Headstrong in Tuscany Read online

  ‘Good morning, and your names are please?’ she asked us.

  ‘Wilmot,’ Dad replied, his chest puffed out like a Silverback, ‘John, Linda and Caylin.’ I had to smile to myself as it was a wonder he hadn’t clicked his heels together.

  It seemed like we were a bit of a mix on this trip. Amongst us were two women, I’d thought aged thirty something, a well-fed bloke maybe in his forties, a stuck-up looking woman around that age (I didn’t think they were together though) and two older women who looked like sisters. Wait, there were others arriving, quite a tall family; and the tall guy I recognised from our flight.

  ‘Good morning and your name please?’ she asked them.

  ‘Morning,’ I heard the man say, ‘Thorpe, Edward, but you can call me Ted, this is Sandra, and our son Joe.’ So that was his name. As the rep was ticking their names off her list, I inadvertently made eye contact with Joe. So stupid. That was the last thing I wanted to do, even if he wasn’t a weirdo. I closed my eyes in disbelief. I bet you’re just the same as all the rest, I thought. I must have made a sigh.

  ‘Caylin love, are you OK?’ Mum asked me.

  ‘Yes Mum, I’m fine, just a bit tired from getting up so early, nothing to worry about.’

  ‘Great, we’re all here. Good morning, welcome to Italy, buongiorno, benvenuti in Italia!’ the pretty, black-haired rep said. ‘My name is Nadia and I’ll be accompanying you on the Deluxe Tuscany Tour over the next two weeks,’ she said, ‘I’m sure you all want to get to otel Rosaria so please come with me.’ At this point Nadia slipped a pair of enormous black sunglasses down over her face and spun around, then she waltzed off through all the people. It must’ve looked comical when we all scuttled along behind her dragging our luggage trying to keep up.

  ‘She doesn’t hang about,’ Mum said.

  ‘You’re right there,’ I heard someone say behind.

  We’d all managed to meet up again outside the terminal building. The sunlight blinded me, it was so bright. And that reminded me that I needed to buy myself some sunglasses. Then I remembered my money and checked my bag was still done up; it was.

  We were led to a coach and a driver who was around Dad’s age with a gigantic pasta belly and I doubted he’d ever done an assault course in his life.

  ‘It’s OK, love, sit by the window if you like,’ Mum said.

  ‘Thanks, Mum.’

  It was true, I was quite tired and I wasn’t really in the mood for chatting, so I put in my earphones to listen to my music and watch the world go by. I really hoped it wasn’t going to be a long journey.

  Occasionally I’d notice Nadia turn and speak to others, but I wasn’t really bothered to listen. I think we’d joined a massive ring road which went all the way around the outside of Rome. I was amazed, our driver didn’t seem to care about his speed, and I was sure it would have been fast enough to scare the pants off any of my friends. And they weren’t chickens either.

  I watched the big scooters sweeping in and out close to the traffic, and cars swerving from one lane to another and many cut across in front of others to exit the ring road. And it was all at high speed. I had never experienced a motorway trip as awesome as that; Roman drivers were total maniacs and our driver didn’t flinch once. You could forget the Almondsbury Interchange, this was dead cool.

  My parents’ reflections in the windows caught my eye. I could see Mum quite clearly, she was looking ahead, leaning a little I guessed so she could see through the gaps ahead between the headrests. I liked her dark brown hair, especially as it now reached her shoulders. She had a kind face, and this matched her personality, her dark eyes, rarely ever showed rage.

  Dad’s eyes were closed and his brow was relaxed, so it wasn’t possible to see his expression what Mum and me called, his officer look. His black rimmed glasses were a bit skew-whiff, probably after he’d adjusted himself in his snooze. I took a sneaky pic of him, couldn’t resist that one, sorry Dad, I thought. I sent it on a message to Mum and when it arrived, watched her reach for the phone and opened it. She laughed, and I thought she mouthed ‘cheeky’ to me. We were interrupted by Nadia’s voice so I removed my earphones.

  ‘Allora, we ave tirty minutes for to stretch our legs before we continue our short journey to otel Rosaria where a wonderful lunch is being prepared for you.’ I loved the way she spoke English.

  Our driver turned the coach into a parking area near a wood. We’d stopped close to a small town and I had to say that it was a relief to be able to get out of that tin can for a while. Some of the passengers did some stretching exercises as soon as they’d climbed down the steps, but I wasn’t going to show myself up doing anything like that. When I stepped down from the coach, I’d actually forgotten that it was hot outside as we’d been kept under a controlled temperature, as if we were delicate incubated creatures. We were born into a new world filled with warm wood-scented air and insect sounds resembling electricity pylons.

  We were led by Nadia up into the old part of the tidy town of grey stone houses with green shutters and little shops. It was just like I’d seen in some magazines at the hairdressers, where you could have thought that the photo was make-believe and wouldn’t really be so nice in real life. But, places like that actually did exist, I was standing in one. Someone was taking a picture of a cute tabby cat lying near some pots of bright red flowers; Mum said they were called geraniums. I’d wanted some like that for my cats to lie beside and so I added those to my wanted list too. Some of us stuck with Nadia and followed her through a curtain into a coffee bar. There was something really special about the sounds of clinking cups and the sight of chocolate cakes after we’d been travelling for hours and hours.

  She spoke to the man like she knew him. I wondered if she’d been there with other travellers like us, last month, or even last week. That thought made me feel a bit unspecial; to think that we were only important to her or him just for that moment in time. I supposed that she’d be returning in two or three weeks with some more people like us and I’d be back in Bristol and back to worrying about my life. I forced myself to think about the present, and the fact that I was going to taste my first real cappuccino.

  ‘Hi,’ someone said behind me. I didn’t really know who it was aimed at, and when I turned I was face to face with Joe.

  ‘Hi,’ I replied. I couldn’t think of anything else to say.

  ‘Nice cappuccino, isn’t it?’ he said.

  ‘Yes, it’s good.’

  ‘I sometimes buy cappuccinos in Starbucks? How about you?’ he asked me.

  ‘Yes...’ he didn’t let me finish.

  ‘But it’s nothing like this, is it? This isn’t watered-down and scalding.’

  ‘Er, no,’ I managed to get out. I was studying the brown leather necklace he was wearing which had a lovely small silver whale’s tail.

  ‘What design did he create with the cocoa powder on top of yours?’

  I looked at my cappuccino, and actually, I couldn’t even remember. I’d already destroyed the sweet brown pattern in the creamy froth.

  ‘Um...’ I felt utterly pathetic for not being able to respond; he was confusing me with his quick questions. Then I saw Mum turn round from the bar with the tart I’d picked.

  ‘Excuse me, I must go,’ I managed to say and I squeezed through a gap in between the others to reach my parents.

  ‘Thanks, Mum.’ I’d been saved by my Mum and a heavenly chocolate tart with pastry that melted in my mouth.

  I hoped Joe was thinking he’d be wasting his time with me. I couldn’t also help wondering if he’d wanted to test me to see if I could be a candidate for a holiday bonk and to have taken away his boredom of being with parents for two weeks.

  And after that, I’d be dumped before we’d touched down in Bristol and I’d still be worried about my life and with the added bonus of feeling angered that I’d been used. But it would not have got that fa
r anyway, I’d be dumped way before that when the brakes went on. Joe didn’t look my type anyhow. But I wasn’t even sure if I knew what my type was. I hadn’t had a lot of luck finding out.

  ‘Allora,’ Nadia said, ‘after you ave enjoyed your refreshments, there’s something you must see before we leave. I’ll be up in the small square on the right; come and see.’ Then she was gone. I saw Joe leave with his parents and I tagged on behind mine.

  It was the view.

  ‘Wow, OMG,’ I heard one of the women say.

  ‘Shush,’ her friend said, ‘you sound like you’re auditioning for one of those B movies.’ When they were laughing loudly together I couldn’t help laughing too.

  ‘It’s a bit different to Gloucester, innit?’ I had to agree quietly with them on that. Those two seemed like they’d have fun together, which made me think it would’ve been nice to have had Zoe and Em with me.

  Moving my phone around on camera mode, Joe came into view, and, I just did it, I took a photo of him. I hadn’t a clue what I was thinking. Oh well, maybe the girls back home would appreciate a photo of him when I could get a connection.

  ‘Hi, would you mind taking a shot of us with the abbey right behind?’ I heard Dad say and saw him stick out his hand to greet the well-fed bloke with the camera.

  ‘Yes sure, Carl by the way,’ he said.

  I stood between Mum and Dad for the photo.

  ‘Thanks mate, name’s John.’

  ‘Anytime John.’

  ‘Um, excuse me,’ I butted in, ‘I’d like one too with my phone, if that’s OK?’

  ‘Sure.’

  The photos were nice actually, Mum had her arm around my waist looking really chuffed and Dad was standing tall as he always did.

  We must’ve arrived at Hotel Rosaria around one thirty lunchtime, having been dropped off outside the reception at the end of a long gravel driveway. I wasn’t interested in anything except food, I could’ve eaten a horse. I just wanted us to be able to drop our stuff somewhere so we could go and find lunch. We were waiting our turn to be checked in by the man or the woman in uniform behind the wooden reception desk, when I decided to pester Dad.

  ‘Dad, can’t we do this later?’ I said, ‘Oh please hurry up, I’m starving. I must’ve got on Dad’s nerves, or maybe it was that he was hungry too.

  ‘Look young lady, we have to complete these forms first,’ he said ‘then we can have lunch.’

  Point taken, so I sat down on one of a pair of black leather chairs and waited as patiently as I could and did a recky on the place. The big reception area seemed quite nice with white walls and some pictures and there were a couple of gigantic red ceramic pots with tall leafy plants of some kind. Quite often when guests brushed passed the plants it made the big leaves rustle together. Not far from me, some massive windows were open making a draft of warm air sending the long white curtains into a sequence which made me think of dove’s wings.

  I slipped off my ballet shoes and put my feet flat down onto the floor. I wanted to feel the marble to see if it was as cold as the marble I’d felt inside a hotel reception in Bangkok. It was, and I didn’t care if anyone saw me; my sweaty feet were loving the sensation of being cool and free.

  Finally, the man handed Dad some keys and was pointing to the right. I put on my shoes, grabbed my things and went with Mum and Dad to look for our rooms on the second floor.

  I had room number eight, a little single room with a tiny bathroom right next to Mum and Dad’s room. I originally thought I was going to have to stay in the same room as them, a double and single squeezed in together with hardly any room to move. But thankfully when Dad booked the trip, the rep found a single room for me. That was a massive relief ‘cause I didn’t think I would have been able to stick my parents snoring or anything else; if they did anything else anyway. Maybe they did still do it. I remember a friend said once that she too couldn’t bear the thought of her parents having sex. It’s all just too Freudian, I suppose.

  I didn’t want to waste anymore time in my room, I’d see it later and locked the door behind me using the strange flat key thing with number eight on it.

  We went back down to the reception, and found some of the people in our group waiting with Nadia. She led us through the dining room to the terrace outside where there were a couple of long wooden tables ready prepared for us underneath white gazebos. It all looked so elegant.

  ‘Sit where you want,’ Nadia said, ‘buon appetito, enjoy your meal.’

  Near to us was the well-fed bloke Carl, the two older women and the stuck-up looking woman. As soon as I saw someone else pick up some bread, I did the same; it had sprigs of rosemary and it was salty, but anything was going to be good how hungry I was feeling. I let a waiter pour a little red wine out for me, and I took a sip. It tasted a bit like berries, but it was really rich. I could have murdered half a lager it was that hot on the terrace and beads of perspiration were appearing above my lip.

  ‘Go steady with that Caylin,’ Dad said, ‘it’s fourteen percent, so best drink water too.’ When we’d drank wine at home it’d never been fourteen percent, more like eleven, or even less because Mum liked the fizzy red Lambrusco.

  From where I was sitting I could see Joe and his parents eating at the other table and I couldn’t believe that he’d put himself facing in my direction. Surely, he could’ve sat on the other side opposite his parents. It was really hard not to look his way and I really didn’t want to have eye contact with him and give him the wrong idea. I had no interest in him at all.

  I was feeling stuffed after the pasta with tomato and garlic sauce, then some meat, then a tiramisu dessert. I really wanted to get up from the table but seeing as Nadia was there, I stayed put. My pencil case and sketchpad were packed in my luggage upstairs, but if I rightly remembered, there was a pencil inside my bag. I took a couple of white serviettes from a holder and began to entertain myself doing a bit of sketching.

  ‘My goodness, you’re really very good.’ A woman’s voice interrupted my thoughts. It was one of the older women.

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘May I ask who the beautiful girl is?’

  ‘Um, well, she’s no one in particular, just a Manga girl.’

  ‘Caylin’s always sketching or painting,’ Mum said, ‘and if she’d had her way, her bedroom walls would be smothered in them.’ Mum gave me a friendly wink.

  ‘But what exactly is Manga, Caylin?’ the woman asked me, ‘I’m afraid I’ve never heard of it.’

  ‘Um, well,’ I said, ‘Manga is a name given to a style of comics or cartoons originating in Japan some time ago; the comics have become quite popular now.’

  ‘Your Manga girl is like you isn’t she,’ the woman said, ‘does she have a name?’ Always questions, I thought to myself.

  ‘I call her Sora,’ I said, ‘which means sky in Japanese.’ I got that in because I knew what would be the next question.

  ‘I like that sketch in particular where Sora is holding a cat,’ she said and pointed at one of the two I’d done.

  ‘Really? You can have it, but it’s only on a serviette.’

  ‘It’s lovely, thank you Caylin,’ she said ‘will you put your name on it for me?’

  ‘Sure.’

  The rest of the day was pretty dull; Mum and Dad were tired and didn’t want to do anything in particular except hang around the hotel, and so after our evening meal, I said goodnight to them and went up to my room. First priority, shoes off, then I opened my window and switched on the TV for some company. Maybe if I searched the channels, I’d find a music channel or something. I managed to find a music video channel, it wasn’t MTV but it was better than nothing even if I didn’t understand a word of it. I plonked myself onto the little bed and sat at the top as I liked to, and stuffed the pillow behind me. Ha, there it was, on the back of the door next to some hotel regulation blurb; something wri
tten that looked like an Internet password.

  It worked and I was connected; I wanted to speak to Zoe and Em and see what they were up to. Right then, Zoe was last seen on WhatsApp at twenty thirty-five, and Em at twenty-fifteen, and seeing they’re an hour behind us, I should be able to catch them as here it’s nine fifty.

  Hey guys, at last I have Internet! How’s things there? It’s been a long day today, but the hotel is nice especially as I have my own room J. Thought you’d like some pics – this one is the French Alps we flew over, this one is yours truly with a cute cat, and this one is of a guy on our trip who’s getting on my nerves, always staring (he’s not my type, but thought you’d like him Em J J .) Hate to admit that I’m bored, probably shouldn’t have come L .Anyway, catch-up soon, OK? Cay xx

  Hey Cay, he’s sort of cute, and I don’t mean the cat J. Sposed to be off out into town tonight with Zoe, but you know her, takes forever gettin ready. At this rate they won’t let any more in! Great to hear from you, catch you later. PS don’t be shy JJ Em x

  Cool pics! The guy doesn’t look as crazy as I’d likem, but have 2 say he’s got a nice bum!! What u waitin 4? Relax, go get some fun!! Glad u ok though, and hope tomorrow is better 4u. Have to run, Em’s gettin angry waitin 4me2 turn up. Speak again 2morrow, Ciaoooo Zoeeeee xx

  I really missed Zoe and Em and wished that I was getting ready to go to the disco with them instead of being here.

  3

  Resentment

  I think I must’ve passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow last night after all that travelling yesterday. Today was our first complete day here in Italy and I remember Mum saying that Nadia had organised for us to visit some old breed of pig called Cinta Senese on the side of a dormant volcano somewhere. Great fun; not.

  It took us about an hour to reach the old volcano, I could see the big mountain looming boringly in the distance ahead as we were driven towards it. The sky was bright blue and ever so clear and felt like it was going to be hot again today but, of course, we just had to be going on the gloomy side of the volcano where the sun hadn’t reached and it smelled of stinky damp.