04 - Measure of a Man

Sofia rolled out of bed early the next morning, making sure not to disturb her mother’s sleep and tiptoed to the kitchen. Aunt Angela was awake and making coffee.

“Would you like some hot chocolate?”

“Si, cara zia.”

Aunt Angela brought a large cup of milk to a froth before adding chocolate syrup.  She warmed it further with the steamed water from the espresso machine.

“Can I have some marshmallows, too?”

“Take a sip so there’s room for the marshmallows.”

Aunt Angela dropped marshmallows into the cup, one, two three. The water level slowly rose with each new marshmallow. Sofia took another sip and Aunt Angela quickly added more marshmallows.

“That’s plenty.”

Before Sofia even took her first sip, Frannie was out of the shower and ready to go.

“Sofia, give me your chocolate.”

Signora Angelino unscrewed the lid to Sofia’s travel mug and dumped the hot chocolate inside, marshmallows and all. The marshmallows popped to the surface.

“Eww. They’re brown and gooey.”

“You’ll be fine. We have a very long day ahead.”

“Fran, are you going to see Terzo?”

Aunt Frannie nodded.

“What will you do with your car?”

“We’ll leave it at the train station.”

“Sicily is so far away for a train ride. Why not take a plane?”

“It’s too expensive, plus I can get more work done on the train.”

Francesca and Sofia loaded up the Fiat and soon were on their way. Signora Angelino stored the car in long-term parking and took Sofia to the terminal. They loaded into the train and waited for it to depart. Signora Angelino typed on her laptop while Sofia finished her drink and stared out the window.

Heavy steel cars pulled into the station while they waited. Sofia clenched her teeth as the sound of metal brakes grinding together gave Sofia a headache. Luckily, it was not long until their train pulled from the station. It wasn’t long after that until Sofia was asleep.

She rose as the train pulled into Messina, at the very tip of the Italian boot.

Brakes squealed as the train headed to the end of the pier. They passed into a large cavernous room. It was sea green and white with faint fluorescent lights overhead. Train conductors stood at the end of the pier, next to a large ramp.

“Are we getting off the train?”

“We don’t have to; the train is getting on the boat.”

As they waited, the ramps slowly leveled until they met. Then, the train slowly went into the mouth of the ferry. It swallowed the train whole.

“How does it do that?”

“It’s hydraulics, my dear.”

After their train finished boarding, the sounds of another train shrieked. Another train pulled riht next to theirs on the ferry. It had flatbeds as well as passenger cars. Sofia’s mouth gaped open in amazement.

It wasn’t long until all four tracks were loaded with both human and other cargo. The ferry’s mouth closed, securing everything inside.

“Why do they move the whole train?”

“It’s just easier,” said her mother, “imagine unloading all the passengers and the flat cars and reloading all of that. This way, it takes minutes instead of hours.”

Sofia shrugged. The inside cabin of the ferry, packed with trains, was certainly not as glamorous as gazing out towards the sea. Still, it was a short trip across Messina strait. Soon, they were on terra firma – standing on the island of Sicily where Uncle Terzo lived.

The harbor area was clogged with warehouses and markets, but the train soon sped along the southeastern coast to Syracuse, which sat at the other end of the island. They passed Mount Etna, Italy’s second most famous volcano before heading into the train station.

They caught the bus out of town, headed to Uncle Terzo’s estate. Orange and lemon trees drew colored lines along the mountainside. The Lombardo villa stood next to the roadside at the bottom of the hill.

Signora Angelino called to the bus driver and he stopped in front of the estate. Sofia and her mother unloaded their things. Uncle Terzo strode down the drive to greet his sister and niece at the entrance gate.

“Buongiorno!” greeted Uncle Terzo.

Signora Angelino stood motionless for a moment. Then, Uncle Terzo grabbed her by the shoulders and hugged her firmly. Then, he released her and she stood motionless for another moment.

“Good to see you, my sister.”

Signora Angelino nodded.

“You, too.”

He took Fran’s luggage and led Sofia and her mother to the villa. Cousin Viviana and her twin brothers, Vonno and Vanno, rushed out to greet them. The boys took the rest of the luggage and hiked up to the villa.

The villa was large and spacious, nothing like the Angelio’s small villa in Rome.

“What would you like to do?” he asked Sofia.

Sofia shrugged her shoulders.

“We could go into town.”

“We’ve been traveling all day, Uncle Terzo.”

“How about we ride the ox cart through the fruit groves?”

“I’d like to, but I’m so very tired.”

“Then I have just the thing.”

Uncle Terzo whispered in cousin Viviana’s ear. She jumped up from her spot on the couch and yanked on Sofia’s hand, lifting her off the couch.

The girls scurried upstairs while Aunt Victoria brought out a tall pitcher of iced tea. However, it was also filled with slices of orange and lemon.

“Would you like some citrus tea?”

“That would be great.”

The girls came downstairs clad in bathing suits.

“What are you up to?”

“We’re going swimming,” said Viviana.

“But I thought you were tired, Sofie…”

“Not for swimming.”

The girls rushed outside. The boys rushed upstairs. Soon, they were clad in bathing suits, too. Everyone headed to the piazza in the backyard. A cobbled mosaic of stonework surrounded an oblong swimming pool. While the girls waded in the attached hot tub, the boys played in the deep end, splashing and chasing each other.

Uncle Terzo moved deck chairs to the side of the pool while Aunt Victoria sat a tray of citrus tea and glasses on a side table. The boys swam to the shallow end of the pool and drank some cool Citrus tea with the adults.

“I don’t want any ice in mine,” said Vanno.

As Aunt Victoria poured a glass for Vanno, ice cubes toppled out of the pitcher. Vanno quickly dug them out with his fingers and dumped them into the pitcher.

“Ewww,” said Viviana.

Vanno waded over to the hot tub and attempted dumping an ice cube into her swimsuit. When she pulled away, Vanno went for Sofia, who was actually closer.

“Vanno! Stop it!”

Before Uncle Terzo could catch him, Sofia had already pushed Vanno into the water.

“Don’t worry, brother, my dear Sofie can handle herself.”

Sofia chased cousin Vanno around the pool, splashing him and dunking him underwater. When Vanno cried out for help, brother Vonno ignored him.

“You picked this fight, not me!”

Sofia let up on Vanno. He quickly swam towards the deep end again.

“I’m not that good a swimmer,” said Sofia.

“Good!”

She stopped at the safety rope that divided shallow from deep. Vanno taunted her from the deep end. Sofia sighed deeply as she leaned on the foam float.

“Don’t let go or you’ll sink right to the bottom.”

Cousin Vonno tossed a foam worm to Sofia. She let it float by, preferring the security of the rope. After a while, she returned to the hot tub with Viviana. Sofia’s mother and aunt went inside. They returned in swimsuits of their own.

As Aunt Frannie and Aunt Victoria joined the girls in the hot tub, Sofia watched the water splash over the sides.

“Everyone say ‘Eureka!’” commanded Uncle Terzo as he snapped a photo.

“Aren’t we supposed to say ‘cheese’?”

“Not for this snapshot. You’re demonstrating Archimedes Principle right in my hot tub.”

“What’s that?”

“Over 2000 years ago, a Greek mathemetician named Archimedes lived on the island of Sicily. He was famous for many of them, but he is probably most famous for his Eureka moment. Whenever he took his bath, he relaxed and thought about many things, as he always did. As he prepared to sit, he noticed the water level rise. When he got out, there was less water than before he sat down. He thought about it for a moment and then ran out into the streets of Sicily, shouting “Eureka!”

“What is ‘Eureka’?”

“I means ‘I have found it!’” said Uncle Terzo, “The King had a problem. He had given gold to the goldsmith to make a crown. When the crown returned, the king thought it was missing some of the gold he’d given to the goldsmith, but had no way to prove it.

Archimedes discovered that not only does a body displace a certain volume of water, that amount will always be the same for that material. Archimedes dipped the crown into a pool of water. He also dipped a brick of gold the same size as the amount the king gave to the goldsmith into the water. The crown and the gold brick displaced different amounts of water. The crown was too big. The goldsmith admitted he had mixed silver with the gold and Archimedes solved the king’s problem.”

“So we displaced four people’s worth of water?”

“Not exactly. It depends on the density of the object you’ve placed into the water. Notice the safety floats you were leaning upon earlier? They float in the water because they’re filled with air pockets and air has a lighter density than water.”

“So, I have a greater density than water?”

“Bones and organs are very dense, but if you take a deep breath, you fill your lungs with air. Try it.”

Sofia dipped into the pool and took a deep breath. She began floating on near the surface. When she exhaled, her face dipped below the water. Uncle Terzo quickly caught her before she gulped a breath of water.

“Whew! That’s pretty neat!”

“With practice, you’ll use your arms to create downward force against the water between breaths.”

Sofia and Viviana took turns placing things on top of the water, trying to figure out what was denser and lighter than water. After they had enough of experiments, they hopped out of the pool and drank citrus tea at poolside.

That night, Sofia slept in a sleeping bag next to Viviana. They spent most of the night awake, talking until they were absolutely worn out. Still, Sofia awakened early the next morning to the smell of Aunt Victoria’s baked sweet biscuits, called biscotti. Sofia went downstairs and ordered a hot chocolate. Aunt Victoria served it as she had for her own children, adding a splash of coffee at the end.

“Ooooh,” exclaimed Sofia, “I don’t like coffee.”

“Okay, I’ll dirnk it,” replied her aunt.

Aunt Victoria continued making hot chocolate with coffee for Viviana, Vanno, and Vonno. When they came downstairs and drank it, Sofia decided to add coffee to her drink, too.

“What are you doing?” asked her mother.

“I’m having hot chocolate.”

“With coffee?”

Sofia nodded. She sipped slowly, taking a bite of one of the biscotti afterwards. Aunt Victoria had also prepared a breakfast paella. It included eggs, rice, and sausage, all baked in a pie pan.

As Aunt Victoria sliced the breakfast paella, Uncle Terzo took out oa measuring tape.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m checking to see how much Sofia is eating.”

“Stop it,” said Aunt Victoria as she lightly smacked his hand.

“Archimedes was responsible for figuring out the area of a circle. It’s called Pi. P-I, Pi. Uncle Terzo then drew the symbol π on a notepad.

“It’s Greek,” said Viviana.

Uncle Terzo nodded, “You have to remember, Archimedes was Greek. In fact, all of Sicily was part of the Greek Empire back then. That was, until the Romans finally captured Sicily.”

“What happened to Archimedes?” asked Viviana.

“He helped develop war machines for the Sicilian army. When the Romans attacked, they finally took Archimedes life. Then, Sicily became a part of Italy.”

“My dear brother,” said Signora Angelino, “that’s enough Engineering and Math for this trip. Maybe next time.”

“We’re coming back again?”

“We’ll see,” said Sofia’s mother, “I am not making that many promises.”

After breakfast, Sofia and her mother boarded the train and headed back to Messina. Then, they drove up the coast, not stopping until they reached countryside near Rome.

As Signora Angelino’s little Fiat neared the city, Sofia saw the familiar places looming on the horizon.

The Duomo of Saint Peter’s Basilica poked its head out over the city of Rome. It was one of Sofia’s favorite sights in the city. Often, she would look to the sky, searching for the Duomo. Just like today, it often guided her home. She heaved a sigh as her mother turned the car down that familiar old street where Sofia and her parents lived.

It was good to be home.

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