Piccoletto

Forty Five Minutes

Ten minutes. It had been ten minutes since Luca had left Alberto to get a "surprise." At first Alberto was skeptical. Surely Luca was probably going to go hang out with Giulia. Alberto thought he'd wait on the ledge. But still, Luca hadn't returned. It was now twilight, and Alberto kept nervously glancing back behind him. Luca hadn't come back.

By now, a million thoughts were racing across Alberto's mind. What if Luca ran into Ercole? What if Ercole was going to hurt him? What if Luca was lost? What if Luca was with Giulia? Alone? Without Alberto?

That was it. Alberto got up and walked through Giulia's back fence and through the front door. As soon as he entered the kitchen, he saw that the table was already set. Massimo and Giulia, who both hadn't started eating yet, looked up.

"Alberto!" said Massimo delightfully. "Come, sit down! We just finished setting the table. Where is Luca?"

Alberto stared at Giulia, an eerie feeling taking over his body. If Luca wasn't here. . . where was he?

"Oh," said Alberto nervously. "He uh- had to go get something. I'm sure he'll be back soon."

Although Alberto didn't feel this way. Secretly he was terrified. Luca was out in Portorosso. Alone. Without him.

"Ok," said Massimo. "We'll wait for him, then."

Giulia stared at Alberto with a concerned face. Alberto took his seat and the three waited for Luca to come in a painful silence. By now it had been twenty minutes that Luca hadn't come back. Portorosso was small. How come Luca hadn't come back by now?

"So uh, where did you say Luca was?" asked Giulia.

Alberto cleared his throat. "I don't know, exactly. He said he was getting something and that he'd be back soon."

The more Alberto spoke the worse this sounded. Luca had said he was going to be quick, but enough time had passed. And what Ercole said last night only pushed Alberto to go out and look for him. If Luca had stumbled into Ercole. . . Alberto shivered at the thought. Ercole could destroy him. Who knows? Luca could be in the same place that Alberto was in last night. Trapped against a corner, curling up to avoid Ercole's fists. . .

But what could he say? Luca's life was more important than any stupid old vespa. But if Luca wasn't in danger, if he really was just late, then telling Massimo about Ercole would mean they'd have to quit the race for nothing.

"Maybe we can save him some polenta," Massimo said after five minutes. "I'm sure he'll be hungry by the time he's back."

Alberto and Giulia both nodded, and Giulia began to serve herself immediately. But Alberto wasn't hungry. He looked out the side window, praying to see Luca's silhouette getting closer and closer. Until they could all sit down and eat together.

But Luca's silhouette never came. Alberto eyed the plate Massimo had put aside for Luca on the counter. It remained there until the end of dinner. Alberto had painfully forced himself to finish every last bit of polenta and salad.

Forty minutes. Luca still hadn't come back in forty minutes. Alberto excused himself from the table, with the excuse that Luca probably was out biking, and Alberto would go find him. But as Alberto exited the house, he could see the old blue bike leaned up against the stone wall.

Alberto put a hand on the protruding handle as he looked through the center of Portorosso. He couldn't yell too loudly, as he would wake all the residents up. But even worse, he could bring his attention to Ercole. Alberto felt a shiver as his heart felt a feeling of panic and dread he hadn't felt in a while. Forty five minutes had passed.

"Alberto?" a voice came from behind him. Alberto turned around to see Giulia, leaning from around the wall. "Where's Luca?"

"I don't know," Alberto said, his eyes welling up with tears.