boats at night.”

“Be careful, because the fish end up in the net,” Rosetta warned him.

“This fish wants to get caught in this net,” he replied, his hands on his heart.

“You shouldn’t talk like this to girls on their balconies,” she protested at this point, because she knew that the neighbours were listening behind their shutters.

She retreated behind her French doors.

But she kept looking at his Ape through the slats until it disappeared from her street.  She would have loved to go downstairs and buy his fish, to be closer to him.

But her parents didn’t like fish and her mother said it made the house smell. So all she could do was entertain conversations with him from her balcony, every morning a little longer, every time a little deeper.

He never seemed in a hurry to drive on, and they talked about the iridescent fish and the green sea where it came from, the parched mountains behind the village and the cobalt blue sky above it.

One afternoon, when Rosetta was trying to concentrate on her poetry book, her sister asked her, “Don’t you like poetry anymore?”

“I do, but I’ve met a better poet than the ones in the books.”

“Who would that be?”

“The young fishmonger who drives past our house every morning.”

“If you marry a fishmonger, your house will smell of fish forever,” her sister pointed out. 

“I don’t care.”

Rosetta had seen how gently he handled the fish and had imagined him holding their babies. She had heard him sing the praises of his fish with the voice of an angel and had imagined him singing a love song for her. What if his house, his clothes and his bed smelled of fish? If that was the smell of his skin, it would smell delicious to her.

“He’s poor.”

“I don’t mind,” she insisted.

If the only gold he ever possessed was the golden speckles in his eyes, and the only silver he owned the scales of his fish, she would be the richest woman on earth.

“Mamma and Papà will never allow it.”

This was the only thing that saddened her.

✽✽✽

Like every morning, Turi drove his Ape down the village’s main road. He didn’t have many customers here, and the sensible thing to do would be to skip this village and use his fuel and time somewhere else. But he had stopped being sensible the moment he had clapped eyes on the girl on the balcony.

“Tuna, mackerel, squid and bream! I fulfil your every dream,” he sang.

She was his dream.

He stopped under her balcony and sang into the loudspeaker.

“Octopus, shrimps, clams and prawn, each of your wishes is my very own.”

He stepped out of the Ape and looked up. There she was, beautiful like the sun in a cloudless sky.

“You can’t possibly fulfil people’s dreams,” she challenged him, working her comb through her hair.

“Try me.”

“How do you know what other people wish for?”

“I can tell. First of all, I need to know their names. What’s yours?”

“Rosetta.”

“And I’m Turi. Now I’ve fulfilled our first wishes—we know each other’s names.”

“I didn’t want to know your name,” Rosetta protested, but her cheeks turned the colour of lobster shells.

“If you want me to fulfil more wishes, you’ll need my fish,” Turi continued.

“I knew it was just a trick.”

She busied herself with an imaginary knot in her hair.

“It’s not a trick: it’s my song’s promise. And I didn’t say that you need to buy my fish,” he explained. “I’m going to give it to you for free.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because this is a trick.” He picked his biggest bream, round and silver like the moon, and dropped it into a paper cone for her. It would be enough for her whole family. “If your parents like it, you’ll start buying my fish.”

And he hoped that they might like him too.

“My mamma doesn’t allow fish to be cooked in the house because of the smell.”

“Then I’ll cook it and bring it to you tonight.”

The girl looked flustered.

“That can’t be done.”

“Why not?”

“Because… bream has bones that get stuck in people’s throats,” she improvised.

“Then I’ll bring you a lobster.”

“Lobsters have sharp pinchers and they’re hard to get into.”

“How about an octopus?”

“Octopuses have many arms, like unfaithful people.”

“Then an eel.”

“Eels are slippery, like deceitful people.”

Turi wasn’t put off.

“Then you should have my swordfish.”

“Swords are for war, not for the table.”

“Tuna, then. Flavoursome and red like the heart.”

She didn’t protest.

“What time do you have your supper?” he asked.

“Eight o’clock. But I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Your family will love it.”

The rest of the morning, Turi couldn’t concentrate. When someone asked for a mullet, he gave them shrimps, and a few times he forgot to take payment. He finished his round earlier than usual and dropped by the greengrocer to buy some tomatoes and a sprig of mint.

Back home, he took a large chunk of tuna, made holes with his fingers and pushed salt, black pepper and mint leaves into every hole. Then he heated olive oil in a pan and sealed the tuna before making a sauce with the tomatoes, some garlic and some chilli pepper. When everything was ready, he transferred it into his best serving dish, covered it with his whitest towel and set off to Rosetta’s village. Thankfully, the Sicilian dish of tonno ammuttunato was just as nice cold as it was warm. 

✽✽✽

“Rosetta, are you coming to supper?” her mother called from the dining room.

Rosetta was at the front door, peering into the road in search of a familiar Ape. Maybe Turi had been joking earlier. She was about to close the door when his Ape chugged into her road. 

“Just a minute, Mamma,” she called back, stepping out just as he unfolded himself from the Ape’s cab.

She had always seen him from high up, and now that she was eye level with him, her knees buckled a little.

“I’ve got to go; Mamma has called for supper.”

“Then I’m just in time.”

Turi handed her a dish wrapped in a teacloth.

“Thank you.”

As he smiled and tipped his head goodbye, he took with him another little piece of her heart.

Her family weren’t impressed.

“You know that we don’t eat fish,” her mother complained.

“A doctor’s daughter cannot date a fishmonger,” her father added. “We don’t want you to see him again.”

Nobody touched the fishmonger’s dish. When everyone had gone to bed, Rosetta tried it secretly. It was delicious.

✽✽✽

Turi didn’t sleep that night. How had Rosetta’s family received his dish? How had they received him?

As he drove his Ape down their road, he searched Rosetta’s balcony with his gaze.

“Today’s special is grey mullet, a fine delicacy for your gullet! And if you try my amberjack, you’ll be surely coming back!”

Rosetta wasn’t at her balcony. Had he been too forward?

Just as he was about to drive on, her front door opened and she appeared. Her smile was tinged with sadness. He stopped the Ape and leapt out.

“Hello.”

“Thank you for the tuna,” she said, thrusting the clean dish and the cloth into his hands.

“Did you like it?”

“I loved it.”

“What about your parents?”

“They didn’t want to try it.” She averted his gaze. “I’m not allowed to dry my hair on the balcony anymore.”

“That’s a shame. I’m sorry.”

Was he ever going to see her again? If only he hadn’t brought them that tuna dish.

“This afternoon I’m riding my bicycle to the beach,” she told him with a smile.

It was an invitation!