To Find a Mountain

Chapter Fourteen

When there was a knock on the door and I opened it, a flood of warmth swept through me when I saw that it was Lauretta. She didn’t say anything at first, just hugged me hard.

I desperately did not want to cry, but I couldn’t stop myself. When Lauretta was hugging me, although I felt ashamed at displaying so much emotion, it felt good to be patted on the back and to have my hair stroked by Lauretta’s big, callused hand.

After a pause, she spoke. “Benedetta, we are very sorry to hear about your father.”

Before I could answer, Iole and Emidio raced down the stairs and gave Lauretta hugs.

Lauretta caught my eye and an exchange was made. The little ones had not been told about Papa, and would not be told until I heard from the men in the mountains that Papa had not been seen. Only then would I be truly convinced that he was dead.

“Are these two good little helpers, Benny?” Lauretta asked.

Iole and Emidio looked at me, devilish smiles on their faces, daring me to answer in the negative.

“When they want to be,” I said, raising my eyebrows at them as if to say ‘care to disagree?’

She looked around the house, and I assured her that we were alone for the moment. Colonel Wolff had left in the morning before I could speak to him. I had to accept the act as a sign that I would not be punished for my outburst. I was not sure how I would handle facing him again. I would apologize if I had to. I needed to take care of my family now. The Germans could be ruthless and usually were, so I saw no good in putting ourselves in any more danger. There was plenty to go around for everyone.

Zizi Checcone opened the door behind me.

“Lauretta Fandella! How are you?”

“We are doing well, Signora Checcone.”

“How are your parents?”

“Mother is busy, but we are managing to make ends meet.”

“Good, good,” said Zizi Checcone.

“Benny,” Lauretta began. “Can you go for a walk with me?”

I started to say no, thinking of the bread that still needed to be baked as well as the laundry to be washed, but before I could reply, Zizi Checcone answered for me.”

“Go Benedetta. Walk with your friend.”

“But there is bread to be baked…” I started to say.

“I have been baking bread all my life, I think I can do it one more time without your help,” Zizi Checcone said. “Go, you need to get out and talk to someone your own age before you go crazy here.”

“Thank you, Signora Checcone.” Iole and Emidio stood looking at me, silently asking if they could come along, too. I gave them each a squeeze. “You two be good while I’m gone.” I just couldn’t stand keeping things from them much longer, and Lauretta would be someone I could speak openly with.

“I’ll be back in an hour or two,” I said.

Zizi Checcone nodded and put her arms around my brother and sister, leading them back into the house. Lauretta and I began walking, silently at first, out of town, an unspoken agreement to head for a large outcropping near the peak of the mountain just outside Casalveri. It was a favorite place for the young people of the village to go; many families, before the war, went there for picnics. Now, it was all but abandoned.

It took us almost a half hour to get there, and on the way, I asked Lauretta if she had heard anything about her father, and if he had joined a band of ribellí.

“I’m not allowed to talk about it,” Lauretta said firmly. “But I can tell you that he is keeping busy in the mountains.”

“Has he heard anything about my father?”

Lauretta looked at me.

“I was wondering if you had considered that possibility,” she said.

“That Papa didn’t die?” I said.

“A lot of men have disappeared from the front,” Lauretta said. “The Germans assume most of them died, but probably suspect some ran away. But we know the truth; that many of them end up in the mountains, where it is awful, but safe.”

I was silent, still imploring her to answer my question.

“We have not gotten word from the ribellí for several days now,” Lauretta said. “Hopefully we will again soon. I will ask about your father, Benedetta.”

“Thank you.”

We had made it to the top of the peak, where a small clearing had been made well back from the treeline. There was a cool breeze up here, and from the viewpoint, everything, including Casalveri, looked deceptively peaceful. A hawk slowly cruised below us, hunting its prey.

We sprawled out on the green grass, facing each other.

“I hope this will all be over soon,” I said.

“This is terrible,” Lauretta agreed. “No men! Even the Germans are too occupied, so to speak!”

We both burst into a fit of laughter.

“I’ve finally got some nice sized breasts and there’s no one around to notice it!” she said, cupping her breasts, as if appraising diamonds.

“If our men weren’t fighting the Germans, they’d be fighting over those things,” I said, pointing to her breasts.

“I need a man to plant a flag between them and claim them as rightfully Italy’s. Our national treasures!”

We both collapsed laughing again.

“This war better not last too much longer, Benedetta. Or we’ll be old maids and too late.”

“I hope we live to be old maids.”

“I don’t,” Lauretta said. “I’d rather die young, beautiful and the object of some man’s lust than a dried-up old hag.”

Then we heard the explosions.

The sound was incredibly loud and we both jumped to our feet. Even though we knew it had to be several miles away, the immediacy of the explosions caught us off guard.

Gradually, we began to hear the drone of engines. Lauretta and I looked at each other, fear and wonderment on our faces. I looked at the treeline as the sound of the engines got closer. I judged they were too far away for us to make it there in time and as if to support my guesswork, out of the clouds directly in front of us flew an American bomber with three fighter escorts.

The sound was suddenly so loud that we both clasped our hands over our ears.

Suddenly, one of the fighters broke from its formation and came straight at us. I could feel the eyes of the pilot upon us, imagined the muzzles of the machine guns located in the plane’s wings pointed right at me, the bullets ready to rip our bodies to shreds.

We stood frozen in fear as the plane came nearer and nearer.

Then the plane tipped from side to side.

“He’s waving!” Lauretta yelled at me and she swung her hand over her head, in a wide sweeping motion, waving back.

The last thing I saw as the plane rocketed off was a quick glimpse of the American pilot, his leather helmet and goggles stretched tightly over his head as he waved his hand at us.

And he was smiling.

Lauretta looked at me and then me at her and without a word, we raced back to Casalveri.