Luberto

In the Surf

The next morning, Alberto had lifeguard duty, and we went with him. There were so many young children in Portorosso, and they all seemed to look up to Alberto. That morning, he had woken up early, climbed across the branch that led to Giulia's room, opened the window, and snuck to his room. He came back out a few minutes later wearing a bright red tank top with the word lifeguard printed across the top in Italian. The tank top showed the muscles he had gained over the past year, and the scar that ran diagonally across his right arm that had been there since we had first met. I had never asked him how he'd gotten it.

"Where did that come from?" I asked, pointing at his arm. He looked at the scar on his arm and smiled softly.

"You know, I almost forgot I had that." He said wistfully.

"Really?"

"Yeah, It's been so long. And it used to be bigger." The wistfulness in his voice turned to sadness as he continued. "Not long before Bruno left, actually."

"Hey, we don't have to talk about it if you don't want-"

"No, it's alright. My-" he hesitated. "Bruno and I were out swimming, when a boat passed overhead. They saw me and threw an old, rusty harpoon. It missed and grazed my arm." he traced the scar with his finger. "Bruno took me back to the tower, then left and went to a far off human town, and he came back a day later with medicine and bandages. The rust had already infected the cut, and I got really sick. But he gave me the medicine, and a few days later, I was better." he sighed. "It wasn't even fully healed when Bruno abandoned me." Before I could respond, Giulia walked out

"Buongiorno ragazzi! You ready for work Alberto?" His eyes lit up as he excitedly exclaimed,

"Yeah!" The way he talked about his job, I knew he truly enjoyed helping out.  We walked down to the beach where there were already kids splashing about in the shallow water. One of them yelled,

"Alberto!" Alberto grinned and ran forward to greet the young boy.

"Dante! You ready for your swimming lessons?"

"Yeah!" The little boy exclaimed. I smiled as Alberto led the boy, Dante, further into the water as it splashed at his waist, soaking the bottom of his shirt. one of the older kids splashed him from behind and he spun around, laughing. It was an interesting sight. From the back, Alberto looked like a sea monster. But from the front, he looked like a normal human boy. Well, a super cute human boy. 

"All right, who was that?" he asked, grinning. "Enzo? Nico? Marco? Two of the boys raised their hands in mock surrender, while the one who splashed him just giggled. "Enzo!" he splashed the boy. Who grinned, and splashed him back. They laughed, I smiled as I watched them.

"Giulia!" An excited voice called from my right. I looked over and saw Guido, one of Ercole's former henchmen. Giulia smiled and ran over to meet him. They linked arms and walked off down the beach. Giulia turning to wave goodbye. I waved back, and after a moment they disappeared from view as they rounded a corner. And I realized what I had seen. Giulia and Guido were dating! We'd sure missed a lot while Alberto was recovering.

"Alberto!" I was ripped out of my thoughts by the frantic call. The young boy from earlier, Dante, had swam out too far and was struggling to stay above water. Alberto hadn't heard the call, as he was still talking to the other boys. I looked back at Dante, but the boy was gone. I ran into the surf, and dove underwater. I didn't even bother to pay attention to Alberto as he called my name, surprised. I swam through the clear water towards Dante's sinking figure as fast as I could and saw the boy trying to swim to the surface. I swam up and  grabbed Dante, bringing him to the surface.

"Alberto!" I called, Alberto turned and saw me carrying Dante, who was breathing hard. He ran through the small waves and grabbed Dante from me. We brought him to the shore. Alberto set him on a rock, looking him over.

"Dante! You need to be more careful!" Alberto scolded. The little boy's bottom lip quivered as he said,

"Sorry Alberto. I just want to be a great swimmer like you."

"You will be, you just need more lessons." he looked at me and said, "Thank you Luca."

"Okay!" Dante's mood lightened as he looked at me "So, you're Luca. Alberto talks about you a lot." I blushed

"He does?" Alberto put his arm across my shoulder and I blushed harder.

"Of course!" He kissed my cheek and all the kids on the beach oohed. I couldn't stop blushing and Alberto laughed. We spent the rest of the day at the beach, hanging out with the kids. Giulia never came back, so I assumed she just went home. As the sun set, Alberto and I sat on the stone wall in front of the beach, watching the town square. The fountain in the middle of the square that once had a statue of a man killing a sea monster, now had a statue of Alberto, Giulia and I holding our Portorosso cup trophy. The statue depicted Alberto and I as Sea monster from  the waist down. The orange light reflected off the water, making the bronze statue glimmer. This was a perfect night.