Frutta e Fiori

Chapter 1. Warmth in Cold Water.

Nana wasn't sure what really woke her, the stray neighbourhood rooster, or the crack of a loud car door being slammed shut.

She turned from her stomach and lay in bed a minute longer, letting the soft white curtain tickle her knees as the wind gently pushed it back and forth from the window frame above her bed.

She could hear Lena bumping around in the room next to her, a window being thrown open, the curtains ripped back, and then Lena' s loud clear voice ringing out, cutting through the mid-morning.

"Hello!"

A chorus answered back.

Nana finally sat up.

"Who on earth is she yelling at already." She asked no one in particular, stretching her arms out to let the creaks of a long night escape her bones.

Lena knocked for the briefest of seconds before opening Nana's door.

"Those boys are here!" She said excitedly, walking to the end of the room and sliding the door to the small balcony open.

Craning over the edge, she stared into the Fiore's yard.

"I can already tell from here, they're beautiful."

"And where has your shame flown off to this morning" Nana asked as she walked out and nonchalantly tried to catch a glimpse, without being too outgoing, obviously.

"It floated away with dreams of a summer romance" she sighed, chin in her palm.

"The summer of 1974 is going to be my summer, I call it"

Their new neighbours had already gone inside by the time Nana peeked out of her balcony.

She yawned and rest her elbows on the edge of the railing, staring out at sea.

The waves lapped at the shore as gentle as ever. It was the perfect lazy Sunday.

Calm breeze, glass ocean, and the shuffling of the palm trees that lined the coast, whispering secrets all across the sand.

"I think I'll go in the water." Nana said, pulling a crisp swimsuit from a rusting nail in the wall of her balcony, primarily used to hang her sopping costume after a swim, but sometimes can be seen with a lei swaying in the breeze, until it becomes brown and as crisp as the salty swimsuit, and disappears.

"I'll go too." Lena said, bouncing back into the hall. "Don't leave without me!" Nana echoed after her.

-

The ocean was still chilly. (As chilly as the tropics can be, which is not all that chilly)

The sun had only been up a couple of hours, and the water hadn't had the chance to heat up.

Nana and Lena sat on the shore, letting the water dance over their toes, and pull away, before coming back again, like a dog playing fetch.

Nana sighed and lay back, not thinking of the sand sticking to her skin, or getting lost in her hair.

She just wanted to feel the warm rays on her face, and follow the ever-moving circles under her eyelids.

The faint smell of flowers and salt always hung in the air, and every now and again you'd get a quiet whiff of sunscreen.

She dug her fingers into the sand and felt for the cool lower layer.

Lena hummed some tune only she could hear and dug small holes beside her.

"Did Mama and Dad say when they'd be home?" Nana asked, eyes still closed.

The girls' parents had a Sunday morning market tradition. "No, but I hope it's soon. I want lychees for breakfast." "Mmm, me too. But I prefer them frozen."