Читать книгу Are We There Yet? - Дэвид Левитан, David Levithan, Рэйчел Кон - Страница 28

ITALY SHOULD MAKE DANNY FEEL RICH, BUT INSTEAD IT MAKES HIM feel poor. To change 120 (dollars) into 180,000 (lire) should make a man feel like he’s expanded his wealth. But instead it makes the whole concept of wealth seem pointless. The zeros – the measures of American worth – are grotesque, mocking. The woman at the exchange bureau counts out his change with a smile – Look at all the money you get. But Danny would feel better with Monopoly chump change.

He leads Elijah out to the vaporetto launch. It’s quite a scam they’re running – the only way into Venice from the airport, really. It’s one of the worst feelings Danny knows – the acknowledgment that he’s going to pay through the nose, and there’s nothing he can do about it.

“One hundred twenty thousand lire for the men,” the vaporetto driver (the vaporetteer?) says in flawed English.

Danny shakes his head.

“Best price. Guarantee,” the driver insists. Danny can tell he’s been brushing up on his Best Buy commercials. Probably has his American cousins videotape them.

Danny tries three other drivers. Other tourists gratefully take the vaporettos he discards.

“You really expect me to pay one hundred and twenty thousand lire – eighty dollars – for a vaporetto ride?” Danny asks the fourth driver.

“It is not a vaporetto. A water taxi, sir.”

Elijah steps into the boat.

“Sounds great,” he tells the driver. “Thank you.”