My Brother-in-law & Other Stories
By Johnny P. Novera

The sidewalk café

(Rome, Italy): - The sidewalk café in Rome  has become some sort of  institution.  Here is where many  Romans spend  long afternoons, enjoying their cappuccino or pizzas with beer, and so with  some tourists.   During the   summer months of July and August in Rome, the afternoons  are long and the sun  does not set until  9:00 p.m.
Piazza Navona, otherwise known as the Fountain of the Four Rivers, is located in a large square bounded by centuries-old buildings.   Maybe, many people sit  all afternoon here just to listen to the rustling and flowing clear water from the fountain.  Those statues in stone sitting atop the fountain in their birthday suits  must be some venerated Roman gods. We were not able to ask our guide.
   
Souvenir stands   are spread out  in the square, but they fold up during the night, with the operators bringing with them their wares and wastes in covered trash  cans  when  they go home.     That is why, notwithstanding the hundreds of people that visit or stroll  at Piazza Navona,  the square remains clean and garbage-free.

Before long, it was past 7:00 p.m. by our watch and we decided to have dinner at a sidewalk café east of the fountain.  We asked for the menu from an elderly waiter who approached us when we got seated  by making a signal with our hands to describe the menu book.

We do not understand the other items listed, except for pizza and so it is pizza that we ordered.  Wow,  they’re  of platter size and very filling.  We consumed only one and had the other wrapped,  for a midnight snack if  we get hungry, as the bar and kitchen close at 11pm in our  hotel.
 
The check was at euro 8.50 each  or 17 euros for  two pizzas, euro 2.50 for one small bottled water and one canned  beer at  euro 3.50.   We reached out to our coat pocket for a small calculator which we brought with us especially to compute the conversion rates for  things we spend for during this  trip, but it was gone!  It must have dropped from our  pocket somewhere during our tour earlier today. Good riddance, we thought, as we ride back to the hotel on the bus; otherwise, we are sure that we will not enjoy this vacation.