大象传媒

With the war in Italy almost over,Tom and I were able to take advantage of the generous leave given to us by a grateful work shop commander.We had spent a fruitful morning in St.Peters Cathedral and had chosen to rest for a little while on a seat in the Borgasia Gardens which provided the delightful view over the Piazza Delpopolo.The scene showed the background over the Tiber bridge, separating St.Peters on the left and the Castel St.Angelo on the right.
Suddenly on our left we heard a plaintive cry "Kadro,Kadro"(Thief,thief).We turned and saw a girl in her late teens clad only in cardboard container which came just to her knees. The girl approached and pulled gently at my sleeve murmering "Camicia,camicia, bene."I guessed at once that she was begging my shirt.I pealed of my khaki drill shirt which was quite long and gave it to her. Tom and I discreetly looked way whilst she slipped the shirt over her head and stepped out of the cardboard box.She then took hold of both of our hands saying "Casa.casa" and led us down the steep flight of stairs into the Piazza.We walked through several narrow streets before reaching Maria's home.Here Mother immediatley guessed what had happened and rewarded us with warm hugs.Maria slipped into the bedroom and returned a litte later in a pretty white dress.Mother insisted on pressing my shirt before returning it to me. Before we left Mother asked Tom who spoke fluent Italian,could she help us in any way?Tom had a brilliant idea. We both needed swimming trunks which were not an army issue,however we both had long knitted scarves which we never used.Could these be unravlled and knitted into swimming trunks?Mother immediatly agreed that this was easliy possible.The next day we arrived and presented Maria with two scarves.By weekend the trunks were ready and all of us were very happy.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.