It's 10:30AM on Via della Chiesa in Florence. Mama's Bakery is a quiet American spot. Smell those fresh bagels, muffins, coffee and treats? That’s the smell the Californian owner brings to Firenze. You surely want to be inside today – Not even brunch and it’s pushing 100⁰F. Thank God for the AC here in this place that looks basically more modern than anything I have seen in my first two weeks of travel through Italy.
Two Italian women walk in, order bagels in Italian to the bilingual owner, and grab a seat at the other end of the room from me with their dog (who I later learned to be named Diego). I try to secretly observe their conversation and listen in. I understand none of their Italian. However, one woman clad with white skirt and loose orange T, seems to dominate the conversation. As she starts panting and waving her arms, she must be describing being out of breath. A phone rings: the other woman leaves to answer it. Woman 1 trips on Diego on her way to the garbage. The women reconvene, brush the dog away from the garbage, look at me with a "ciao" and leave Mama's Bakery.
Like this very much, Ethan.
ReplyDeleteGreat scene.
Here's a way you could tighten up the scene with the two women (just an example of one more journalistic way to write it):
Two Italian women walk in, order bagels from the bilingual owner, and grab a seat at the other end of the room from me with their dog, Diego. I understand none of their Italian. However, the woman in the white skirt and loose orange T dominates the conversation. As she starts panting and waving her arms, she seems to be describing being out of breath. A phone rings: the other woman leaves to answer it. The orange T lady trips over Diego on her way to the garbage. The women reconvene, brush the dog away from the garbage, give me a chorus of "ciao" and leave Mama's Bakery.