Uncle came with Alberto and I into town. We were going to pay the entry fee and register in the race. Meanwhile Uncle had some of his own business to do. The three of us walked into Portorosso square, which was had a lively bustle for a typical Saturday early afternoon. We reached the centre, only to find Uncle's friends already there sipping on cold coffee at the usual café. They spotted us and waved merrily.
"Buon pomeriggio, Marcovaldos!" "Buon pomeriggio, Giovanni, Ricardo," Uncle hollered back as the three of us approached their table. Alberto was rather on the shy side but I quietly rubbed the back of his arm in a reassuring manner. He quickly smiled at me, then back at the two older men who were now looking straight at him. "Have another guest visiting you, Massimo?" My uncle chuckled and I saw it as my cue to naturally step in.
"Gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to Alberto Scorfano," Alberto waved timid while flashing a tooth-filled grin. Ricardo and Giovanni gave him a once over, sizing him up and not being discreet about it either. Not that they were being mean, however. "Scorfano, eh? Don't know anyone round here what that name." "He's uh, not from Portorosso; more up along the Italian Rivera," I came to Alberto's rescue. To my relief they both nodded like this made perfect sense. The Giovanni sat back in his chair in a relaxed posture.
"So what brings you to Portorosso, boy? Just visiting for the summer?" "Oh! I um….. I uh… Uh, no?" Poor Alberto was squirming awkwardly so hard; it would have been funny if I didn't feel so bad for him. "You… a friend of Ilaria's?" Ricardo asked him next. "Yes!" Alberto could answer that with confidence. "So you're here to see Miss Marcovaldo, then?" Alberto's face suddenly flushed in embarrassment while the two men laughed. Then they looked at Uncle, who was also still chuckling.
"Now, now; stop teasing the poor boy. He's the best fishing hand I've ever had," Uncle put a proud hand on Alberto's shoulder. This caught his friends' attention, making they perked up a little. "Oh, you're good at fishing, are you?" Ricardo asked with a clever smile. "The best. He has some talent, this one. We should bring him the next time we go hunt for sea monsters." "No!" I shouted, causing all eyes to fall onto me surprised. Realizing how out of place this looked, I forced myself to reposition my stance to a more casual slant. "I-I mean, no. Alberto didn't come all this way to go hunt sea monsters." Silence. That's not a good sigh. I made my face perk up even more. "A-And besides! We have to train for the race."
"Oh, you're entering the race?" Giovanni asked Alberto curiously. "Sure am!" He nodded. "Ah, so that explains it; you're here to race. And I take that you will be supporting him, bambina?" "Actually I uh, was going to race with him. We're going to be on a team together," I corrected with softness. This seemed to surprise and somewhat alarm the two men. "You're going to race? Are you ok with this, Massimo?" Ricardo's head spun toward my uncle, who simply nodded. "Oh, it should be fine. It's just one race, and Ilaria's not as weak as she looks. No offence, niece." "Heh, none taken," I giggled. "Yes, with Alberto by her side, she will be alright. These two make a good team," Uncle patted Alberto's shoulder again, making him smile. I also smiled, watching the two of them. Giovanni and Ricardo's eyes kept shifting between me and Alberto; it didn't take a genius to know what they were thinking.
Eventually they flashed us one of those "knowing" smiles. "Well, you know what they say about "good teams". It's a unity between minds, which can be codified into law should the time ever come." "What does that mean?" Alberto asked me in a not-so-quiet whisper. I blushed and the men laughed. Uncle rolled his eyes at his friends. "Alright, alright; we have to get going. You two go sign up for your race; I have to go do some errands. We'll meet back here in say, an hour?" "Ok," Alberto and I replied simultaneously. Uncle gave us and his friends one last nod. "Have a good afternoon, you guys. See you soon, Alberto, Ilaria!" "See you, Zio! Nice seeing you this afternoon, gentlemen," I turned to Uncle's friends, who grinned at us. "Nice seeing you too. And good to meet you, Alberto." "You're always welcome here in Portorosso."
We left the café to go down the road closer to the sea front where the entry booth was stationed. The booth was a makeshift sort of shack with a plank shading it from the sun. A middle-aged woman sat at a desk with boxes of paste surround her on each side- I suppose they're the ones who sponsored the race. Ah packaged food; the British Empire was to thank for that expansion. Luckily it didn't seem to catch on in Italy like aboard.
There was a line-up of young Portorosso inhabitants already in front of us. Alberto and I got in line, patiently waiting our turn. While Alberto looked like all the rest, save for perhaps a slightly darker tan and scruffier clothes, I stuck out like a sore thumb- just like always. I inwardly cringed when we approached the table. The lady took one look at me and seemed taken aback. I grinned and gently placed down the entry fee. "Uh, team of two, please."
"You two… aren't from around here," she already sounded sceptical. "Yes, ma'am. I'm from Florence; Massimo Marcovaldo's niece." "And I'm from…. Um, where was it again?" Alberto asked me. "Along the Italian Rivera," I had to suppress an eyeroll. "Yeah, there." But the registration lady kept her eyes on me. I think this would be a good time to note that she had a distinctly Northern accent. Tuscan perhaps.
"Florence?! Why young lady! What on earth are you doing in a town like Portorosso? Shouldn't you be in Rome for the Season?" The Season was what the time of year where young people from well-to-do families went, for lack of a better term, husband or wife hunting in Italy's largest cities. My hand raised up to my chest scandalized. "Oh no! I am much too young for that! I haven't even come out into society yet. A-And it turns out I don't have to. M-My… My family wants me to make a more… local match," I cringed at these last words. Nugh, why were we discussing this here of all places? Not only Alberto but everyone else in line ogled us with absolute perplexity. Perplexity and annoyance.
"What the heck are they talking about?" A teenage boy asked his friend in line behind us. "Hey! Would you hurry it up?! Some of us wanna register too!" Another teenager shouted irritated. Alberto shot them a warning glare. "Hold onto your horses, will ya! We're going! We're going!" He yelled back, equally annoyed by their public outburst. I blushed, wanting to sink through the ground. This was humiliating. As if the residents of this village didn't already have enough reason to ostracize me. It didn't help either that the lady frowned at me like I'd done something wrong just now. Her back arched up against her chair a little.
"Does your father know you're trying to enter the race, young lady?" Oh boy, here we go. Another person with some knowledge of how society functions trying to be a moralizing force for me. I knew exactly what she wanted from me. Sucking in a deep, calming breath, my eyes lowered a tad. "My uncle, yes. He's my new permanent guardian." "Wait, I thought Massimo said we could enter the race? We earned the entry fee and everything," Alberto cut in, wildly confused of course. He didn't understand the meaning behind her sentence, which was made evident by his reply. We both blinked at him, the lady seeming somewhat surprised by his innocent, naïve statement.
"You're entering together? On the same team?" "That's correct. Ilaria Marcovaldo." "Alberto Scorfano," Alberto tacked on with a smile and crossing of the arms. Her eyes rolled between us in that judgemental way I had seen a million times back in Florence. It's that look someone gives you when they're assessing your situation, whether it's appropriate or not. Thankfully Alberto and all the other contestants seemed utterly oblivious to all this; as far as they were concerned we were just having a silly conversation with no nuance behind it. Living in Portorosso had its benefits sometimes.
We paid the entry fee and signed our names on the sheet, then we got the heck out of the line. While I had to remember to breath, I was that mortified, Alberto was all smile and glee. "Great! Now we're all set up to race!" His hands clapped together in excitement. "Yes, dear," I grinned back for his sake. He's right; this was a good thing, despite the painful dressing down it took to acquire. He playfully slapped my back. "Don't worry, Ilaria; we got this!" "It's going to be hard, Alberto," I countered with realism, which was apparently also lost on him. "Yeah! Hard to lose. We're going to win!" Of course this earned a smile from me; how could it not? "Your confidence is refreshing, but don't forever, we're going to have to go up against…"
"Champion coming through! Ciao, ciao, ay!" Oh god, no! I practically hid myself before Alberto, who was more than willing to shelter me, at the terrifying sound of Ercole's voice. He stomped through the line, effectively cutting it, and sauntered right up to the desk. By some miraculous stroke of luck he hadn't seen me- yet.
The registration lady looked as unhappy to see him as we did. "Aren't you a little old, Ercole?" She inquired as he slammed down money in front of her. "Signora, I'm twenty!" "You said that last year." "But this year it's true," he dismissed with a hand wave, turning to the rest of the crowd. "You might want to save your money, ragazzi. This year Ercole's gonna break the record and make it six in a row."
That's when the inevitable happened. I can't tell you how hard I winced. "Tesorina! Is that you? I almost didn't see you there, my little one!" It's as if Alberto was invisible to Ercole. He immediately walked over to stand a little too close to me, all while smiling his signature greasy grin. I already wanted to vomit. "Come to cheer me on? Awe, that is so sweet of you! What a good wife you'll make!" "Ercole, please! We're in public!" I pleaded, not wanting to cause more of a scene than we already were. "You're so right, my princess! Best to let everyone know you'll be supporting me from the side during the race. Hear that, everyone? This angel will be cheering for me!" Ercole announced and I wanted to die. This was already a nightmare.
Alberto had had enough by this point. He was already burning a hole through Ercole. "Actually, we're going to race too, Erco-lame," he didn't even bother to hold back any venom. Ercole took one direct look at Alberto and instantly frowned. His thin, bony finger waggled in his direction. "Hey, hey, hey! What is this?! Didn't I tell you to stay away from my girl, you vagrant!" Alberto scoffed, almost like he was challenging Ercole. "You can't tell me what to do. Ilaria's my friend and we're entering the race together." "I already told you, you stupid boy: boys and girls can't be friends! You are not friends with my fiancé!" "Ercole!" I cried, burying my face into my hands. God, please make this stop.
Alberto wore an expression of sheer disgust on his face but saw his chance. He sent Ercole a deadly smirk. "Boy, I knew I was smarter than you, but I didn't think you were "that" stupid. Ilaria wants nothing to do with you, in case you didn't get the picture." "Course she does! She worships the ground I walk on. Every girl in Portorosso can't get enough of me, right boys?" He posed to his cronies, who of course nodded in agreement- or out of fear, one of the two. "Then go marry one of them cause Ilaria's not interested! So do us all a favour and get lost, will ya?!" Alberto shouted back with force, quickly losing his temper with Ercole's idiocy. Meanwhile I kept my eyes buried in my palms, too mortified to look up at the crowd of kids now encompassing us. My god, what did I ever do to deserve this?
Ercole loudly slurped some air up through his clenched jaw. I swear these boys were inches away from hitting the other. Ercole flashed Alberto a very obviously forced smirk. "You know, I'm actually glad you're entering the race. Then I can wipe the floor with you! You won't think you're so tough when I beat you in front of my tesorina and all the other contestants. Then she'll see that I'm the best, which she already knows of course." "Oh, really? Well I can't wait to see the look on your smarmy mug when we cross the finish line first," Alberto hissed back with severity. Ercole glared back at him for a minute before sneering again. "Don't fool yourself, vagrant. It's you who my sweet, small one wants nothing to do with. Do you know who she is? Clearly you don't, otherwise you wouldn't have the gull to talk to her. You don't know your place, which is very dangerous. So I suggest you go back to whichever rock you slithered out from. But if you do intend to stay, I won't mind kicking your ass in the race. Don't expect a wedding invitation either, you good-for-nothing bottom feeder." "Why you little….!" And chaos ensued.
I practically had to drag Alberto out of there before he decked Ercole square in his idiotic, ugly face. Something good did come of this altercation though. Alberto had a fire and determination to win that was more passionate than ever. Now it was personal- on many, many levels. And I had a feeling that occupied several of them.