When the morning comes

41 | complicated brotherhood

"Be good, okay?"

"Why? So I will not put your raising to shame?" Benjamin challenged me, stuck out his tongue before he ran off to his Nonna. My eyes rolled slowly, but a chuckle escaped from my lips nonetheless. I turned to Vincenzo and Raffaele, wondering what their plans were for today seeing they wanted to take me somewhere, for some quality time, as well as a day away from my responsibilities.

"Zev, fratello, you are not ready for today." Vincenzo ran his fingers through his dark brown hair, wiggled his left eyebrow while packing bags full of water bottles and pasta. Something physical, it seemed. "We will see if you have done something about your physical fitness." Throwing one of the backpacks towards me, I caught it just before it could hit my face. "Starting off, keep that on your back for the whole trip."

"Well, you left me wondering now." I let out a laugh, watched how Rafaelle and Vincenzo both had another backpack resting on their backs. "What are we going to do?"

"You still have no clue? Povero tesoro.." Rafaelle smacked his hand against my back. "Hike. All the way up that mountain over there. On the top, rent a mountain- bike, cycle all the way back down. Let's go!" He clasped his hands together, kissed his wife and children and grinned. "Prepare, Zev. It's going to be a long day."

I didn't mind that. A hike and a mountain bike trip seemed perfect to empty a mind.

"Mamma! Prepara la cena in anticipo. Avremo fame!" Vincenzo winked at Nonna, making me wonder what he'd just said.

"Sì! Perché papà non sa cucinare!" Benjamin bursted out into laughter when he looked at me. When more eyes turned my direction, I figured Benjamin said something about me, but since his Italian had bettered and mine had worsened, I didn't understand what he told them.

It made me feel left out. The type of feeling when the older boys at school would talk in a bro code kind of way when younger boys stood near, leaving you hanging. I just smiled, stared at Benjamin, wondering when his Italian had become so good, also trying to get the translation out of him, but he only stuck out his tongue in response.

"Looks like the meat is not the only thing we're roasting today." Rafaelle unlocked the car and plopped down behind the steering wheel, motioning for us to sit down. Cappuccino, his Golden Retriever hopped in, too.

"I see. Nice tactic. Speaking dirt about your father in another language he doesn't quite understand." I pursed my lips and quickly wore my seatbelt when he sped off, my cheek almost colliding with the headrest of the seat in front of me.

Their laughter was loud, drilling my ears. But I guess you get used to it, when you marry a girl who grew up in an Italian household.

We flew through the hairpin bends with Rafaelle's old Fiat 500 Oldtimer, Aurora's dream car. I wasn't sure if the noises that came from the car were supposed to be there, but with his foot drumming on the gas, the car just went through.

He rammed the brake like we'd just hit a grandma crossing the road, but when I saw the neat white lines upon the road, I figured we had just parked. I glanced at the dog, hoped nothing'd hit him, but when he looked back at me, his eyes screamed that this happened each time and nothing was going on. "Alright, amici! Let the adventure begin."

The space in the back of the car had been tight, so when I stretched my legs after stepping out, I let out a breath of relief. I lifted my face to the sun, closed my eyes for a brief moment to soak it up. If only this climate would blow over to England.

"Hey! Fratello! We don't have all day."

I jogged over to them.

With our sunglasses resting upon our noses, bottles of water in our hands and the sweat slowly trickling down my face already, we started the hike. The sun was warm, but the breeze was a little cool, which made it more than bearable. We walked in silence for a while, enjoying the nature the way it was. Cappuccino ran before us, marking his territory every time he'd had the chance to.