Claudia leaned over giggling and spoke into my ear loud enough above the crowd noise, "We could do this just as well at home or at the school. I didn't come to Europe for kid's pizza parties. Did you?"
I smiled up at her in agreement, "Yeah, I know."
"Well they're probably hungry after that tiny continental breakfast and that early morning city tour of the ruins. I don't think the other chaperones mind if you and I step out and check out that plaza out here. How bout it Ralph?"
"Sure, let's go."
I was ready to back out of the Spanish Club trip what with all my complicated arthritic flare-ups and all, but Claudia was real nice about talking me into it. She helped me out with renting a wheelchair for the lengthier walking tours and her knowledge of the area plus her ability to speak three languages, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese really added to the touring experience.
Her daughter Lisa, a senior headed to Duke University and a really great kid, was laughing with her pals who were enjoying a birthday celebration abroad at this little family friendly joint in the Gran Isles. I taught her math her sophomore year.
"Mr. Davis and I are gonna step out for some fresh air and have a look around. You kids have a great time. We can call your Dad at home when we get back with the hotel wi-fi."
We headed down a narrow bumpy cobblestone street towards the sun splashed plaza.
"You miss havin Cliff and the other two here with ya?", I asked.
"Well, she smiled in her high-pitched sweet sing songy voice, "The other two are a bit too young for a trip like this. So it's convenient to have a husband willing enough to watch the younger ones and let me go and have a good time with my oldest, right?"
"Yeah, my ex doesn't like travel so much. She and my daughters are fine with just chillin' at the shore house."
"Oh?" Claudia chirped inquisitively.
"Yeah, It's fine her getting the beach house in the divorce settlement," I replied reassuringly.
Claudia was a big help over the past couple years while I went through the divorce. We enjoyed working together on curricular projects, and although I think we both sensed an attraction to each other it really just amounted to an extra unforeseen employee benefit. She really made some the tougher days a lot more enjoyable. Cliff seemed to be a really nice guy, although she'd often joke about him being such an older man, even though she and I were both well into our forties.
She leaned up against a stone wall leading to a footbridge overlooking a shallow stream and pulled out a tube of sunscreen. "Looks like some sort of street carnival over there," she mused as she smoothed cream across the bridge of her nose.
She handed me the tube so I could apply some sunscreen as we watched a white and red faced clown with a pointy hat come towards us on his unicycle. He spun around a few times in front of us with his hands casually folded behind is back. He leaned his unicycle against the wall near Claudia and, extending his left hand outward, reached into his other sleeve to produce a a red paper flower. He handed it to her with a smile as she stuck it in her thick black hair above her left ear. He turned and rode away back over the bridge.
Claudia stretched out her arms with her fingers curved in the air and posed for me with a sweet smile, showing off the flower nestled in short thick black curls around her ears.
"Lovely," I said, finishing with the sunscreen.
"Let's follow him," she said and quickly turned, placing her hands on the back of her soft well-rounded cute little hips.
"OK," I agreed.
She smoothed the last of the sun lotion across her chest onto her smooth olive hued skin. It being such a bright sunny afternoon, my mind wandered as I gazed a bit carelessly at the yellow pink floral print sundress that caressed her ample bosom and voluptuous backside. She barely topped five foo two or so, the rays of the golden sun outlined the shadows of her curves underneath the fabric. I could almost discern the faint lines of her eggshell white bra and boy cut panties.
"The bridge arcs way up hill to the other side... and the cobblestones. You gonna be alright?"
"Sure," I said, wheeling next to her as she slung a brown leather handbag over her shoulder.
The end of the bridge split into two sections sloping down and around the ruins of a tall round castle turret type stone structure. The right side was accessible by a jagged stone stairway leading down to a grassy patch of land where more circus type performers frolicked about, unicyclists, jugglers, stilt walkers, etc. So we headed leftward the other way down a gentle slope, which led downstream toward the sounds of swift falling water.
A rather large silly smiling clown clad in puffy green pink and white costume motioned for us to move through a damp underground tunnel passages behind the waterfall. "Good thing I brought good walking shoes," chirped Claudia, as she nudged my chair along while sure-footedly negotiating the wet cobblestoned tunnel-way in her beige and blue-striped hiking sneakers.
The big clown leaned against the wall at one point to usher us along, then hurriedly burst through between Claudia and myself while loudly blurting out something in a foreign language.