Nicoletta, Part Due

The theme of Nicoletta’s attire today is red. This means red spike heels, a bright red fake Birkin bag along with a red hat and scarf and the requisite matching jewelry, and lots of it. She still wears the dark black sunglasses to cover her eyes but today, at least, they are not as swollen and bruised as when I first met her. She is going to the surgeon this afternoon to get her stitches out and I am very curioso to see what she will look like without the bandages.

Our lesson is interrupted several times by the doorbell—Kenny has come visiting and in quick succession John Bird followed by Kenny’s two travel companions. “Una festa degli uomoni,” says Nicoletta. putting her dark glasses back on and smiling. “Are any of them good looking?” I tell her they are all troppo vecchi and leave it at that.

Last night we met Kenny for dinner at Due Ladroni, on old style restaurant obviously popular with the rich and famous. We are treated like visiting vermin by our waiter who is blatantly contemptuous of us when Kenny asks for burro with his bread and a sweet dessert wine before dinner. (He condescendingly reminds us at the end of the meal that we can leave another 10% tip on top of the bill if we so choose, all this with a leering smile.) All the male customers are very, very tan and very, very old and accompanied by very, very young and gorgeous woman wearing tight clothes and lots of make up.

Something about Italian women and make up. Even early in the morning at the gym, they come in with eyes elaborately and effectively made up. Not planning to sweat, I guess.

And the newcasters. From time to time, I flip on Italian news on the TV on the advice of Nicoletta. She says it will get my ear accustomed to the sound of Italian. That may be so in the distant future but right now I hear a meaningless musical soundtrack punctuated occasionally by a word or two I am so happy to understand. But I love looking at the incredible female newscasters. One looks like a young Claudia Cardinale with a long bouffant hairdo streaming past her shoulders, flawless skin, dramatic eye make up and lots of glittering jewelry. Another has a nose that screams rhinoplasty and bangs so long that she has to blink to keep then out of her eyes. Needless to say, they are all young.