First up, Antonetta Fiore de Luca. But she's never called that. This is Netta, the matriarch, the cook, Reese's right-hand lady. She's also fifteen. I often have to remind myself that she's fifteen. I don't think she remembers either.
Then there's Ascanio Oreste de Luca, her little brother. At ten years old, he's the baby of the group and I have a soft spot in my heart for this chubby little philosopher.
This segment is again told from Liv's POV. (I most frequently use Liv's, she has this grouchy method that I kinda click with.) I hope you understand everything, most of the characters in this book seem to have very thick accents.
Reese sat at the head, at his left on the stool was Kutch, then Suyin, and then a tiny, chubby boy with tan skin and large, serious, sensitive brown eyes under his black, cowlicked hair. He was a handsome little fellow, Ascanio, his tiny mouth pursed in seemingly perpetual thought. I sat on the other side with Buskin, who was leaning forward, elbows on the table, to discuss something eagerly with Suyin and Ascanio, who listened with grave interest. I was trying to speak with Reese and Kutch about the possibilities of war with France, but it was difficult with Kutch. He was watching the green arch, and, at intervals, bashing his knife against the table and yelling at the top of his lungs, drowning conversation,
“Netta! I’m starvin’! Where’s the grub?”
There was a string of Italian yelled in response. Ascanio looked up from the steady stream of chatter.
“Kutch, she saya you head be fill’ with cow guts.”
Kutch shut his mouth and shot the little boy a glance out of the corners of his eyes.
“Aye. Thankee, ‘Scanio. Nettaaaaa! I’m a hungry headful o’ cow guts!”
First a big pot appeared around the arch, clouds of steam billowing from its top, its handles clutched by two strong brown hands protected by rags. Then a slender but supple young girl followed, supporting the weight easily, dressed only in a loose blouse and a cream-colored skirt, and with a flick of her neck she tossed the dark locks of bushy, curly hair out of her olive-skinned face. It was a noble, elegant face, annoyance playing about the beautifully curved lips and a grudging smile in the bright eyes.
“You a gonna let me carry thees, eh you, you big man?” she demanded, even though I knew she was having no trouble whatsoever.
Kutch jumped off his stool, sprang off the table, narrowly clearing my head, and swept the pot, rags and all, from Netta’s hands.
“Oh aye, let him take the whole thing,” Buskin snorted.
“Good luck to us ever seein’ a bit o’ that,” Reese chuckled.
Nonetheless, Kutch still brought the pot to the table and set it on the wooden board in the middle. I didn’t know why Netta fussed so much over the table, it was damaged enough already. She settled next to Buskin, tapping his backside to indicate that it belonged on the bench-- we were about to eat-- then began dishing out bowlfuls of rice covered with fish and sauce.
“Wha’d’ye call thes?” asked Kutch, shoveling in a mouthful with his fingers.
“Risotto.”
“Risotto.”
“No. Ri-soh-to.”
Clenching his fingers together, Kutch leaned forward and shook them at her.
“Risotto!”
She twisted her mouth at the fingers.
“You no have to--”
“Yeah, I do,” he said, leaning back with a smile.
So there they are, my little Paesani. I hope you like them! Tell me exactly what you think of them though, be cruel! This particular sampling doesn't feature much Ascanio, but there's more to come!
God bless!
Awesome!! I was reading a friend's story lately, and as I've been reading both of yours, something that they have in common struck me. Your characters are so original, effortlessly. I don't remember who it was who said it, but it doesn't make it any less true, that when you stop worrying so much about originality and begin to simply tell the message you want to communicate, that is when you will discover true uniqueness in your work. I think both of you have that down, and it's a fantastic lesson to me, as a struggling-to-grow-better writer. Anyways, that's something I love about your writing and I thought you should know;)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Margaret! I really appreciate it. I used to worry about that sort of thing too, but now I've realized when something's similar, hey, I'm not copying, you're not copying, no one's copying, so it's all good! If you don't worry about originality and write from the gut, then your characters will turn out original anyway. Though I don't think I have to tell you this so much, your characters are plenty original on their own! I really can't wait to see more of them. How's your writing coming along?
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