Pietros

The bay is free of sailing ships this day for the weather is not good. We
sit inside the small café looking out the window at the boats moored in their
slips. The sky is gray and the wind is starting to blow harder now. We drink
a glass of wine and smoke our cigarettes together. She is not young and I am
not so young either. This is a nice place to meet and talk for the first time.
Porto Venciente has other cafes to drink wine and talk but I like Pietros, for
the café is close to the water where I can see the boats. I can see my ship
from where we sit. It doesn’t have a slip, but is resting a couple of leagues
out from shore.
I take her hand in mine, whispering a couple of soft words to her across
the table. She smiles and takes a sip from the wine glass. The wine wets her
lips and I want her more than I have wanted another woman.
Her name was Maria and her graying black hair reaches down to her
shoulders, but I didn’t mind the gray hair because mine is graying too. I’d
brought a loaf of bread at the bakery this morning and she was the owner of
the bakery with flour on her hands and a touch of it on her nose. I
mentioned the flour on her nose and she’d laughed, saying I should dust it
off. I untied my clean neckerchief from around my neck gently touched the
flour away. I gently touched the flour away looking into her black eyes that
told me she wanted me to be careful and not get the flour in her eyes. I
asked her name. She told me. I told her mine. That’s how our friendship
started.
I broke off a piece of bread from the loaf I’d bought from her bakery and
gave it to her. She took the bread in her hand not eating it. It stayed there
while she made up her mind of what to say next. She gave me a question. "
What do you do, Al? I mean, you know I own a bakery but what
do you do for a living?"
“You see that ship out in the harbor, it’s mine. I’m the captain."
She liked that answer. " What’s her name?"
" Paloma."
" Will you take me on board and show me around? I love ships."
" I’ll have to row you out there. The weather is not good now, but we can
go later if you still want."
A smile crossed her face. " Yes, I guess later would be better."
The small piece bread I had given her went to her mouth and then the
glass of wine. Our eyes met and neither of us looked away. We said nothing
as our eyes held, and then in the space of a second we both knew this was
going to be more than a casual friendship.
And now she dropped her eyes down to the small glass of wine she held,
and she swirled the contents around in circles as if trying to make up her
mind to tell me something that might change our relationship.
" I have a son who’s seventeen. He works with me in the back part of the
bakery making the bread and pastries. His father was killed by the Germans
in the last war."
" What’s his name."
"Salvador. I call him Sal. He’s a good boy and never gives me any
trouble, but now he tells me he wants to be a bull fighter and I am so scared
he’ll be killed."
" Many brave men have wanted to be bull fighters. Many have gone on
to be very rich and famous."
" But I am scared and besides, Sal makes good money making bread and
he doesn't have to fight bulls. He’ll have the store later when I am ready to
give it up.”
Pietro came over to our table to find out if we liked the wine and I told
him the wine was good and that we enjoyed his café by the water where we
could see the boats. He smiled and a gold tooth showed his pleasure that we
were happy, that we were happy with his little café and that the wine was
good. He spoke, placing his eyes on the lady. “ Senora, it is always nice to
see you, but you have not been in for a long time.”
“ The bakery keeps me busy, Pietro.”
“ Yes, I understand. And captain, I never see you unless the weather is
bad. Are you on your way to Portfriend again for copra?”
“ Yes Copra again for England.”
“Where are the men from your ship, captain? They have not come in.”
“They’re aboard ship until I return. They’ll be off tomorrow and you’ll
have a lot of business.”
“ That will be good. Business has been down a little and I can use all I
can get..” He gave us another gold tooth smile and some words about
needing to talk to other customers.
Maria spoke the reason Pietro knew her. “ My husband and I often came
here before the war. We’d sit here and make our plans about the bakery he
wanted to open.”
I smiled telling her what I thought. “ They were good plans. He was a very
wise man I wish I could have known him. A bakery would be needed in a
Porto Venciente and you made the right decision in opening one. I hope
things are going well for you now.”
“ Yes, I’m doing fine. The bakery is good.”
“ I’d like to meet your son. I’d like to get to know him.”
“ Do you want to do that now? We could go back.”
“ I’d rather spend the afternoon with you. Do I need to get you back so
soon?”
“ Not too soon. May I ask you a personal question?”
“ Try me.”
“ Are you married?”
“ No, and I’ve never been married. I guess the right woman’s never came
along.”
She seemed relieved, her eyes flashing a smile. “ I’m glad you came to
my little shop to buy bread. I’m glad you asked me to have a glass of wine
with you.”
“ I’m glad I did too.”
“ I suppose you’ll be leaving as soon as this storm is over.”
“ Not right away. I’ve had a change of plans.”
She dropped her eyes from mine knowing exactly what I meant. I spoke
something new to her. I asked her a question “ What do you do in your spare
time, when you’re not in the bakery?’
“ I have a house behind the bakery where Sal and I live. There’s a garden
in the back of the house that I take of. It’s not much of a garden, but it gives
me happiness to see the roses and dahlias in bloom. Then too, I volunteer
my time at the mission hospital in the evenings. What do you do when
you’re in England?”
“ Mostly take care of Paloma. The ship needs it’s bottom scraped of
barnacles or or new paint here and there. Its seams may need caulking.
There’s a lot to do to keep her sea worthy. What kind of volunteer work do
you do at the hospital?”
“There’s a gift shop I supervise. We sell all kind of things, including
newspapers and magazines.” She changed the subject quickly now, away
from what she did back to me. “ Why do you do it. I mean go to sea?”
“It’s in my blood, I couldn’t be happy doing anything else.”
“ A very dangerous life.”
“ Yes, but when the wind is fair and sea’s calm, there’s nothing on earth
that can compare to it. There’s freedom from the blare of city life, the need
to earn a bob or two dong whatever it takes to earn a living. I prefer the sea
and taking my chances on it.”
“There has to be a time when you have to give it up.”
“ True, but that time hasn’t come yet.”
She let that rest, talking about he weather again. “ Maybe we should go
back before it rains.”
I didn’t want to take her back to the bakery, but agreed it probably was
the wisest thing to do. We finished out wine and bread, leaving Pietro’s to
walk quickly along the pier toward her shop before the rain began. The wind
had picked up and the crafts in their slips were bobbing up and down to the
action of the waters.
We didn’t beat the rain. I t caught us full in the face drenching and
wetting us through. Her hair came down, and her mascara ran. We finally
got to the bakery just when the thunder and lightning began. As I opened the
door for her, I spoke a few parting words. “ I want to see you again.”
She smiled her yes, just as Sal came to see if she were alright.

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