Caruso

Poi si schiarisce la voce

Luca slept soundly for the first time in a long time. He was satisfied with his decision from the day before, he was nearly relieved. All he had to do was tell Alberto. He promised Giulia that he'd come to the surface to see if she could speak with him.

It was still early, so he decided to enjoy breakfast with his family, assist his parents in the fields, and take over the goatfish.

Meanwhile, Giulia and Alberto were hard at work, Alberto on the sea and Giulia on land. She wasn't ready to let Alberto go on the boat just yet, but he convinced her that doing some work was preferable to staying at home alone with his thoughts. He had to blow off steam, and she knew it would be difficult to persuade him otherwise, at least not without a fight. She decided to clean the inside of the pescheria to distract herself from her brother's stubbornness.

They both returned to the house after finishing their jobs, grateful for the leftovers from the day before. Alberto wasn't in the mood to cook, and Giulia didn't want to subject them to any type of culinary experimentation. They sat at the table, full from the previous day's leftovers, and the moka was already making a faint noise, announcing that coffee would be ready in a minute.

"Do you have anything planned for the afternoon?" Giulia inquired.

"Today I have to keep an eye on the beach. I made an agreement with my boss to basically keep an eye on things and alert her if anything unusual occurred. Given my current position, she wouldn't allow me to intervene. "

"Okay, you got me worried for a second there. I can see you still can't walk properly. "

"Working as a lifeguard is something I miss a lot, so that's a good compromise for now."

Giulia remembered her afternoon arrangement with Luca, and she was relieved that Alberto would be occupied, allowing her to meet him somewhere safe.

After getting ready, the two went to the beach, each bringing a separate bag with cool drinks, snacks, and books; for Giulia, some tedious schoolwork, according to Alberto, and for Alberto, some fresh Agatha Christie. When he first found about her novels, he became so enamoured with them that he became best friends with the owner of the local bookstore and demanded that she check for every new mystery novel every time he went in. He would now be labeled a bookworm, even though he read so few books when he was younger. He was glad he became so invested in reading, not only because it allowed him to escape the real world every now and then, but also because his command of the language improved significantly, which was a welcome bonus for an almost illiterate island-raised boy who thought the letter "E" was written backwards.

Giulia informed Alberto, "I'm going over there where it's less packed."

"All well, I'll just stay here. I'll talk to you later. "

Giulia wanted to find a discreet area where she could wait for Luca, possibly outside Alberto's line of sight. She sat down when she got as far as she could and opened the book she had been reading for a while. It was a scientific book about some recent astrophysics discoveries. It featured some of Giulia's favourite scientists, including Stephen Hawking. She'd heard of him before, and his work piqued her interest. She was interested in how a person who had been afflicted with such a terrible condition could still work and use their great mind despite their physical limitations.

She must have drifted off since her skin was scorching when she awoke. She enjoyed the sun, but not so much the sensation of her flesh on fire. She decided to jump in the water. As soon as she submerged, relief flooded her entire body. Since the water in Portorosso became extremely warm in the summer, the cooling effect quickly faded. Regardless, she elected to stay inside for a bit longer. She was appreciating the colour of the cloudless sky when with her peripheral vision, she noticed a green head sticking out of the water. She remembered how terrified she would've been if she'd seen the same thing a few years earlier, but now she knew it was Luca, feverishly trying to figure out if the air was clear. Giulia drew his attention with a wave. Luca submerged once more, reappearing a split second later beside Giulia.