Friday the 31st of Jul – Welcome Out

Mara will be discharged from the hospital today at 3pm. Experience is an excellent teacher and I’ve learned that everything can change from one moment to the next. For better or for worse. So until (and even when) I actually pick up my sister from the hospital, I’ll keep in mind that change is constant. Good or bad. Ah…Don’t you just love my pearls of wisdom? It doesn’t matter, of course we’ll still be in the waiting room with a huge imaginary Welcome Out banner and invisible balloons! Mar’s not out of the woods yet. But she reached a clearing and now with a machete, she’ll be chopping her way through the forest. Will you listen to me? Enough with the analogies! The point is Mara is very excited and the anxiety felt over the last few days is slowly dissipating. She’ll have to go to the hospital on a daily basis for the next month at least. For now, she concentrates on sleeping and eating. She already started on a liquid diet. Mom is our CEO (Culinary Executive Officer) and prepares fresh soups every day.

Speaking of food, the basil my parents planted in the huge pot, on the balcony/open hallway, in front of our apartment is the number one cause of theft among our neighbours. Imagine its enticing fragrance tickling and seducing their olfactory senses enough to incite them to commit such a crime. A crime of passion and who can blame them? Oh Basil, thy art a cruel temptress! What amuses us the most is not as much the act itself but the way in which our perpetrators go about it. You may think we have nothing better to do than spy on our neighbours while they ravage our basil. As true as this may be, it is entirely beside the point. Anyway, let me give you our top two favourite ways to steal these leaves of pure green gold (I don’t know, can you smoke them?). Our Tunisian neighbour nonchalantly walks by and conveniently stops right in front of our balcony to admire the panoramic view. By now, I’m sure you understand that our ears are very finely tuned to the sound of basil being plucked and so, barely audible, we hear the unmistakable “tchik-tchik” of leaves being ripped. After a few moments, perhaps tired of the view, he walks away. But my all time favourite is without a doubt the Napolitan older lady. Around mid day (it doesn’t take a Sherlock to figure this one out) she walks at a slower pace, and just about at the height of the basil, without stopping, she ever so lightly bends her knees, and again the distinct“tchik tchik” as she walks away. Then literally 2 seconds later, here she comes again, same strategy, same light bending of the knees and again “tchik tchik”. When she disappears, we, the witnesses, are in stitches. As entertaining as these scenes are, why not just ask? The plant only costs 1 Euro at the local supermarket, we’d generously give them as many as they want. So why not just ask?