A Kitten Called Cat

Chapter Thirty Two - La Villa Strangiato

It was bright when I woke the next morning. Very bright... much too bright. I tried to turn over and cover my eyes and things but nothing helped. In the end I gave up and opened my eyes to find the giggling cause of the brightness. My evil sister had just opened the shutters and the bits of sky I could see were a brilliant, dazzling, overwhelming shade of blue.

"Morning!" Terri said. She hopped into bed with me and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. I was a bit surprised but I guess that's the sort of thing sisters do. I wouldn't know. I'd never had a sister before.

Or maybe it was just an Italian thing.

"It's too early!" I grumbled.

"Round here, you've gotta get up real early," she explained. "Or it just gets too hot to do anything. You go back to bed for a couple of hours in the afternoon for a nap."

I nodded. It sort of made sense.

We chatted for a while and then Zi'Anna appeared to help me to shower and change my dressing.

"So, you good for breakfast?" Terri asked when the whole thing was over.

"Have you ever known me not ready for food?" I replied with a smile.

A few minutes later we were sitting on the sweet little terrace that Terri and my room shared. We were dressed in identical beige shorts and matching t-shirts - different patterns but the same Italian flag shades of red and green on a white background. Apparently Nonno had organised the clothes for us. I guess he had a thing about doing the twin-look thing with us... but we thought it was fun too!

If I thought the view last night was beautiful, this morning it was just stunning. The sea and the sky were quite amazing blue colours. And the slope down to the sea, beyond the lovely gardens, was rugged and rocky and dotted with funny looking low bushes.

Terri made a phone call and a waitress appeared, carrying a tray loaded with all sorts of rolls and jams and cakes and a little insulated pot with butter and a million different sorts of cheese and salami type things.

Before I could work out where to start, Terri had made a little ham sandwich and chopped it in half. Clever Terri! I could try even more without having to stuff myself until I exploded!

I was a bit surprised that there wasn't any coffee but there was delicious fresh orange juice so I wasn't complaining. But then Zi'Anna appeared carrying two cups... the cappuccino she'd promised me, back when I was in hospital.

"Grazie, Zi'Anna," Terrie exclaimed, jumping to her feet and giving the old lady two kisses on the cheeks. I tried to do the same but my attempts were so awkward and embarrassing that I had to be given some lessons in Italian cheek kissing - there was plenty of giggling and plenty of advice in rapid Italian so it wasn't all that helpful.

The cappuccino was, of course, way beyond delicious. "Would you teach me how to make it, please," I asked Zi'Anna, with Terri doing the translating, "so I can make it for my Master when I get back to England?"

Of course she was happy to agree.

Then Terri told Zi'Anna that she had to join us for breakfast. She didn't really want to but at last she agreed. "I told her you would have to phone Mr Bossy in a few minutes and that she had to keep me company," Terri explained.

So now the tasties were being cut into three instead of two and I could try even more of them without being a complete greedy pig!

Of course Zi'Anna took over the sandwich making job, as if we were a couple of five year olds, but I was more than happy to just sit there and be fed. A couple of times, I found myself slipping into full, 'treat appreciation mode' with my eyes closed!