Lure of the grapes, p.11
Lure of the Grapes, page 11
“This is not about me and how I treat Sheila, okay?” Mike added. “It is about what this Niccolò is doing to me!”
Tom came around the corner.
“Fareh,” Tom said with a nod as he sat down.
“Candy,” Fareh nodded back.
Fareh slouched deeply into the chair and looked as relaxed as any person possibly could. His arm hung limply over the back of his chair. Fareh had not a care in the world, and Saverio grew irritated with him.
“Whoever this Niccolò is, he is probably only skilled in attracting women!” Fareh laughed without even looking at them when he said it. “He probably gives the ladies the attention that they want. You must not have the right touch,” he said, this time pointing to Mike. “You should stop being so jealous of Niccolò!”
At this, Saverio smoldered even more than Mike.
“Why are you angry?” Fareh asked Saverio.
Saverio took a sip of lemon water through his clenched teeth.
“Anyway, how are you aware that this Niccolò is pursuing your wife?”
Saverio wanted to blow a gasket.
“Well, I am not certain,” whimpered Mike. “Do you suppose it’s possible that it’s all a misunderstanding?”
“Now you listen here, Fareh!” Saverio began.
The Candyman glared at Saverio. “We have some work to do,” Tom said, and urged Mike to pay the bill and leave.
Later that week, Saverio dragged Fareh to the street to find Mike. Saverio felt happy that Mike and Fareh had become more acquainted since they had met. Mike had even asked Fareh to get him some things for his shows.
Mike performed for a small crowd of people. He juggled several large coins. The people smiled at the shimmering coins as they sailed through the air. The coins spun around in the air and caught the streetlight. The people thanked him and the smiles on their faces would be more reward than their money.
“Hey Mime!” Fareh shouted. “I got your rabbits!”
Mike whirled around. “Thanks!” he said and then studied the two of them.
Fareh gave him a basket with a tiny rabbit inside and he put a large, twenty pound rabbit into Mike’s other arm. Mike grunted at the weight. “Where did you get this thing?”
Saverio waited patiently.
“I have connections,” Fareh said quietly. “I did not steal them!” he insisted.
“Good, I don’t need that on my conscience,” Mike said, and looked at Saverio for a moment. “Is it really worth ninety thousand lire?”
“Of course. That’s a lot of rabbit!” Fareh answered.
“Actually, I have another,” Mike said, “request for you.”
Saverio smiled, as he hoped it would be the suggestion he had given to Mike, earlier.
“What is it?” Fareh asked.
“Well,” Mike began, but shifted his weight rapidly and examined the ground. Saverio furrowed his brow in annoyance and crossed his arms. “I’ve decided that perhaps you could…”
“Hurt someone?” Fareh asked loudly, with an unashamed grin. “Niccolò?”
Saverio smiled more. Fareh was familiar with the plan and Saverio had hoped if Mike backed down, Fareh would encourage him. It seemed he would do just that.
Mike turned frustratedly and found a bunch of parents and their kids waiting for him to do something. He jumped. Mike smiled at them and pretended he was ready. He handed the large rabbit to Saverio.
Even Saverio waited, intrigued as Mike took the small, adorable bunny and put it into a woman’s shopping bag. Saverio expected the large rabbit to emerge but when Mike reached into the bag but there the large bunny remained.
Mike feigned and over exaggerated his embarrassment. Truly, his facial gestures were more important than a disappearing bunny.
The people giggled and walked away once Mike gave them some candy. Saverio and Fareh stared at him. Mike shrugged. “Haven’t figured that one out yet.”
Saverio looked down at the big bunny still in his own arms and in annoyance he handed it back to Mike. Fareh smiled in amusement.
“How do you do that, juggle?” Fareh asked as the people walked away.
Mike looked at him, seriously. “Ninety thousand lire and I’ll tell you.”
Fareh simply grinned at him. Mike began to walk. Fareh and Saverio looked at one another, and followed.
Mike looked around. “So perhaps we can show Niccolò to you.”
“Great idea!” Saverio said and led the way. “I know where he lives.”
“Okay, right. Can you carry this for me?” Mike asked and handed Fareh the twenty pound rabbit.
Mike scurried to catch up to Saverio.
“What on earth are we doing?” Mike asked Saverio in frantic, hushed tones. “We are going to Niccolò’s house? What if he sees us and calls the cops?”
“You are the one who suggested it, Mike!” Saverio told him, perfectly deflecting the blame.
“And what happens next?” Mike asked, “Fareh beats him up?”
“It’s a little too early,” Saverio said.
Mike’s eyes widened.
“Too early for what?” Mike asked.
Saverio backtracked. “Well, you know.”
“I need to see him, first. He might be strong,” Fareh interrupted, as he had heard everything they had said.
They came to Niccolò’s house.
“Are we simply going to watch him through the window?” Fareh asked.
“Why not?” Saverio asked. “But it seems he is not home, or else he is asleep. I was here earlier, taking a note from his door.”
“You know I must see him before I can agree to hurt him. If he’s too tough, I cannot break his legs,” Fareh said.
Mike found the note he had taken from Niccolò’s door in his jacket pocket.
“I have an idea,” Mike said.
He took out a pen and paper from his other pocket and quickly scribbled a note.
Saverio and Fareh followed Mike as he posted the note on Niccolò’s door and Fareh read it aloud. “Meet me at the Family Theater Thursday morning. Signed: S.”
“He will believe that it is from my wife,” Mike explained.
Fareh kept grinning and shook his head. Mike looked at him sharply.
“You can look at him Thursday and make a decision,” Mike said and took on a proud demeanor. “Niccolò’s not so tough as he looks. Tom and I roughed him up once.”
Mike snickered as he looked at Fareh with a devious smile.
“What leads you to believe Niccolò will come to the theater?”
“Well, he knows Sheila is my wife. In the event that he sees me, it will make sense she would be there with me.”
The front door creaked open, and the bunnies bounced inside. Mike gasped and reached for them. The big one thumped, and the little one was quick.
Mike strained to reach but did not want to fall inside.
“We have to go in!” Mike whispered.
They peered into the dark and the bunnies were long gone in the shadows.
“This is becoming more than what you offer to pay me,” Fareh answered.
A voice grumbled inside the apartment, apparently awakened by the creaking of the door. The three of them bounded down the stairs from the apartment. They hid in the bushes, but no one came to the door.
“You’re on your own!” Fareh said and left. Saverio remained behind the bush.
“What about the bunnies?” Mike croaked after Fareh. “Will you come Thursday?”
“Yes, but the price must be right!” Fareh said over his shoulder.
Mike bit a fingernail. “Fine,” he said.
He looked up at the apartment.
“That big bunny was expensive,” he muttered, then trudged away.

By the time Niccolò walked home, it had already become nighttime. The cool air showed his breath drifting as a white wisp in the darkness.
Niccolò had managed to secure another delivery of gelato cake for the next day and had spent time with Zio after negotiating the right flavors in the order. Fortunately, Niccolò would make the delivery in a familiar neighborhood in Fiorella so he would not get lost and would not need to drive.
Even so, Niccolò worried, for Saverio would expect pay back. The urgency was not as strong as owing the money to Biagio, however, Saverio had a trick up his sleeve. Somehow, Saverio would demand the money back, or make Niccolò look like a criminal if he did not.
After he unlocked the door, he turned on the living room light. He blinked and questioned whether the sight was a hallucination. There, a large bunny of white with grey and black spots curled up beside a small, creamy brown and white colored bunny lounged in the living room.
“Conigli?” he said, confused.
The two rabbits simply moved their noses and nothing more. Niccolò gazed at the bunnies and proceeded to rub his eyes.
Niccolò got straight in bed, unable to think clearly. “It must be a hallucination,” he muttered.
The next morning Niccolò awakened to the sound of Rocco out in the living room, cooing over an animal. For a moment, Niccolò had forgotten about the rabbits.
Niccolò heated some water for tea in the kitchen, while he tried to wake up. Then he stood in the doorway to the living room, rapidly steeping a tea bag in a mug.
With the small bunny in his hands, Rocco sat on the floor.
“Where did the rabbits come from?” Niccolò asked, furrowing his brow.
Rocco seemed to ignore Niccolò and made more kissing noises at the friendly animals.
“I think a woman would love a bunny, don’t you?” Rocco asked.
Niccolò came to the living room and sat down. He saw that Rocco had made a little bed for the rabbits and also cleared a box to put carrots and other veggies for them to eat.
Niccolò chuckled. “You want to give the bunnies to a woman?” Niccolò asked.
“Just one of them,” Rocco answered. “This kind of gift shows you truly care about a woman, because it is alive. Plus, they’re so cuddly!”
Niccolò scratched his head. Rocco came up with many outlandish things and wrote his own rules for life.
“You take the big one,” Rocco said. “I may have someone in mind for the little one.”
Niccolò stared at him with one eyebrow raised, assuming Rocco joked.
“What?” Rocco asked. “You will have to take care of the big one until you find a woman to give it to! I can only handle one.”
Niccolò stared at the huge bunny, stretched out lazily on the carpet. It just lay there beside Rocco, without a care in the world.
“Rocco?” Niccolò asked, “What if the bunny bites someone?”
At this, Rocco laughed. “These sweet bunnies? No, they wouldn’t!”
Niccolò shrugged. Rocco seemed to forget him there on the couch, as he hummed and entered the kitchen.
Niccolò decided he would bring the large rabbit to the vineyard the next night, allowing it to reside with the small sheep. The bunny would be safe there. Securing another delivery uplifted him, but then he wondered what he would do afterwards.
When he arrived at the farmhouse the next evening, Niccolò put the bunny into a pen beside the lambs. About five lambs had been born a few weeks earlier. Niccolò patted the friendly bunny and saw that it seemed at home beside the lambs.
“Mamma,” he said as he entered the kitchen, “there is a bunny outside in the stable. Don’t forget him when you feed in the morning.”
“A bunny?”
“It showed up at the apartment.”
He sat down at the table. “Perhaps you can show Akala when she returns from Fiorella!” Josephina suggested. She set a cup of coffee on the table for him.
“Yes! But when will she return?”
“Possibly tomorrow,” Josephina responded.
“Grazie for the coffee, Mamma,” Niccolò said, disappointed that he kept missing Akala.
When he passed the staircase and his father’s antique violin on a stand in the foyer, he decided he would save half the money from the gelato cake delivery, and with the other half, he would rent a violin.

Later, Saverio walked to the farmhouse of Niccolò’s mother from his father Aurelio’s farm beside. He did not visit his parents as often as Niccolò visited his mother’s farm. His father was still living and well, and busy, with many workers to help him.
Many hectares separated the two farms, allowing Saverio to wander in the twilight on the isolated hills without being noticed. In reality, the two farms merged together as one with two houses. The boundary lines were disregarded, because the two brothers had always supported each other, until Niccolò’s father passed away. Saverio’s father Aurelio remained in good health, so it would be a while before he passed the other farm to him. However, this wasn’t the motive behind Saverio’s desire to acquire the other farm; it stemmed from his unwillingness to reside adjacent to Niccolò indefinitely, constantly reminded of Niccolò’s superiority and perpetual advantage.
Jealousy consumed Saverio, causing him shame.
He came to the other farm where the vineyard dipped down over one side into a picturesque valley. Beyond the valley, a gate of cedar trees opened to a cool forest. Saverio loved that forest and remembered when both families had picnics in a clearing in the trees. Even the sheep and cattle would join them. The scent of basil and wine constantly brought back memories of that simple time. The sun descended over the valley and hung over the vines like a soft spotlight.
Of course Saverio acknowledged that his actions towards Niccolò were wrong, but they felt justified to him. It did not matter the pain he caused Niccolò, as long as he did not have to live with Niccolò, and see his perfection for the rest of his life. Sometimes, Niccolò seemed too strong to be bothered by Saverio. That served as the motivation for him to exert increasing effort to cause harm.
Saverio leaned against the sheep barn and heard the soft scuffle of hay while he gazed at the last bit of sun in the sky. Niccolò had some redeeming qualities, but Saverio couldn’t find contentment in his own life as long as Niccolò remained a constant reminder of his failures and shortcomings.
A louder scuffle came toward him. Saverio looked up suddenly, surprised by the noise. It turned out to be Zio.
“What are you doing here in the dark by yourself, Saverio?” Zio asked.
“I am just thinking to myself that—” Saverio said but stopped short.
“About what?” Zio asked and leaned against the barn next to him.
“Remembering the times we ate our picnics in the forest there,” Saverio said and pointed to the cedar trees. “I don’t know what happened between Niccolò and me. We used to be friends.”
Zio chuckled.
“To have a friend, you must be a friend, Saverio.”
Saverio stiffened his shoulders. It never surprised him that Zio would take Niccolò’s side. This angered him but also made him sad. Saverio wanted to overcome the sadness, for he detested himself for being sad.
“Just the other day, I paid Niccolò’s debt to Biagio,” Saverio bragged.
“Biagio?” Zio asked. “The policeman in Fiorella?”
“Yes, Niccolò owed a lot of money to him. I managed to provide aid to Niccolò.”
Zio shook his head.
“Did you do it with strings attached? I hope not, because if so it provided no aid at all.”
Saverio looked at him, surprised. “There was a significant amount of money, Zio!”
“And you know how Niccolò is struggling,” Zio said. “Did it hurt your livelihood to give it to him?”
“No Zio.”
Zio nodded.
Saverio thought it unfair. “Did I not obtain what I have through honest means?” Saverio asked.
“But you have been given more than you need and now others have need. It is called kindness, Saverio.”
Saverio sighed and nodded.
“You are such an intelligent person, Nephew. Do not use it for bad. Use it for good.”
Saverio smiled and nodded. Zio patted his shoulder and left him alone in the darkness.
Once he found himself alone again, Saverio reflected on the conversation he had with Zio. He did not know the reasons he had for fighting with Niccolò. Perhaps it concerned himself, and not Niccolò. It is possible that he detested himself so intensely, that he had the potential to hate even those who had what he desired.
Of course, all these things probably made him a bad person, according to the world. If only he could articulate this to someone, perhaps he could be free of the feelings inside of him. It wasn’t as if Zio would listen. Zio had always been closer to Niccolò.

As Akala sat in her hotel room in Fiorella, she got her notebook and began to write:
The girl sat on the same bench in the cozy home beside the staircase. The small bench opened, like something she had seen in the antique shop back home. It opened and inside, there were some familiar family blankets stored. A dark wood railing lined the staircase, with a vine curling around the spindles. She smiled up at it.
Upstairs, a little bedroom featured a four-poster bed, a clothes cabinet, and a window with long curtains.
She walked into her living room, with a fireplace and a shelf of books. A cozy little place to sit in front of the fireplace beckoned, with blankets and a pile of books, just waiting for someone to open and read.
However, somehow the house seemed so desolate for the girl, alone. How she dreamt of sitting there by the fireplace with someone else. Perhaps someone to hold her with one of those blankets wrapped tightly around them, and a mug of something warm to drink.
She stepped out of the front door and breathed in deeply of the fresh air. There was no one nearby. Voices murmured in the distance. Turning back to the door, she stopped to pick a small wildflower.
In the kitchen, herbs and garlic hung around a little brick archway over the cutting table. The sight of a pile of vegetables there resembled what one would find in an Italian farmhouse. She put the wildflower in a little jar of water and set it in the window.
The cowboy came into the kitchen, his boots tapping on the stone floor. He brought a basket of grapes in with him. The grapes displayed a notable size and perfection, with a few of them retaining their leaves.
