Catharsis stim poem

So. Here are the facts as you see them. Fact number one: Giulia is going to be on the train for Genova in two days. She's going back home--because Genova is her home, apparently, and you're still grappling with the idea that there are places outside your island and Portorosso, BIG ones, they keep telling you, all over the globe--where she'll spend the next nine or so months going to school. Fact number two: You and Luca now own your very own Vespa. It's not road-ready yet, and it might not be for a while, which is fine actually because it turns out now that the Paguros aren't going to send Luca away to the bottom of the ocean, you're going to have to whittle them down into giving him permission to run away with you. Fact number three: That's not even really a plan that makes sense, if you think about it for more than a few minutes at a time. Fact number four: You haven't forgotten that Luca doesn't actually want to run away with you anymore. He's just pretending he never said it.

eight short stories - an experiment in flash fiction eight thousand words - eight is a lucky number in Japanese culture eight different lives - set on the sleepy southern island of Sunashima