Tutti Italia: A Novel

by Jordan, Deena

  “Ok, dad. Be right down.” She went back into her room and picked up one of the two suitcases that were taking up the majority of the floor space. She lugged it down to the car and stuffed it in the back of her dad’s Ford Escape. One down, three to go. She decided that she was going to put the two suitcases in the back and her backpack for her carryon was going to go in the back seat with her. She put all of her ticket information and itinerary in her fanny pack and brought that down as well. She look like a dork for wearing one, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t going to take the chance of getting robbed and being stuck at an airport with no way to get to where she needed to go.

  She slammed the back closed and went back into the house. She’d already laid out her outfit for today. So she grabbed a quick shower, brushed her teeth, actually blow dried her long hair for once, and then got dressed. It was now ten in the morning. In order to get to the airport two hours early like her airline required they had to leave the house at around two thirty. Detroit was a long way off from her little town and her dad had calculated not only the time it would take to get there but also some leeway for traffic just in case.

  “Is there any last minute shopping that you need to do?” her dad asked her.

  “Nope, I think I’m ok.” Rachel’s mom came up from the office and handed her a red, leather bound journal.

  “Don’t open it now, read it when you’re on the plane, ok?” Rachel promised she would. “Ok, let’s take Molly for a quick walk. Then we can hit the road and grab lunch where ever the fancy strikes us.”

  They were at the park, making the mile long loop that was provided, and just spending some good quality family time together as their time got short. Molly was having a blast. She was chasing squirrels and geese along the edge of the pond, and running around with her ears flapping in the breeze. Rachel was walking between her parents and an overwhelming feeling of love struck her. They had taken such good care of her all of her life. Now it was time to leave the nest and make it on her own. She hoped that she would be able to make them proud of her. After all, they deserved it.

  Once they finished the loop, Molly was completely worn out, and they all bundled back into the car. Molly jumped right on her mom’s lap and fell asleep. They drove in the direction of the airport at a leisurely pace. There was a sign for a Ground Round about a half an hour into the drive and Rachel requested that they go there for lunch. It struck her that this was the last family meal she would have for a long time. Maybe even for a few years. It brought a tear to her eye that she dashed away hastily but she didn’t want her parents to see her crying. She was twenty years old!

  They left Molly in the car for the little while it would take them to eat, and she promptly curled up on her blanket and went back to sleep. All that running around must have really tired her out. Once they’d gotten seated and ordered, it was a quiet meal. No one really wanted to say anything about the upcoming goodbyes that would have to be said. They ate their food, packed up a little doggy bag for Molly and went back to the car. The airport was only another twenty minutes or so away, and even with heavy traffic, they still had plenty of time. Rachel’s dad dropped her and her mom off at the front door for her airline and went to find a parking spot.

  “Go ahead and get in line, I’m going to wait for your dad so he knows where we are.” Rachel did as she was told, and she made it almost all the way up to the counter by the time her mom and dad came over to her. She got her boarding pass and put it in her fanny pack. They all headed over to security where Rachel hugged them both fiercely, and let her tears show. She was on her own now.

  Chapter 3

  Rachel made it through the security station without a hitch. She turned around to see her parents waving at her one last time. She waved back, knowing they would stand there until she was out of sight. She shouldn’t be as torn up about leaving as if she were five and this was her first day at school, but she’d been living with her parents for twenty years, and now she was leaving to be on her own for the first time. She wouldn’t have them there to hold her when life went wrong. She looked down at her boarding pass and found the gate she needed to get to. There was a large map of the terminal in front of her, and she walked over to it to match up where she was and where she needed to go. The boarding pass told her that boarding started at five fifteen. She checked her watch. It was only four. She had plenty of time to look in the little stores that lined both sides of the walkway. She noticed a Barnes and Noble first, and wiped away the last of her tears as she went in. She had to be tough now. Her parents would expect that of her. They’d raised her right, and now it was up to her.

  Rachel lost herself in the unique little stores, but she didn’t buy anything. The prices on some of those items were absolutely ridiculous! There was no way she would pay five dollars for a candy bar. The only store that actually had decent prices was the book store. She chuckled to herself, and that was only because the prices were on the books themselves. There was no way that they could make the price tag say whatever they wanted. It was now five, and she had to hurry to her gate. She made it just in time. She watched as one of the flight attendants went behind the check in counter and spoke into the microphone for the PA system.

  “Now boarding Flight 357 from Detroit to Treviso. We are now boarding handicapped passengers and passengers with small children.” That meant she would have about fifteen minutes or so until her section was called, so she decided to make good use of her time and use the bathroom one last time. It was about a nine hour flight, and she didn’t want to fight for the bathroom on the plane if she didn’t have to. Once she was finished, she hurried back to the gate only to find that they had just begun boarding the section ahead of her. She looked out of the window at the machine that was going to take her away from everything and everyone she knew to an area she had never been to, and was excited and yet nervous of being in. Her section was called, and she got in line. When she got to the counter, the lady looked at her boarding pass and her passport, matched the picture to her face and scanned it.

  “Have a nice flight.” The woman smiled at her as she handed her everything back.

  “Thank you.” Rachel returned the smile, took a deep breath and entered the gangway. She set foot on the plane, and another flight attendant asked what her seat number was. Rachel told her and the woman pointed her in the direction she needed. She had a window seat, and the plane didn’t really seem too crowded, so maybe she would have the other seat to herself. She looked out of the window and watched as a man drove a little train of carts over to the loading area at the foot of the conveyor belt leading into the plane. He was putting luggage on the belt, one suitcase at a time, and she made a little game out of it to see if she could find her suitcase, or if it had already been loaded. She watched for about ten minutes, as the man emptied his train and went back for more. Even as riveted on his actions as she was, she didn’t see her own bags. Oh well, they must have been a train load or two ahead of the first one she’d watched. She looked up and noticed that there was no longer an influx of passengers, just a lonely one here and there. The seat next to her was still empty, so she might get her wish. She heard the metallic ping that signaled the PA system coming on.

  “Good evening. This is Flight 357 from Detroit to Treviso, and this is your captain speaking. We will be second to take off on the runway, and it looks like we have a nice tailwind to help us out. The flight will be approximately eight hours and forty-five minutes long. Flight attendants please take your seats for takeoff.” The plane had started moving so softly that Rachel hadn’t even noticed it. They had already pushed back from the gate, and were now approaching the runway. The flight attendants made one last quick run to check everyone’s seatbelts before they took their own seats and strapped themselves in. The engines picked up speed and Rachel gripped the armrests of her seat. This was the part of flying that she liked. Going from completely stationary to screaming down a runway, getting pushed back in your seat by the G Force when the plane
’s nose rose and the wheels lifted up into the air. She looked out of the window. The plane was still not moving, but she could hear the engines roar. A second later, she watched as the signs and the painted dashes of the runway disappeared. She couldn’t help smiling as she felt the speed in her belly. She settled back in her seat and felt exactly when the wheels left the ground. She glanced next to her and noticed that the seat was still empty. Good. That meant that she could stretch out a little if she wanted to take a nap. She listened to her ears pop, once, twice, three times before the captain announced that they had reached their cruising altitude and that handheld electronics could now be safely used. Rachel stared out of the window, watching the world as they zoomed by.

  “Would you like anything to drink, ma’am?” A flight attendant with a beverage cart was trying to grab her attention.

  “Oh yes, please. Um, do you have apple juice?” The woman nodded and poured her a glass, then handed the rest of what was in the can to her as well. “Thank you.” The woman smiled and continued on to the back of the plane. Being a flight attendant wouldn’t be such a bad job. You could see the world and even stay a night or so in the places that you touched down in. That seemed like a job that Rachel wouldn’t say no to. The screen in the back of the seat in front of her came on, and she took out her headphones, plugged them in, and took out the little game console that was in the armrest of her seat. It had a whole slew of movies she could pick from, radio stations she could listen to, and games she could play. This was going to be a good flight.

  The PA system woke her up. Rachel sat bolt upright as the captain asked the flight attendants to take their seats for their descent into Italy. She’d been watching a romance movie and fallen asleep apparently. She quickly stashed the game console back in her seat and watched as the screen in front of her turned black once more. She took off her headphones and put them in the bag at her feet. Right now, the plane was drifting through a cloud so all she could make out was fluffy whiteness outside her window. She waited, albeit impatiently, for the cloud cover to disappear. It was sunny out, and it gave her a good outlook on what was to come. She could now see the ground, and what she saw reminded her so much of Germany that she felt a pang of homesickness. The red tiled roofs, the patchwork of fields, and the sparkling rivers that ran through everything. She had to take a deep breath to steady herself. This was not her home. This was somewhere brand new that she’d never been to before and that she would have to pay careful attention to. Even though she was worried about what was going to happen once she got off the plane, the beauty of the Italian countryside wasn’t lost to her.

  She felt the touchdown of the wheels, and watched as the flaps on the wing rose to increase the wind resistance. The plane came to a halt at the gangway, and the captain switched the seatbelt sign off. She stood up to stretch and let the blood flow back into her legs, but she wasn’t going to try to fight her way out in to the walkways of the plane. She was towards the middle of the plane, and she would wait until most of the passengers had cleared her area before she would try to get off. In the meantime, she would just stretch, and yank her backpack out from under the seat in front of her. She was worried again, now that the plane had landed. What if no one came to pick her up? She didn’t have a number to call. Her cell phone didn’t work here, anyway, because it needed an American tower to bounce the signal off of. What if she couldn’t find her bags? What if the airline had lost her luggage? After all, she hadn’t seen the guy with the luggage train load her bags, it could be possible. She shook herself mentally and told herself to get a grip. There was no reason to worry yet. Nothing bad had happened. When it did, she could freak out as much as she pleased, but until then, she wouldn’t let anything bother her. She finally deemed the line of people exiting the plane as short enough, so she swung her backpack on her shoulders and got in line. Every step she took now was a step towards her new, and hopefully bright, future.

  She followed the line of passengers, off the plane, into the terminal, and into the directions of customs. She got in the shortest line she could find and waited her turn. The man took her boarding pass and passport, compared the picture to her, stamped her passport and gave it all back to her. That was so much easier than back in the states, she thought, as she followed the flock of people from her flight down a flight of stairs to the baggage claim. She found the one for her flight and was lucky enough to find a spot right up front next to the conveyor belt. She stood there and waited for about ten minutes before the belt started moving. Five minutes after that, the first suitcase came down. She stood there, waiting, watching the people around her claim their bags and go on their merry way. There were barely any people left around the baggage claim, and Rachel was starting to worry that the airline had lost her luggage. Two more people grabbed their suitcases from the belt, and then she saw one of hers. Breathing normally again, she pulled it off the belt and waited for the second one. It took two more rotations of the belt before she found it.

  “See? Nothing to worry about. Your bags made it,” she said to herself. She pulled the handles out of both of her suitcases and began to roll them to the sliding glass exit doors. She walked out, searching for a sign with her name on it. There, all the way at the end, was a young woman holding up the sign she’d been looking for. She let out a deep breath. So far, so good.

  Chapter 4

  Rachel took a deep, relaxing breath. Someone was here for her. She wasn’t going to be stranded here in a country where she couldn’t speak the language to be left to her own devices. She plastered a nervous smile on her face and headed down to the girl on the end. She set down the handle of one of her suitcases and extended her hand. The girl shook it.

  “Ciao, bella.” The smile slipped from Rachel’s face. How was she going to communicate with this girl, when she couldn’t speak Italian?

  “I’m sorry, I don’t speak Italian.” The girl laughed.

  “That’s no problem, I speak both. So, is this everything you have?” Rachel looked down at her meager suitcases. It really did look like slim pickings considering that she was supposed to have a life here from now on. She felt a mild depression settle itself over her.

  “Yes, that’s all I brought with me. I was still living at home with my parents, so I didn’t bring an apartment full of furniture or anything.” She felt a little defensive trying to explain this to her. Then she stopped talking. She didn’t have to explain anything to her. This was not how it was supposed to go. Rachel had thought of it so differently in her mind. The girl reached down and grabbed the handle of the suitcase Rachel had let go of.

  “Well, if you follow me, I can take you to your new home. You must be very tired by now.” Rachel stifled a yawn, and simply nodded. She took up her burden again and followed the girl. It was hard to look at the faces of the people around her. This was definitely a culture shock. The women were all so thin and beautiful, that Rachel felt like the ugly duckling. The men were handsome as well, and she did her best not to look at any of them. She didn’t want to lose the girl she was supposed to be following. The way everyone around her was dressed, it was like they had their best, most expensive outfits on just for the airport. Everywhere she looked there were designer tags that she knew had to be expensive. She suddenly felt very insignificant. They would be able to peg her for American from miles away. She had hoped that she would be able to blend in a little, at least, but nothing in her suitcases or even her closet at home was going to compare to what she saw these people wearing every day. She kept her eyes on the ground in front of her and on the girl that was pulling her other suitcase instead. Those views were a lot less depressing. The girl came to a stop at the back of a shiny silver car. She popped open the trunk and put Rachel’s suitcase in. Then she waited politely for Rachel to catch up so she could load her other bags in with it.

  “Thank you for helping me with my bags. I’m Rachel by the way.” The girl slammed the trunk of her car closed.

  “It’s no problem. My name is Ele
na. It’s a little bit of a drive, so if you want to look out the window, or you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.” Rachel smiled at her. This might not be so bad after all. She seemed very friendly at least. Rachel got in Elena’s car, and the new car smell was obvious. She wasn’t sure if the car was actually new or if it was only an air freshener, but she liked the smell and it helped her to reconnect to a happy memory of her family on a road trip. She looked out the window as Elena drove them carefully out of the airport parking lot. The way the Italians drove was scary to Rachel. It was a fast paced world, with little concern for other drivers, and it worried her a little bit in case she had to try to keep up with them. She wasn’t usually an aggressive driver.

  The countryside slipped by as the day wore on, and she could see vineyards almost every few miles. Up in the mountains, she could see that there was snow, and that the sun was shining majestically on them. This was a sight that warmed her heart considerably. She loved to see beautiful places, it always made her feel like everything was going to be wonderful and as long as there was scenery like this, no evil could be done anywhere near her. She found herself smiling at the mountains as they passed by. Elena had a soft Italian music station playing, and it was easy for Rachel to lose herself in the sights. It seemed like every town they passed had at least one soccer field. She could see them from the road and it made her grin even bigger. Rachel loved soccer. She’d been playing since she was six years old. Seeing that soccer was as big here as it was in Germany made her feel more and more at home.

  “I see you smiling a lot over there, what do you see?” Rachel had almost forgotten that Elena was there. She snapped herself out of her reverie to look at her.

  “I’m from Germany, and it just looks so much like home, that I’m remembering how life was before we moved. My mother’s parents are still there, and it’s making me wonder how far away they are from where ever we will be. I wouldn’t mind going to visit them.”