out a pouch of tobacco and beginning a well-practised ritual. He cannot be much over thirty. That, or he is very well preserved.
‘ Donkeys!’ Michelle is on her feet. ‘I love donkeys.’
Dino slurps to the bottom of his glass, throws some coins on the table, nods to the waiter, and hastens behind her.
The donkeys smell just as she remembers them. She smooths their shaggy coats and pats them.
‘ Juliet and I once skipped school …’ She briefly turns to Dino but almost doesn’t meet his gaze.
‘ Tell me,’ he encourages.
Chapter 4
She pats the donkey. ‘We weren’t very good at school, really. We kind of egged each other on. She’d come up with the ideas, I’d never think she was serious so I would join in, but she always was and then I would find myself actually doing the thing we had been talking about.’ She laughs, realising, all these years later, how petty it really was.
‘ We skipped school and took a bus to Liverpool. We ate candyfloss ….’
‘ Candyfloss, what is this?’ He nods to the donkey owner, who nods in return, and who appears much younger close up, a little older than Dino, with a sad, distant look in his eyes. The cuffs of his thin, denim shirt are frayed, but he has taken the time to trim them; his boots are soft with wear but no longer polished, the light brown stained and mottled.
‘ You know, spun sugar you get at fairs.’ Michelle looks back from the donkey owner to his animals.
‘ Ah, “ malli grias ”, old woman hair’, Dino murmurs.
‘ Then we went down to the beach where there were donkey rides. We had very little money, but it was a dull day and not many people were around, so we begged and pleaded to have a go on a donkey until Juliet said something like, “If people see you standing here doing no trade, they’ll think you’re over-priced or something, but if they see people riding, especially girls like us with no money, they’ll know you’re a bargain and they’ll all queue up.”’
‘ Gift of the gab, she had, and the man was talked into it. But after a few minutes, Juliet got bored so she slapped the rump, you know, the bottom, of my donkey and it went crazy and belted off down the sands. The man and Juliet on her donkey came hurrying after, only for Juliet to lose her grip, and she fell off onto the sand. It was chaos; the man didn’t know whether to chase after me or help Juliet up and make sure she wasn’t hurt. He was livid, but we couldn’t stop laughing.’ Michelle runs her hand along the saddle before turning back to Dino.
‘ Can we?’ she asks, her hand still on the saddle. Her eyes bright, like Mama when she was happy, but something else too. For a tall woman she has grace, the movement of her hand delicate, as if everything she touches might break.
‘ Dino?’
He can’t help smiling . Inside he feels happy when she talks. He turns to the donkey man.
‘ My friend, er …?’ Dino pauses. He has forgotten the man’s name. He knows him by sight, as he knows almost everyone on the island by sight, but he cannot recall if he has spoken to him before. Someone is bound to have said his name at some point or other. Dino twists his hand, palm up, in question.
‘ Yanni,’ the man answers.
‘ Dino,’ he responds. ‘My friend Yanni, she wants to ride the donkey. Is it possible?’
‘ Both donkeys for half a day?’ Yanni asks.
‘ No, I was thinking … ah, OK, why not?’
‘ I will lead.’
‘ No need, my friend. I know where I am going.’
‘ Usually I go where they go.’ Yanni’s grip tightens on the rein.
‘ Well, if you insist, but if I were you, I would take the time to sit and do nothing. Life is hard enough. Take what you can.’ He grins. If Juliet can do it for Michelle then so can he. Yanni’s hand relaxes, and after a moment’s hesitation, he hands Dino the rope and they agree a rate.
‘ Suzi,’ he pats the first animal, and bends and whispers something in its ear, ‘and Dolly.’ He pats the
Phillip - Jaffe 3 Margolin