Is This What You're Looking For?

Restless once accused me of riddling my posts with hidden messages and inside jokes.

Well.

He was right.

But he also thought there were about fifteen people to whom I sent the secret messages.

That was wrong.

There are only about seven or eight.

If you don't get this story, don't worry--stick around. Sooner or later you'll get everything there is to be gotten!

Ciao!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Lucia Etture: An Italian Girl Who Lived a Few Hundred Years Ago

Lucia Etture looked down at her closed fist. She could feel the metal in her hand growing warm. She was tempted to switch the coin to her other hand, but fear of losing it kept her from it. He was coming soon, and she didn't want to chance not having it there for him.

Lucia continued to sit patiently upon the garden bench. A few moments later her patience was rewarded. She heard talking and laughter coming from behind the rose bushes, and soon two boys, just a little older than she, came into view.

"Hello!" One called out, while the other simply smiled.
"Hello, Mario," Lucia responded. "Hello Mungo."
"What are you doing out here?" Mungo asked curiously. He was the younger of the Matteo brothers, and he always wanted to know everything.

"I was waiting for you. I have something to give to Mario." Mario eyed Lucia suspiciously. He hadn't told Lucia he was coming. In fact, he hadn't even planned on coming. "What is it?" Mario's tone of voice matched the expression on his face.
"This," Lucia said simply. She held her fist out and opened her fingers.
"What is it??" Mungo began to reach for the coin, but Lucia held it back. "No, no," she said. "This is for Mario." She again held it out to him, but Mario did not reach for it. The suspicion was gone from his eyes, but something else had taken it's place.

"You still collect these coins, no?" Her voice was questioning, but she knew the answer.
"I collect them," he replied, not looking in her eyes.
"Then take it." Lucia did not know what emotion was playing about behind his eyes.
"I thought you lost this?" He looked at her. Ah. She saw it. It was pain.
"It was a gift. Why would you think I had lost it?"
"It's been years since I gave it to you. I haven't seen it since then." Lucia laughed at this.
"Did you expect to? Well," she said merrily. "There's not much to be done with a penny. No matter how dear it may be."

Mario looked longingly at the coin. He wanted it. Somehow--through a very strange and Divinely Orchestrated course of events--Mario had collected every coin made in Italy for the past 100 years...with one exception. The coin from '84 he had given her when they were both little children. But, as it had been a gift, and one he'd feared had been lost, he had never asked for it's return. He began to reach for it, but pulled his hand back. "Do you not want it anymore?"

Lucia had her own memories. Did she want it? The value of the coin--materially worth much, but not enough to tempt a pure soul like hers--was priceless to her.
"It means very much to me," she answered honestly. "But I know how much you want it." Mario took the coin from Lucia's hand. Distracted by the warmth of the coin, he didn't see the tear in her eye.

"I want to see it, I want to see it!" Mungo tried to take it from Mario, but he only caught a glimpse as Mario closed his fingers over it. He said no in the way Mungo had learned not to question.

Mungo cast a glance at Lucia. The normally talkative boy didn't say anything. The tear would've spoken for itself, but it wasn't seen by the correct ear. He looked at her with sympathy, but his expression turned quizzical when he saw the big smile suddenly covering her face. "Well, is she sad or is she happy?" Mungo was at a loss until he heard the other voice that had entered the garden.

"I must go now, Mario...Mungo. It was so nice to see you again!" And she started in the direction of the voice. "Mario!" She called out, just before disappearing from sight. He turned her way. "Your set...it's complete now?"
"It's complete," he called back.
"Then it was worth it," she said, but the boys didn't hear. She waved at them. "Ciao!" With that, she ran off in the direction of the voice, leaving two boys to wonder at the antics of silly girls.