THE DAY I PLAYED CHAUFFEUR
I felt lucky that on our last full day in Armena I had a full schedule to take my mind off of the inevitable. When I did the first post for this trip, when it was a trip of anticipation, I filled the page with the joy of planning; that part of the trip that takes place before you hand over that first boarding pass at the airport checkin counter. Having packed our bags for previous trips too numerous to mention I had become familiar with the other half of that travel equation: saying good-bye. At some point I knew we'd be returning the keys for Il Lecco back into Stefania's hands. That's why filling today with repacking bags, going through the frig and discarding the remains of foods we had over purchased and carting Emmy around to the final things that had been on her list way back when Armena was still a thrill in the pit of her stomach, took my mind off of the this day being more of an arrivederci than a hello.
After some intermittent packing I donned my chauffeur's hat and took Emmy on her first appointment, a trip to the nail salon. I don't get the whole thing of painting parts of your body. The only thing I want done with my hands is to apply a magic cream to clear up those age spots that have been multiplying like ants on sugar. Off we went with the instructions that the salon was right next to the pharmacy and that the appointment was scheduled for 12:30. That was all the information we were given. There are two things immediately wrong with this. One, there are several pharmacies in Buonconvento. Two, everything closes at one and doesn't reopen until four. Oh, and there was a third thing: neither of us had the name of the salon, the salon's exact address nor a GPS working phone to find this place. Right off the bat we picked the wrong pharmacy. Emmy went in and tried to persuade the woman behind the counter to do her nails but that woman wasn't going to have anything to do with it. Buonconvento isn't a big metropolis. Here's where my mistake came in. I thought the next pharmacy was only a block or so away. I persuaded Emmy to leave the car where it was and walk to the next pharmacy. It was more than a block. It was hot and it was now approaching the one o'clock closing time. I should have known better. We got there as the town church bell chimed one. Luckily it was the right salon and she got in.
Emmy had admired Stefania's nails and wanted to copy the same pattern on hers. This does not come cheap and it was going to be done on a girl whose next activity was going to be horseback riding. Does anyone else see an accident in the making? I would now have to find a way to spend an hour and half in a town with nothing open while she sat in air-conditioning her hands pampered and wrapped in cotton balls while a manicurist gushed about how lovely her hands were. In the end I must admit they did turn out remarkably well.
When we returned we barely had an hour before we'd have to take off again for the stables and her horseback riding. This turned out to really be her day. I had snuck off earlier in the day and picked up her early birthday gift, a beautiful bag from Pianigiani, a leather shop in Buonconvento selling the most beautiful leather goods. She had coveted this bag the minute we saw it on the first day we arrived at the farm and gone into Buonconvento to look around. They had on display smaller bags and clutches in this rich aubergine color but not a bag like the one she wanted.
If she wanted one in that color they would have to make one and they weren't sure they could get it done before we left. The following day I went back to talk to the sister of the leather designer and we worked it out that they would have it done by the Friday before we were to leave. Today on our return Rick laid it out for her along with a leather passport cover and a wallet both matching the bag. We now had Emmy bagged and nailed and she loved it.
It wasn't but minutes later Stafania arrived with a gift for her as well. It might have been Rick's birthday trip but Emmy didn't do so badly either.
Horseback riding has been one of her passions since she was a little girl. When we had a country house Emmy and a group of girl friends who all belonged to a riding stable where at least once a week they learned equestrian riding skills all the way from dressage to mucking the stalls. Getting on a horse and galloping through the Tuscan landscape was where she was the most confident and happy. What father could deny his child that pleasure?
That night we dined on whatever we could pull from the frig that hadn't molded or was something we could no longer identify as food. Alessandro turned on the pool lights for us on our last night. It was the first time this season he had turned them on. It was beautiful.
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