Rising Love, Sinking City

Chapter 2

By Irina Castillo

Copy Right 2012 - All Rights Reserved

 

Sailor Boy´s POV:

Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia,

March, 1563

 

I´ve have been working for my father, Domenico, since I was eleven. My father was a merchant and I was sure I was going to become one someday. I was busy unloading the new merchandise from my father´s boat, Helena. He named it after my mother, as soon as he realized he loved her and wanted to marry her. The heavy boxes were filled with extravagant ornaments and pieces of art for the rich men in the beautiful city of Venezia. The heaviest boxes were the small ones, which carried small boxes with opulent jewelry. I had lived in this city around 2 years. We left just after my mom was murdered.

 

We rarely ever talk about my mom. I don´t remember her much and memories are all I have left. My father always avoids the subject, since is a sore subject for both of us. Even though, I wish we could once talk about her. I know she was beautiful and that I have many of her traits.

 

My father and my mother fell in love young, while my father was traveling in this same boat, which in the time didn´t have a name. When my father told my mom he loved her, he took her to see the boat, with its new inscription written proudly on the side. They married and had me. We were very happy, until that night.

 

I didn´t knew I missed Venezia this much. As I saw the color in its streets, the amazing smell of the sea spreading everywhere and the sound of the busy streets, flashbacks of my childhood reached my mind as I continue to unload the boxes. Venezia was an extraordinary city. Seeing it for first time in this many years made me feel ecstatic.

 

I stopped for a second to enjoy the city. I watched a gold flash of light and I turned my head around quickly, looking for the girl in the window. When I focused, I knew it wasn´t the girl I had seen by the window. The lady in front of me is not even close to her beauty.

 

I smiled at the memory, as I remember her. She was sitting relaxed by the window, watching in my direction. I recall as felt her gaze upon me, and I looked up to see her beautiful face peeking through the window. I felt a grin stretching over my face involuntarily. She must be very shy, because as soon as she realized I had seen her watching me, she lowered her gaze and blushed childishly in embarrassment. She kept smiling, amused and ashamed by the moment. Her face keeps appearing in my mind, as I remember her messy but pretty gold locks of hair, falling in her face. She was lovely.  

 

“Lucca, son, what are you thinking about?” said my father as he brought me back into reality

 

“Nothing special” I lied, as I tried to erase the goofy grin in my face

 

“Then keep working. We have to sell all this merchandise today” my father told me as he polished the old vases

 

“Sure. I already finished unloading the boxes. Where can I put them?” I asked as I leaned against a wall for a little break. My arms tingled as they were becoming a little bit sore from all the lifting, even though I carried loads of boxes every day.

 

“Carry them over that table, please” he said as he pointed to a small table right next to a wide alley.