Читать книгу Giulia - Maria Gabriella Zampini - Страница 7

The Mambo was dazzling with light.

Giulia had never been before, at least not since it had changed name a few years earlier and started to play young people’s music.

Back in her day, it was a bit of a dive with just a juke-box for playing music but was known, somewhat incongruously, as Bahia4. She’d head down there with a load of friends, order one drink and a load of straws and stay chatting (or in some cases getting lucky in a dark corner) until the owner threw them out.

And then they’d go to the beach, naturally!

These days, it was brand new and seemed a whole lot bigger. It was really crowded, both on the dancefloor and around the circular bar, and it was difficult to get to the stage where the guys were due to play.

They managed to make some headway but were terrified of damaging their instruments, particularly the long, unwieldy didgeridoo and the bass guitar with its giant amplifier. Exasperated, Giampaolo and Leonardo turned to Andreas:

“Hey, would you mind going to the front? No-one’s paying any attention to us, but they can’t miss you!”

Andreas smiled and nodded, taking big strides as he moved through the crowds.

Giulia couldn’t help but notice how quickly people moved out of the way for him. He towered over nearly everyone else in the place, and those broad shoulders of his commanded respect.

When he reached her, she fell in close behind him, grateful for the protective shield, and he, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, stretched his arms out behind him, pulled her tight against his back and dragged her forward with him.

As they reached the stage, Giulia felt her cheeks start to burn and she squirmed away from Andreas.

‘How can I be so stupid?’ she admonished herself angrily. ‘What the hell am I thinking?’

And then: ‘But, wait a minute, what the hell is he thinking?’

All the usual rules of engagement seemed to go out the window where Andreas was concerned. Giulia had always felt safe with her sons’ friends, perhaps even spoiled by them at times, but only as a kind of adopted mother, nothing more. It was different with him.

She looked round to see whether Ale or Daniele had witnessed what had happened, but there was no sign of them; she did, however, clamp eyes on Leonardo, who gave her a knowing wink.

There was at least half an hour to go before the gig. The five band members got their instruments ready, did some sound checks and swapped places dozens of times, while the other kids attempted to hold back the crowd, who were pushing to get as close to the stage as possible.

Giulia was being shoved and pulled in all directions, barged and jostled by youngsters who were seemingly oblivious to everything and everybody around them. Her top was becoming dislodged and her hair was getting caught up in people’s buttons and jewellery.

She decided to move away from Andreas, whose protective gaze was getting a bit too much. As the gig started, she slowly moved away to a raised platform a few metres from the stage.

“Mamma, what are you doing over there?” Ale shouted, waving furiously to attract her attention. “Come down here with us - you won’t enjoy it from up there!”

Giulia weighed up her options. She wanted to be at the front with all the others, but she just didn’t want to be too near Andreas. The voice inside her head was telling her she ought to keep her distance but, my God, that aftershave she had caught a whiff of...

She began to advance towards the stage, castigating herself yet again: ‘You should be ashamed of yourself! You’re old enough to be his mother! So his aftershave got your hormones going? Just take a sedative and go to bed! What’s an old woman like you doing in a place like this anyway? By now, most people your age are either tucked up in bed, having a civilised meal out or maybe relaxing to some music in a piano bar. What in God’s name are you doing at an Afro-Cuban gig?!’

She continued with the argument inside her head as she edged back into the crowd: ‘But I like Afro-Cuban music. I was listening to this kind of thing before these guys were even born!’

Andreas stood up and pointed to where he had been sitting:

“You sit here, please. I go.”

‘I go...where exactly?’ thought Giulia as she sat down, but when she looked up he had gone. Vanished into thin air.

The gig was awesome. It lasted a good three hours, with only a few short intermissions, and the youngsters really did themselves proud.

Giulia clapped and cheered, then got up and danced uninhibitedly as she closed her eyes and got lost in the rhythm.

A bit later, someone handed her a welcome chilled glass of rum and coke, and then another....she turned to Ale and shouted to him above the music:

“Thanks, son!”

“What for?”

“The rum and cokes!”

“Mamma, if I could afford them I’d be drinking them myself!”

“So where have they come from then?”

“How do I know? Looks like you’ve got yourself an admirer!” Ale winked at her and turned away.

She decided to stop worrying about where the drinks had come from. Worst-case scenario: someone would tell her she owed them the money. She reimmersed herself in the music and thought no more of it.

Eventually, exhausted and dripping with sweat, Leonardo, Giampaolo, Luca, Michele and Edoardo called it a night. Bland dance music came back over the speakers and the band hurriedly started to get their things together. The stage was needed for the podium dancers who would no doubt titillate the guests as the night wore on.

As she helped the band to pack up the remainder of their things, Giulia wondered where Andreas had got to; she realised she hadn’t seen him since the start of the gig.

‘Who knows where he went?’ she said to herself. ‘But why should it matter to you anyway? Maybe he’d found himself a nice young girl of his own age and gone home with her...’ She felt sick at the very thought of it and realised she had fallen for him good and proper. Silly old fool!