Chapter 9

Emi woke me up very early for a tea together.

At the time we had already formed a companionship, I adored this woman, she used to smile while shrugging her shoulders, always followed by her Blondie who would put her snout into each cooking pan.

The day before she had helped me to craft two sticks with  little red hearts on top, one for the harness of Luz, which we could have pinned up like a little banner and one for me. We wanted to welcome Ama at the airport with them.

Her name means “she loves” in our language, so Emi went for the two hearts.

Both  our names are dedicated to the Moon, Maha, Light of the Moon and Amaris, Child of the Moon. Our parents had been Hippies very much in contact with the Cosmos, less so with the medical check-ups.

They noticed there were two of us at birth but they had prepared only one name. It seemed that I kicked all the time and I was born shouting “Freedom, freedom, you better think what you are trying to do with me …”

The midwife said

“It would seem that it is not yet finished!”

After a little stretch of time Ama arrived softly, she had remained quiet, right behind me the entire time and she was born blissfully without any clamour.

For that reason our parents called her Amaris like the dark side of the Moon. This would be true for our whole life, one in the spotlight, the other in the shadow, each allowing the other to realize her dreams.

Maria Cefalà by Andrea Lenny

Luz was now waiting with her cleaned combed fur, the little banner on her back and the medal of valor around  her neck.

A blond pulling a twisting trolley full of luggage came towards us, it was her.

“My glorious girl, my heroine, tell me everything you’ve done!”

 “You are splendid, adventuress!”

What had she brought for seven days!

“One never knows.”

We went up to the Alps without really speaking.

“I was worried, silly.”

“So sorry Ama, we have so much time to speak about so much, how beautiful being here together, thank you for coming.”

I told her that we had some special new friends.

The trip lasted the time of a breath, we were in front of our woodpecker house and I looked at her to see if she liked it.

I noticed Emi behind the glass door of the terrace, she was glancing at us.

Hisao looked as if he could not believe his eyes.

Emi was the only one who knew about the arrival of Ama. I asked her to keep the secret so that everyone could enjoy the surprise.

I had underestimated  Hisao’s reaction.

Luz waddled inside, we both hugged Emi and what I saw next was a veritable lightning bolt: for several seconds, the earth stopped turning, colours inverted, we were launched into another dimension.

Hisao’s face smiled uncontrollably.

“Ama my sister, Hisao-San a new friend.”

His knees buckled, his eyes closed shut and he fainted on the spot.

Being strong, Ama held his head up by the nape and unfastened everything she could, buttons, belt, shoes!

“All I know about first aid!”

And she began to breathe her life into his mouth.

He opened his eyes and said “Oh my life … “

The doctor came soon called by our godmother with a little suitcase, heart pulse, blood pressure, electro-cardiogram, what’s your name, how many fingers do you see, please follow my finger with your eyes. 

We understood everything up to that point, but not what followed …

When they were finished speaking the doctor looked at us and said

“In my opinion he’s in love, which is not too difficult with the two of you, but now he needs to come with me to the hospital for a check-up.”

“Sorry Hisao, Gomen-nasai.”

“I deserved it, I thought I was stronger, you knocked me out.”

Ama said “See you tomorrow?”

“You can count on it.”

Emi was hopping around

“It will be fine, you are beautiful, it will be fine!”

We began to open the suitcases as if they were gifts.

One was for clothes, she had bought Peserico luxury pants for high fashion lovers in case of a special occasion.

The other one was filled with dry food for Luz and several boxes of Swiss chocolate.

That evening while eating we offered the biggest one to Emi, for all other guests there was a little box with pralines.

We had time to talk about our experiences over the past week, Luz who had rescued two piglets, a puppy, a chicken and an old man.

Ama asked about me, I said “Deeply emotional, and for Hisao you don’t need to respect any boundaries. It was impossible not to see what happened between you two.”

“Really, did I give anything away?”

“No, you just breathed your life into his mouth.”

We laughed  like three old friends, I told her to keep everything in the suitcases. The following day we would move into another room.