The Tale of Amaretto

Second Grain

In Which Amaretto gets a Present and Spacetime is Discussed...

Amaretto was eight years, two days, thirteen hours, twenty seven minutes and forty two seconds when Aunt Katherine gave her an extraordinary gift. Aunt Katherine was extraordinary wealthy in some way and insisted on using all of it to spoil Francis. Diana of course never stopped her, seeing as Katherine was her godmother, but she refused to take anything for herself. She worked two separate jobs in order to provide for her and her daughter and would not take charity. So Katherine, respecting that wish, used her money to spoil Francis rotten. In spite of this, Francis; whom Katherine insisted calling "Her little Amaret", "Ama" or more often simply by her middle name of Amaretto, insisted on instilling values into the girl. Francis was never bratty and she was never willful for the gifts that she received. Francis was the most well mannered girl that anyone had ever met. She did have a stubborn streak sometimes, but that was perfectly acceptable to Aunt Katherine.

"All women should be stubborn sometimes. It is the only way that they can ever get their husbands in line," Aunt Katherine would say. As far as Amaretto had seen though, Aunt Katherine never had a husband. Aunt Katherine only had a string of fabulous boyfriends.

"Men should be like tissues," her aunt would say whenever the girl would ask her about this. "They should be strong, durable, and disposable."

Amaretto would nod at this advice and then secretly disregard it. Her aunt would give her a lot of advice and sometimes Amaretto would listen to it, and sometimes she would not. The day after her eighth birthday was when her Aunt Katherine gave her a gift however was exceptionally interesting. That day, Aunt Katherine came dressed in forest greens, sea greens, and all the other greens in between. Her earrings were giant large round emeralds, she had a topaz the size of a birds egg hanging from her neck and several rings on her fingers.

Amaretto frowned and then nodded when Aunt Katherine walked into the room asking her if she wanted a present. Aunt Katherine's presents were always strange but interesting. Just last year, she had gotten the girl a sextant and a Barbie. The year before, Amaretto had received a stack of books. The year before that, Aunt Katherine had given her eighty-two separate colored hair ribbons, all festively decorated. Aunt Katherine had also every year given her a dress in a new festive color for her to wear. Amaretto didn't wear them often though because of how odd they looked to her. The previous year, the color had been a captivating yellow and she wasn't sure if she wanted that.

This year however, all that her aunt gave her was a small wooden box. Amaretto did not want to say that she was disappointed, but she most certainly looked it at that moment. Katherine chuckled as she was wont to do and then said, "All you have to do is open it you silly girl, and you will see the most amazing thing in the world."

Amaretto opened the box and gasped aloud when she saw what was within the small confines of the box. There within, settled on a small satin pillow, was a beautiful hourglass. The whole thing was made from gold and on the top there was a small little red gem. Encircling it were thin bands of silver, especially in the middle where it clearly stated:

Il tempo vola, savor ogni momento. I dadi di tempo, bloccano il sentimento. Vite di tempo, libertà del ritrovamento per sempre. Le bugie di tempo, non la dimenticano mai.

Which when translated from Italian means:

Time flies, savor each moment. Time dies, capture the sentiment. Time lives, find freedom forever. Time lies, never forget it.

This strange hourglass was pretty, and was also on a thick golden chain. As Amaretto stared at it, her Aunt came around and plucked it from her hand. Katherine then slung it, chain and all, over her head and smiled. "There we have it then. You look right smart with that on, now don't you?"