Chapter 19
19
The following day was Sunday, and when I woke I could hear church bells in the distance. I lay in bed, listening to them for a few minutes.
I hadn’t been for years; church had become a place where people went when they needed verification for something. A wedding, christening or funeral which really seemed to be just an excuse for a party most of the time.
The changing face of Sundays. I remembered when I was a child, in the days when there were only four television channels and not much on any of them. Sunday was a boring day, for doing homework, getting my things ready for Monday, that day of gloom because the weekend was nearly over and school was looming large again.
And then when I was in my twenties, Sunday had become a day of lounging in bed, reading the papers, eating toast and not really doing much. Move on a few years and Sunday was a day for household chores, getting the children ready for school, cooking a Sunday roast for the family, thinking about work again.
More recently it seemed Sunday had reverted to my childhood memories. Nothing much to watch on television, nothing I really wanted to do, no one to cook for, a day filled with long hours.
It wouldn’t be long before I was repacking my bag. I wanted to do something different that day, not just wait until someone needed something from me.
I tottered into the bathroom to inspect the damage to my face. I had a big ugly graze across my forehead and my black eye was shaping up nicely to look terrible for a few days.
My shoulder was still bruised and sore, but I was getting some movement back into my right arm, which meant I was able to cope with my morning ablutions without assistance.
I got back into my room, opened the curtains and unlocked the door, something which took some effort because my right arm still didn’t seem to have much strength in it. Sitting on a chair outside the window, evidently waiting for me to make an appearance, was Susie.
She sprang up when she saw me and opened the French doors.
‘How are you? Are you okay? I’ve been waiting for you to wake up. I kept wondering if you were unconscious. I got really worried. I even thought about using the fire extinguisher in the corridor to smash the glass. But I thought you might be lying on the floor on the other side. Anyway, I was about to go and ask someone to find a master key or break the door down.’
‘Good job you didn’t, I’m fine,’ I said.
‘You look like you’ve been fighting and you lost,’ she said, inspecting my bruised face. ‘Ceci has left some arnica cream which she says will work miracles. It’s in my room somewhere. Do you want some breakfast? It’s nearly ten thirty but I’m sure the kitchens will sort something out for you.’
‘Just some tea,’ I said. ‘I’m absolutely gasping, but I’m not really hungry.’
She darted off, returning a few minutes later with a tray holding some tea and a selection of Italian pastries on a porcelain plate.
‘I told the chef you didn’t want anything to eat, but he insisted,’ she said. ‘He was on the point of making you some poached eggs and looked like he might cry when I said no. Everyone is very worried. Apparently the doctor is coming later to check up on you.’
‘Honestly, I’m much better,’ I said, ‘just feel a bit bashed about and sore.’
Susie looked longingly at a particularly fine bomboloni.
‘In which case, do you mind if I eat that?’ she pleaded, ‘I only had coffee.’
‘Help yourself,’ I laughed. Which was a bad idea as it made my face and my ribs hurt.
‘And so we aren’t going home tomorrow,’ she said, wiping a smear of cream off her mouth. ‘Paulo says he has sorted everything out. He even got a letter from the doctor, and he said I had to stay too because I was needed to look after you. Don’t look like that, I brought you tea, didn’t I? I’ll go and find that arnica cream. Ceci is bound to ask.’
She went back into her room, still clutching the remains of her pastry in one hand.
I sat sipping my tea and looking out of the window at the morning. Another bright, sunny day. And I had the same feeling I’d had as a child when school was cancelled because of snow. Rather excited, not sure what I was going to do with this unexpected extension to my holiday but pleased about it all the same.
‘Here it is,’ Susie said, holding out the arnica. ‘Ceci says you should apply it three times a day. Or was it twice? I can’t remember, and the instruction sheet is in loads of different languages but the print is so small I can’t read any of them. Anyway, I’m sure it will be fine whatever you do with it. Do you want me to help you get dressed?’
‘No, not at the moment, and I’m not in a coma. I’m sure I can cope.’
‘Good, I know we are dear friends, but I don’t really want to hoist you into your knickers. By the way, Paulo wanted to know if he could pop in later. He said he would quite understand if you didn’t want visitors.’
I had mixed feelings about this. Yes, of course, I desperately wanted to see him, but I knew I looked terrible. Perhaps I should see him after I’d had the chance to sort myself out.
‘By the way, Ceci has asked if you want Gina to come in and do your hair,’ Susie said. ‘It’s almost impossible to use a hairdryer with a sore shoulder.’
I agreed that would be a great idea.
‘I’ve already turned Sylvia away from your door. She wanted to come and see you before she left to catch the ferry back to Naples. I’m sure she meant well, but she was going on about pulmonary embolisms and facial paralysis in a way that I am sure you would not have found reassuring.’
‘I’m very grateful,’ I said, ‘and no, I wouldn’t.’
‘So, Paulo?’
I ran my hands gently over my face, realising I needed a shower, and there was probably still some blood and grit in my hair.
‘Tell him to come a bit later,’ I said. ‘I need to freshen up, and I really don’t want to stay in bed any longer than I have to.’
Susie laughed. ‘Gosh, remember when we were kids, it was my idea of heaven to stay in bed all day. When I had a cold, my mother used to bring me comics and cardboard dolls with clothes to cut out, with little paper tabs over the shoulders. Would you like me to find you some of those?’
I shook my head. ‘No, not really. Look, go and find something else to do and I’ll sort myself out. I’m sure Raimondo must be wondering where you are, isn’t he?’
Susie blushed. ‘He’s downstairs reading the newspapers. Oooh, which reminds me…’
She hurried off again back to her room, returning with a massive wicker basket of pink and white flowers.
‘I’ve been keeping these in my bathroom. They are from him, and he says he hopes you will feel better soon.’
‘How lovely,’ I said. ‘What a kind thought.’
Susie fussed about with the flowers, putting them by my bedside, and then moving them to a table in the window.
‘He is, really thoughtful, and very generous and kind. I can’t think why he has been single for all these years.’
‘Perhaps he was waiting for you,’ I said, and Susie blushed even pinker.
‘Don’t be daft.’
‘Now go away and find him, and I’ll get myself into the shower.’
Twenty minutes later, a timid tap on my door announced the arrival of Gina, who scurried in with her canvas holdall full of brushes and combs.
She took her scissors out and clicked them open and closed a few times with an enquiring look. I shook my head and she put them away.
It was quite nice that we couldn’t communicate very easily, because it meant I could spend a restful hour with my eyes closed, while she tweaked and dried my hair. Occasionally she would mutter something. Mio Dio. Or assolutamente no , which showed me she was having some problems. Eventually she took her scissors out and with a lot of gesturing to assure me she wasn’t going to do too much, she did a bit of snipping and shaping while I held my breath and hoped she knew what she was doing.
Then she took out a massive hairdryer, which seemed too heavy for a woman her size to wield, and blasted hot air into my ears.
When I opened my eyes, there seemed to be a lot of my hair on the floor, far more than I had expected, and my hair had been dried into a wide bouffant style reminiscent of Mary Tyler Moore in the 1980s.
I stared at my reflection for a moment while Gina got out her hand-held vacuum cleaner and hoovered the carpet and me.
I tried to think what to say while Gina watched anxiously for my reaction, but the only thing I could remember was Eccelente .
So I said that.