Changes of Heart Read online

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  CHANGE OF HEART

  The car was winding its way up the sinuous mountain road at dusk. Sally thought it was beautiful how the tops of the mountains remained in bright sunlight while all the rest was already dark.

  "Poppa, I'm cold," Tonino told Paolo.

  "Here, put these newspapers over you,” Sally said to Tonino, “They're not as good as a blanket but they might help." She turned in the front seat to tuck the papers around the shivering boy in the back.

  "Who would have expected it to get this cold so suddenly," Sally said to Paolo. "If I had known, I certainly would have put a blanket in the car. But it was so hot in the city."

  "It's the mountains. It's always much cooler up here," Paolo explained.

  "Poppa, I'm still cold."

  Sally asked him, "Do you want us to stop and get a sweater out of the trunk?"

  "In 10 minutes we're going to stop for the night," Paolo said to Sally. "Tonino," he continued,” Just hold on. It's going to be much better very soon."

  Sally took off her summer blouse, which she had been wearing as a small jacket over a skimpy tank top, and gave it to Tonino.

  "Maybe you could put my blouse around your neck and shoulders--here like that."

  "You'll freeze in that skimpy top," Paolo told her.

  "You said we were almost there," Sally answered.

  "Yes. Are you still cold?" Paolo asked his young son.

  "Only a little," he answered.

  "Well, aren't you going to say 'thank you' to Sally," Paolo asked.

  "Poppa, can I have some little spaghetti's for dinner," Tonino responded.

  -----

  The terrace of the rustic resort came right to the edge of a steep ridge with a spectacular view of the mountains and valley below. A pathway for hikers led from the terrace to the surrounding areas. Sally was enjoying the fresh air from a lounge chair on the stone terrace while she waited for Paolo and Tonino, who had gotten up much earlier. They came up the path all glowing from their morning walk.

  "Hi guys," she said lazily, "where did you go?"

  "We got tired of waiting for you to come down," Paolo teased, " so we took a stroll”.

  He pointed down the grassy slope. “We wound up in that field over there, surrounded by a flock of sheep."

  “Surrounded!….weren't you afraid?" Sally, the New Yorker, asked.

  "They're harmless," Paolo laughed. "Remember, they’re called ‘sheep.’"

  "I liked the little lambs, Poppa. Didn't you?" Tonino said.

  "Little lambs! You know, I have never actually seen a real live lamb!" Sally told Tonino. "Did you get to hold or play with one?" she asked him. Tonino didn't answer her.

  "Well, did you play with the lambs?" Paolo repeated to him, scolding. Tonino became agitated.

  "Where is my bathing suit! You didn't forget my bathing suit again, did you!" Suddenly he bolted off towards the hotel.

  "Stop running!" his father called. "You'll fall and hurt yourself--or someone else!"

  "Maybe it was not such a good idea to bring me along just now," Sally said.

  "We have to do this sometime," Paolo told her.

  -----

  The lovely afternoon was perfect for a swim in the large lake that lapped at the hotel's long front lawn. The only problem was that its shoreline was rocky and shallow with visible undergrowth. They decided to row out to the sparkling middle.

  "Let's row out past all those weeds so I can swim," Sally told Paolo who automatically took up the oars, and began moving the boat with his firm strong arms.

  "I want to swim too," Tonino said to his father.

  "You don't know how," Paolo said.

  "I'll teach you to swim," Sally told Tonino.

  "Poppa, will you show me how to swim?"

  "I don't feel like swimming today," Paolo said.

  "Here's a good spot," Sally decided. "It looks like we're far enough away from the weeds." Paolo pulled in the oars and let the boat drift slightly.

  "Are you coming in too?" she asked him.

  "I don't know. Maybe not."

  Sally took off Paolo's large white shirt which she had worn over her dark one piece bathing suit. She put her legs over the side from the end of the wooden bench so she wouldn't tip the boat over, and then leaning forward, she shoved herself in. Her cry of "Yikes!!" was overshadowed by the loud splash she made hitting the water. Paolo laughed and lit a cigarette.

  "Poppa, don't smoke a cigarette! Take me in the water!" Tonino cried.

  "Go in with Sally," Paolo responded slyly.

  Sally shouted from the water to both of them. "Come on in. It's delicious!"

  "It looks cold," Paolo said.

  "No. Wonderful. Fresh. Feels good."

  "Poppa, take me in the water," Tonino pleaded. "I want to learn to swim"

  "Sally will teach you to swim. Look at her. She swims better than I do."

  Sally shouted to Tonino, "Watch me dive under."

  Tonino wanted so badly to go in, he began to cry out of anger and frustration.

  "It's no use crying," Paolo said, "I'm not going in the water today. If you want to go in, go ahead with Sally. It's all up to you, you know."

  Sally swam up to the side of the boat where Tonino was sitting. "Come on in. I'm right here," she said.

  Tonino told his father, "But I don't know how to swim. You know I don't know how to swim!"

  "Well, if I go in it won't be much different than if you go in with Sally. Except you'll learn better."

  "Here, look," Sally said to Tonino, "sit on the rim of the boat with your feet over the side, and I'll let you down easy with my hands around your waist."

  Tonino continued to badger his father. "You finished the cigarette. Can't you go in now?"

  "No. I don't feel like it. Now either sit here in the boat and look at the water or go in with Sally."

  "What can I do if I sit here?"

  "I don't know. You see how Sally can swim. She knows just how to do it."

  "Poppa, I want to swim. I want to swim so much! I told you last year how much I want to swim this summer!"

  "Tonino, please," Paolo said. "Not today. I'm not going in today."

  "Why not!"

  "Because I don't like swimming out here. I like to swim near shore. I'm not such a good swimmer, you know."

  Sally called to Tonino from the water a few feet away. "I can show you how. I won't go too fast. You don't have to put your head under. Don't worry."

  Tonino yelled at Paolo: "You swim! You swim!"

  "I know I swim. I said I don't swim well enough to like it this far out."

  "Well, let's go near the shore then."

  "We can't. It's all weeds." Paolo was beginning to get restless and called out to Sally. "Are you going to be in there much longer? It's getting too hot to sit here. I think we ought to go back."

  "Ok," Sally yelled, "just one more swim out to there and then we can go." Sally swam in the direction of the opposite shore. She felt the soft, silky water flow along her body with each stroke. She hated to leave this soothing buoyancy, but she knew she should let everyone get back to the cool hotel.

  "Are you ready now?" Paolo asked her as she climbed back into the boat.

  "Almost," she said, catching her breath, "and am I hungry!"

  Tonino pouted, "Poppa, I don't want to go back."

  "Why not? We'll have lunch and you can play ball on the grass."

  "I want to go in the water now," he said.

  Paolo hesitated. He wanted to give Tonino the chance to go in the water. It was true he had promised him, and he saw how the desire to swim was tormenting the young boy. He asked Tonino, skeptically: "Are you really going to go in?"

  "Yes."

  "Oh, good!" Sally said, sliding back into the lake. "Here, come down like this."

  Tonino asked his father, "Will you watch me?"

  "Of course."

  Tonino awkwardly put his legs over the side, sat shakily on the rim of the b
oat and held on for dear life. Torn by his desire to swim, he let Sally instruct him from the water.

  "Now just put your arms around me here...no, no...it's alright. I won't go under. I can keep us both up by moving my legs under water...see? Oops! It's all right! I've got you!" she cried as Tonino bravely slipped into the lake. He was shaking with fear as he called to Paolo.

  "Look, Poppa! I'm still up!"

  "Don't worry," Paolo smiled. "Sally won't let you go under if she says so."

  Sally gently told Tonino: "Ok, now lie back. Just back like you were going to sleep. You can feel my hands, can't you, underneath. See how they make a bed in the water. Good. That's good! Now you can do the same thing if you go on your stomach. And then you can use your arms to swim."

  Tonino called nervously to Paolo, "Poppa, Poppa, I'm afraid to go on my stomach! Should I go on my stomach?"

  "Well, how are you doing so far?"

  "Good."

  "Then it will be alright on your stomach."

  "But I'll get water in my face!"

  Sally said, "No, you can keep your head up. I'm going to hold you just still at the very top of the water."

  "Poppa, will I get my face wet?"

  Paolo grinned, "You don't have to." Tonino decided to do it.

  "Oh, that's great! That's great!" Sally said. "Now move this arm like this. And the other like that...See!" Tonino was managing a very rudimentary approximation of a small swim. "That's great!" Sally said.

  "Poppa! I'm swimming!"

  "Be careful," Paolo told Sally.

  "Don't worry," she answered, "I have him tight under here."

  After a few minutes it all became too much for the elated Tonino and he and Sally got back in the boat. Paolo dried him vigorously with a towel.

  "I was swimming, Poppa!"

  "I saw."

  "Let me row," Tonino said.

  "Ho! You swim and now you want to row!" Paolo said affectionately.

  Sally told Tonino, "You're going to be a star athlete."

  "Was I good, Poppa? You saw. I was good, wasn't I ?!"

  "You certainly were, but I'd better row or the hungry Sally will eat us both up."

  "Can I swim tomorrow too, Poppa?"

  "Sure," Sally told him.

  When Paolo finished drying Tonino, and giving him a little love whack on his small behind, he began to row them all back to shore. "Boy, I'm out of shape! I haven't really rowed a boat since last year. Next time, let's not go out this far."

  "It's just the cigarettes," Sally told him, "there's nothing wrong with you that giving up the cigarettes wouldn't help." She asked Tonino, " You're not going to smoke when you grow up, are you Tonino?"

  "No, Poppa," he said.

  "That's right. You're going to be smarter than I am," Paolo said.

  "He already is," Sally teased.

  Tonino involuntarily laughed.

  Paolo told Sally, "You'll regret that. But not yet. Right now I just want to rest awhile, let the breeze blow and see if we can drift part of the way to shore."

  "Let's go in now," Tonino said. "You said I could play on the grass."

  "We are going in. Look how fast we're floating in," Paolo told him.

  "Faster than if your father tried his funny rowing," Sally said.

  Tonino laughed again.

  Sally relaxed. "It's so nice like this. Quiet. Pretty”.

  "Oh," Tonino cried, "look how the sun makes rays down from the clouds. Just like in church!"

  "It must mean you're a saint," Paolo said.

  Tonino giggled, "Don't be silly, Poppa."

  Paolo mimicked him, "Don't be silly, Poppa." Both Tonino and Sally laughed together.

  "Whoops!" Paolo suddenly sat up, as they began to approach the shore. "I guess we got here faster than I thought. Give me that oar, will you, Sally. We're getting too close to those rocks."

  "Here," she said, "but it's going to be even harder to row now with all these weeds. Can I help in some way, Paolo?"

  "Sure. Why don't you get out and push." She and Tonino laughed again.

  Suddenly Tonino bolted up in the boat, standing and pointing. "Look! Poppa, look!" he said excitedly, "Look how you can see to the bottom!"

  "For heaven sake, Tonino, sit down!!" his father yelled at him. He sat down quickly, chastened. Sally winked at him and made him smile. Tonino's good spirits returned. He said “How come when the sun comes out you can see all the stuff and things at the bottom? And it's red down there. How can it be red when the water is blue, Poppa?"

  Paolo started to explain "Well, when the...."

  Suddenly Tonino grabbed Sally by the arm.

  "Sally!! Look over here, Sally!! See all the colors! It's beautiful! Quick, Sally! Before it swims away!!"