Bella Tuscany
Page 28
Other families were happy, too. “The Greeks” were happy even though their daughter Calliope had polio and had to walk with crutches and go to Warm Springs and lie in an iron lung, that awful water heater turned on its side. The Lanes were happy even though the father drove a potato chip truck for endless hours and the delicate mother had a problem so that their bathroom was stacked to the ceiling with sanitary napkin boxes. I was in awe over how they pampered Rose Ann. My best friend, Edna Lula, was the only child in the perfect family. She was doted on and prettily plump; their house had beds with warm dips in the middle like nests, and French doors that opened onto a long porch with a swing. Happy mother and daddy who called her by a nickname left over from baby talk. I could not be at her house enough. There, I fell under their bountiful love. They thought I was funny. They called me by my family nickname, Bud. There was no chink. Ribbon candy always filled the same dish on the sideboard. We licked peach ice cream off the wooden beater, loved pouring the rock salt slush out of the churn. They were admiring, told jokes, hugged; their garden fish pool had a statue of a naked boy, clean water coming out of his thing, landing on the old goldfish in the murk. There was a baby grand piano. My friend plunked out “Song of the Volga Boatman,” and “Blest Be the Tie That Binds.” Church not only Sunday morning but the evening service, too. (I drew the line at that.)
A hardcover edition of this book was published in 1999 by Broadway Books.
BELLA TUSCANY. Copyright © 1999 by Frances Mayes. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission froma the publisher. For information, address Broadway Books, a division of Random House, Inc., 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036.
Excerpt from Under Magnolia copyright © 2014 by Frances Mayes
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This book contains an excerpt from Under Magnolia by Frances Mayes. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition from Crown Publishers.
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First trade paperback edition published 2000.
Illustration of garden by Janet Pederson
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as:
Mayes, Frances.
Bella Tuscany: the sweet life in Italy / Fances Mayes.
p. cm.
1. Tuscany (Italy)—Description and travel. 2. Tuscany (Italy)—Social life and customs. 3. Mayes, Frances. I. Title.
DG734.23.M378 1999
945´.5—dc21 99-24880
CIP
eISBN: 978-0-7679-1630-1
v3.0_r1