We arrived in Rome fresh off the train from Venice. Well, not really fresh, as I had a sneezy virus I’d probably caught on the transatlantic flight several days ago.
Luckily my husband Dirk was still healthy and helped me survive that last leg of the journey: metro from the train; bus from the metro; walk to the apartment we’d booked at a popular online site several days before.
I knocked hopefully on the door. No one answered. I rang the bell. Nothing. My heart sank.
Enzo, our Italian host and entrepreneurial homeowner, wasn’t there.
Our US cellphone didn’t have reception. No wifi. What to do?
A curious neighbor, Isabella, offered advice. “Ah, yes I know Enzo.
will just call him for you. He’ll be right here”. Go to the café and wait”.
Hours later, a slim, smiling gentleman drove up in an impossibly tiny
can of a car.
“I am the Enzo”, he announced. “Did you not get my text message? I sent it today.”
His email from yesterday was clearly no longer applicable.
Enzo explained, “The house key is in the Vespa”….
The key is in the Vespa?
Of course it is. How hadn’t we guessed?
“Let me pay for your cappuccinos” (we had drunk at least four at the local kiosk, run by the patient and rotund “Pini”). Nice gesture. Already paid.
A short drive later we were sitting in his compact kitchen.
Enzo proclaimed we would sleep in his bedroom,
while he would have to sleep “in a tiny attic space”. We felt instantly
guilty. And really confused. Hadn’t we booked and paid for the accomodation?
Later Dirk went into the shower and turned on the spigot. Nothing happened. Some glistening water did slowly appear on the shower head. But those lonely drops refused to fall.
Could a recent toilet flush have triggered a moratorium on the water supply?
Always the optimist, Dirk said he would try again later that night.
Exhausted from the long trip, the hours of waiting, and illness,
I fell into bed. Ouch. The “mattress” was all springs.
Tylenol helped me to ignore the pain.
Things would be better in the morning. Aren’t they always?
Heidi's Travel Writing Poetry Blog 
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