The Big Blue Page #13

JACQUES:

Please, have a seat.

JOHANA:

Thank you. I wouldn't want to

interrupt anything.

JOHANA sits down.

JACQUES:

No, no!

ENZO:

Not at all!

JACQUES:

You're staying at the hotel?

JOHANA:

I wish, but it's full. They

recommended a pension in town.

They say that all of Taormina is

full. What's going on here?

ENZO:

It's the Free Diving World

Championship. I am by the way

world champion!

JOHANA has turned toward JACQUES, paying no attention to

ENZO. JACQUES can't stop looking at JOHANA.

JACQUES:

But what brought you to Sicily?

JOHANA:

I was doing an insurance

investigation in Palermo.

(to Enzo)

I work for an insurance company.

(back to Jacques)

So, I decided to take a few days

off.

(uncomfortable)

I don't know this island at all.

It really is gorgeous.

ENZO:

There is no place in the world

more beautiful than Sicily!

The waiter passes behind them. ENZO reaches out, grabs

him by the arm, pulls him to the table.

ENZO:

(to waiter)

A spaghetti del mare for the super

dedicated traveling insurance agent.

JOHANA:

(smiling)

I think I'll have a coffee.

JACQUES:

No, no. You'll like it. It's

superb.

JOHANA:

... Okay. I'll try.

ENZO pours the wine.

JOHANA shrugs fatalistically. The waiter leaves.

JACQUES, intrigued, stares at JOHANA. She pretends not to

notice.

ENZO:

(impatient)

Where did you two meet?

JOHANA:

In a lake.

ENZO:

I might have known.

(to Johana)

As I was telling you earlier, I'm

the world champion free diver.

JOHANA:

Congratulations.

ENZO:

Some people say it's the most virile

sport in the world. One has to

admit that when you see those men

diving head first in that deep

blue sea, all muscles contracted

in one super human effort...

JACQUES:

(interrupting)

Enzo?

ENZO:

(annoyed)

What?

JACQUES:

Your mother?

ENZO:

Ahi, ahi, cazzo! Ma mamia!

Where...? God, she'll kill me...

(pushing the plate

in front of Johana)

... if she catches me eating pasta

in a restaurant.

He quickly brushes off the crumbs in front of him.

ON ENZO'S MOTHER

heading toward them. She's a huge

woman in widow's black.

She shoulders her way through the tables.

ROBERTO carrying her suitcases follows at her heels.

ENZO jumps to his feet. Throws his arms around her.

ENZO:

... Mamma!

MAMMA MOLINARI:

(expressionless)

You expect me to carry all the

luggage myself?

ENZO:

Mamma. Roberto and an elevator...

Isn't that enough?

A beat. Signora MOLINARI inspects the plates on the table.

MAMMA MOLINARI:

(suspiciously)

What have you been eating?

ENZO:

Coffee only, I'm diving tomorrow.

You remember little Jacques, Jacques Mayol...

JACQUES:

(timidly)

Madame...

ENZO:

... And his friend, Johana...

Signora MOLINARI nods grudgingly.

WAITER:

(arriving proudly)

Spaghetti del mare!

Dead silence.

ENZO is the only one with no plate in front of him.

Signora MOLINARI'S eyebrows condense into a dark stripe

across her forehead.

JOHANA hands ENZO'S plate to the WAITER and takes the full

one.

JOHANA:

(to waiter)

Thank you.

And begins to eat, ignoring the expressions of amazement

all around her.

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