Rise of the Phoenix

As the phoenix rises from the ashes of a fire. People move on from tragedy. This story shows how two people built a new life from the ashes of life's disasters. As usual, with my stories, there's very little 'hot sex,' but richly developed characters and situations are the norm.

I hope you enjoy it.

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Both of Sara's parents were older when she was born. They were renowned classical musicians as well as teachers of their instruments. Sara' Mother, Celia, plays the violin and is the second seat in the symphony. Her Father, Ralph, plays in the symphony also. Where he is a percussionist who would often play the timpani. That Sara had an ear for music was no surprise. But she had little interest in classical music or at least classical symphonic music. Instead, a wide range of guitar music held her attention. The guitar was the instrument of the people, she'd say. What especially attracted her attention was the twelve-string guitar. Her parents made no secret of their disappointment in their daughter's choices.

After graduating high school, Sara began playing in one or another coffee house in Greenwich Village or around Washington Square. It was an exciting time to be young in New York. Now and then, people that knew her and her parents would see and hear her playing in and around the Village. At first, they would seek out her parents and let them know how well, they thought, their daughter was doing. But, after being rebuffed with a series of disinterested comments, the old friends moved on to talk about something else.

After Sara finished a set in a club in the Village one evening, someone caught up with her to talk about the business of music. The upshot of the conversation was that if she wanted to develop a career, she should move to someplace like Nashville. There she'd find that there were more diverse types of music scenes than in New York. Nashville's was much more than country music. People there were drawn to hear a wide range of music. Certainly, blues, soul, and of course, gospel all had a strong heritage there, but so did rock and a hundred other lines of pop music. This wide-ranging diversity drew many different record companies to the city. Session musicians like her who play the guitar can get more work there than here. Also, she might get to go on tour with one or another act.

When Sara heard that suggestion, she almost laughed at the idea. But when she discovered that many record companies did have offices there, that got her attention. Also, there were many active agents in the city. The idea began to take hold.

In Nashville, there were many good guitar players, but very few played the twelve-string guitar. Playing the twelve-string was her love and her strength. Agents and record company people sat in interest when she took her twelve-string out. The industry people didn't see Sara as the lead in a group. But her unique style added a brighter and more textured sound in the background, giving a richness not found elsewhere. In a word, what she offered was an extraordinary sound.

At first, she was a session musician, but it wasn't long before she was asked to go on tour with one or another group. On one trip, the group happened to be playing in New York, and Sara got the promoter to send her parents tickets for prime seats. When she was on stage and happened to look up, the seats set aside for her parents were empty.

Life was coming together for her. She shared a solid group of friends who supported each other. Along the line, a man became more than just interested in her. They started slowly as friends. He was an engineer at a recording studio. Their friendship ripened into more. Something that she knew from previous experiences was that she loved giving head. One afternoon, she went to his place and heard her lover screaming at someone on the back porch. Going through the kitchen, she saw what was happening. Some girl, whom Sara didn't know, was on her knees in front of her boyfriend, with his cock buried in her mouth as he screamed at her, then slapped this unknown girl on the side of her head.

With that, Sara flew into the bedroom and grabbed a guitar that she had always kept there. Then ran out a side door and back to where she was staying. After seeing her now old boyfriend, the only thing to do was hide, first in her place. Then she started looking around for what she wasn't sure. In time Sara reached out to an old girlfriend from New York who was now on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Getting Sara to leave Nashville and move to Florida didn't take much.

After settling in with her old girlfriend from the Village in New York, Sara began to explore her new surroundings. The folks called the part of town where Sara was staying 'Old Town.' The main street in Old Town was Front St, which faced the Gulf of Mexico. Front Street had been where all the shops were located back in the day. Now, the street was mainly lined with restaurants, bars, clubs, and businesses catering to the tourists who wandered the streets and marveled at the old buildings. Most of the buildings in the Old Town section had balconies covering the sidewalk. This was something that Sara had never seen before. On one of her walks, she happened onto one block of old buildings. All the shops looked closed, but the café and bakery had a light on in the back, and the front door was propped open.

Well, she took that to be an invitation to step inside. She was looking around as she put her guitar case on the floor. Then she called out to some guy in the back of the shop, asking was the place open.

The response she got was a sad no. The café was closed due to a death in the family. When or if it would reopen was an open question. They talked for a few minutes. It turned out that he owned the place and had closed it a year ago after the death of his wife. He was thinking of opening it again but wasn't sure. He planned to see some others and talk with them this coming weekend. Then he'd make up his mind about what to do.

Sara volunteered that she was new to town but had worked as a bookkeeper. So, if he did reopen the shop, she could help him. The man asked her to stop by Monday morning. If they decide to reopen, he'd need a bookkeeper.

Pauli's story --

Pauli Luciani's family was from near Venice, Italy. The family settled on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico a few generations back. Where they continued to fish in the local waters, like what they had done in the Venetian lagoon. His father, Giuseppe, or as everyone in the community calls him, Joe, didn't follow the family out on the water. Instead, he started selling insurance to the people he knew. At first, he focused his efforts on people he knew from church. A significant advantage he had, was that people knew him, and he spoke the local dialect of Italian. His family was originally from the area around Venice, the Veneto. In time he started his own insurance agency. He picked up a variety of other lines of insurance he sold to his customers. He also expanded his outreach to many other communities along the coast. Quickly his agency became one of the largest independent multi-line agencies on the coast.

His youngest son, Pauli, or Paul, was always in the kitchen at home, watching and learning from his mother and other women in the family. He also became conversant in how people from his family's area of Italy spoke the language. In high school, Pauli got a part-time job working in one of the many Italian restaurants in the area. A year after graduating from high school, a year where he worked full-time in a large Italian restaurant. Pauli went to the leading chef's school in the States. He knew a lot about Italian cuisine and the basics of working in a restaurant kitchen. His knowledge of other cuisines was limited. While in chef's school, he had to take a class in bread making and pastries. This class opened a whole new world for him. A world he knew held many possibilities when he returned home from school. At home, no bakery produced the traditional breads and pastries of Venice. Pauli was able to get a transfer into the school's baking and pastry arts program.

After Pauli graduated, his father used his contacts to get an apprenticeship as a baker for his son in Venice, Italy. As an apprentice from the States, especially someone the national baker's consortium assigned, Pauli got all the shit jobs no one else wanted. He knew he was there to do one thing, learn. Learn all there was about the art of Italian bread and pastries. Now and then, when he looked up from his bench across the kitchen, he would see the baker's youngest daughter, Chiara. Maybe it was his imagination, but he thought she was also looking at him. On occasion, they might share an expresso. Pauli knew that nothing could come of anything with her. But when he saw her, he heard lightning dancing in the clouds. Then one night after work, Pauli and a few others went out. He looked up while sharing a glass of wine and a few different Cicchetti, which are small plates of food offered in Venetian bars. There she was, the baker's daughter, Chiara. It seemed to him that her eyes were looking into his soul. And he knew a thunderbolt tossed by Venus had hit him.

The next day, the baker started the day by yelling at Pauli that he was a thief! That he had stolen the most precious jewel in his family as the baker drew in a breath. His wife came into the kitchen, where she almost hauled him out with his ear between her fingers. That explosion made everyone stop working and look at Pauli. He stood there almost shell-shocked. Then one of the older women who worked in the shop came into the kitchen and told Pauli that he was wanted upstairs in the office. Knowing in his heart they would be together. That last night was the most fantastic in his life, seeing Chiara standing there and understanding she was the only one in his soul.

When Pauli entered the office, Mother, Father, and Chiara sat together. The mother, whose name Pauli didn't know, began talking by apologizing for her husband's explosion. When Pauli started to say something, she raised her hand to stop him. Then she said that when her daughter got home last night. The two women talked between themselves, as only Mother and Daughter do. When the baker started to say something, his wife gave him a look that every husband knew. He became mute. She said that her daughter had been hit by a lightning bolt last night. Pauli looked at Chiara, who blushed as her mother spoke. Then he tried to explain that he, too, had felt the lightning bolt as well.

A little more than two months later, when he finished his apprenticeship, Chiara and Pauli were married in her family's parish church, around the corner from her family's café and bakery. Pauli's family and many of his family relatives flew in for the wedding. The two families were alike in many ways. They merged into one giant, loud, and happy group.

While at the wedding, Pauli's Mom, Connie, pulled the happy couple aside. She knew their plans called for them to move to the Gulf Coast, where his family was from. She told them that she and her husband had just finished a remodeling project on their home. They had taken the garage's second floor and created a small apartment. Pauli's folks thought this would give their many friends a place to stay when they visited. She went on to tell them they could be the first guests to stay there if they wanted to. The two kids looked at each other and nodded in happy agreement.

After battling back and forth with miles of red tape, Chiara got her new passport. And the happy couple left together for the Gulf Coast and a new life together. As they were settling in, Chiara told Pauli that she had to learn to speak and write the language of her new home. In the future, they would only speak English at home, and she wanted to be called Clara, and she would call him Paul.

The owner of the restaurant he had worked at before reached out to him and told him that he would start the following Monday morning. The good thing was that he could walk to work. As he walked along, he noticed what had changed since he last walked these streets.

After Paul left for work on his first morning back at the restaurant, Clara held a half-empty cup of coffee as she sat at the kitchen table. Questions ran around her head. What should she do now? This was the first time she had been alone in her new home. While Clara was lost in her questions, Connie walked in unannounced and told her they were going out together. Clara needed to see the neighborhood and began to meet the people there. People who knew Paul's family had been asking when they would meet the woman who hit him with the lightning bolt and swept him away.

Clara responded that if she hadn't hit him on the head, he would still be there rolling out one or another pastry and looking like a lost little puppy. Connie had to laugh at that. She went on to tell her new daughter that Paul was just like his father. Then again, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Connie explained that she almost had to pull Joe by his nose to the church to get married. He was clueless until she told him that they were getting married. That got both of the women laughing and muttering. What to do with those men, they asked each other.

The two of them headed out for a tour of the neighborhood. The first stop was the greengrocer to find fresh vegetables in season. That and talk with everyone in the store. Next was the butcher shop, where Connie would get beef or lamb. Then onward, around the corner, was the dairy store where there were eggs, milk, and chickens. Along the way, Clara commented that she thought people here shopped in a big store. This was like where I had lived. A mix of a lot of different small shops. Connie agreed, yes, it's like that to a degree. Then they saw the cheesemonger with the best cheeses, and he makes his own mozzarella daily. Sometimes he smokes mozzarella, which was to die for. And, of course, the seafood market has the freshest fish. Along the way, Connie pointed out the shoemaker's shop. He can fix shoes so they will have added life, and he also makes custom-made shoes. Clara commented that she liked the balconies that covered the sidewalks. Connie explained that they were there to shelter people from the almost daily afternoon thunderstorms in the summer. Walking around the neighborhood, they saw many restaurants, bars, and clubs.

When the two women got home, they deposited their bags on the kitchen table. Connie made them tea and asked what Clara thought of the neighborhood. That question surprised her. Thinking for a moment, she responded that the area was not what she expected. What she saw was like many older areas where she was from. Everything was mixed together, shops and people's homes. There was no neat order to the neighborhood, but what caught her eye was what wasn't there. There was no bakery or café. Someplace to get a coffee and a cornetto or a brioche. And bread? I know Paul does some fantastic things that are beautiful with different breads. But I didn't see anyone doing that.

Clara's comments gave rise to a smile from Connie. As Connie put her tea down, she reached across the table and took her new daughter-in-law's hand. Please, not a word of this conversation to Joe or Paul. Joe is a planner. He made the same comment a while ago. When Paul got interested in baking and pastries, Joe knew he could make his dream come true. His goal is to have a café and bakery on Front Street. That's the street with all the old stores with balconies covering the sidewalk. Remember the shoemaker's shop? Joe owns that building, as well as the buildings on either side. Clara? How does this sound, living with Paul on the second floor in an oversized apartment? Please know that the two men haven't talked about this. At least not yet, but it's coming soon.

Clara leaned back and closed her eyes as she smiled. My momma runs the café, and my dad is the baker. This would be like the two of them living here. Yes, momma, I can see this. What needs to be done to get them moving? That got Connie laughing. A few weeks later, the two men talked and got the ball rolling. The shoemaker had wanted to move to his new house where he would only make custom shoes. So that was easy. Then the old space was remodeled, and a small café and bakery were created. The upstairs was renovated, and the young couple moved into their new home. Joe enlisted Clara to work in his office part-time until the flood of paperwork could be controlled. In the mornings, she worked in the café serving customers and making different coffees to accompany their pastries. Sometimes in the afternoon, she was upstairs in the office organizing things.

Life was good for everyone. Then to make everything even better, Clara announced at one of the regular Sunday dinners that Connie and Joe would become Nonna and Nonno. Yes, she and Paul would be having a child. That resulted in an explosion at the table. The next morning, they called her parents and told them they were about to have a grandchild.

Plans were made for her parents to come to the Gulf Coast for the Christening and to spend some time with the kids and their new grandbaby. The men went around and around with self-congratulations as they smoked their cigars and waved their glasses of wine. While the women sat there, laughed, and tended to Paul Jr or, as they decided to call him, PJ.

Life for Clara, Paul, and PJ was good. PJ had become his Nonno's constant companion. Some even said he was his Grandfather's shadow. When PJ was three or four, his Nonno walked into the apartment with a puppy. A Weimaraner puppy. PJ gleefully named his new puppy 'Wiggles.'

PJ and his dog were bonded together. He was committed to showing and teaching his new bestie everything. For sure, Nonno and Dad helped out in training the puppy. What delighted PJ was when Wiggles was enrolled in puppy school. PJ explained to his best bud that he was starting school early, but when September came around, he would start school too. Going to kindergarten was exciting for PJ. He got to spend all day with his playmates, and together they would learn new and exciting things. PJ seriously explained to Wiggles that he couldn't stay with him in his new school. The new routine would be that Mom would walk with the two of them to school in the morning. When school let out in the afternoon, they would be there to walk home with him, and PJ would tell Wiggles all about the exciting things they did in school that day.

The big day happened when PJ started school, and he had to leave Wiggles at the gate to the school's playground. After that momentous event, Clara told everyone their lives were too quiet. Soon after that, she told the family she was pregnant again.

With the school just a short walk from their home, Clara, PJ, and Wiggles usually walked together, holding hands and singing. Usually, Clara and Wiggles would join many of the other mothers in the afternoon as they waited for their little ones by the gate to the schoolyard. The fall afternoons waiting and talking with the other mothers were beautiful. Often people would pull up to the school in a car or van to pick up their kids. No one paid any attention to another van that stopped near the gate. Then three men jumped out and gunned down all the mothers waiting for their children. This act of insanity killed seven of the mothers, including Clara. They also wounded another five women. Fortunately, the children were still in school.

With this, Paul's world came crashing down. He closed the café and bakery until he could deal with life. PJ became afraid of his shadow and constantly cried with Wiggles in his arms. Clara's family flew in for the funeral. After the service, the Sheriff spoke to the families and assured them they would not stop until the killers and their helpers were found and brought to justice. Two weeks later, a couple of kids joyriding on a back road found the burned-out hulk of a van and four dead people inside. The dead people had been the prime suspects. The Sheriff thought it looked like the foursome had been executed before the van was torched. He shared that they were looking for a man and a woman related to one of the dead men. He felt that they had helped hide the others after the murders. But that couple was not to be found. It seemed they had walked out of their apartment to go to the store and never returned.