"Kaeda, I don't know of any alternatives in town, but my house does have a suite I keep for friends and family that come to visit. The three of you could stay there until you are able to find something more suitable. I must warn you though, it is on the outskirts of town. Would that help you for a few days?"
"Yes! Oh, thank you, that would be very helpful. How can we find your house?"
After several minutes of giving directions that Kaeda couldn't follow, I gave up and asked them instead to tell me where they were now, deciding that it would be simpler if I drove to pick them up.
I pulled up at the edge of the Piazza in the middle of town, and soon spotted them on a corner, standing together with suitcases at their sides and backpacks and purses slung over their shoulders, an island of calm in the quickly moving throng of pedestrians. I called out and waved to get their attention, realizing that while we had introduced ourselves on the train, I could no longer remember the names of Kaeda's friends. No matter, when they approached my car, Kaeda reintroduced them, Ichiba, the shortest of the three, and Sakura, the tallest. Once they were with me, all three began talking and thanking me, so that it took more than a few minutes to get them, and their luggage, bundled into the car. When we got underway, because it took all my attention to navigate the afternoon traffic, I had to shush them quiet, so there was little conversation until I pulled up in front of my house 15 minutes later.
I started coming to Perugia more than ten years ago when, after many visits to Italy, I wanted to try staying longer, long enough to allow me to live the local life, something that was becoming more and more attractive to me with each visit. And as part of that life, I imagined that a new and different setting would allow me to come at my painting with fresh eyes and perhaps fresh ideas. After several years renting both an apartment and a separate studio for the four or five months I visited, I came upon this house at the outskirts of town. It was old with large rooms, high ceilings, a patio, a rear garden and, best of all, a garage/shed at the back of the property that I was able to clean out and fix up enough to give me space to paint. I now have a long-term lease for the house which allows me to spend as much time each year as a I want and the space to accommodate the friends and family who are able to visit.
I steered the women into the house and helped them pile their baggage in the kitchen, before giving them a tour which ended in the suite that I hoped would accommodate them. With one large queen-sized bed and a single bed, an attached bathroom, and even a small nook with a hot plate, sink and refrigerator, I thought it might work well for them for several days. Once I had shown the suite, we stepped outside through two French doors onto the patio that ran across the back of the house. From that vantage, I was able to show them where I usually ate in the summer, the small garden, and my studio towards the back of the small property. They seemed suitably impressed and very thankful, so I suggested they take some time to settle in and that I would call them for dinner.
Late in the day, once it had cooled outside, I knocked on their door, and when Kaeda's face appeared, I announced dinner. Walking back through the house I could hear them coming behind me along the hallway quietly talking. When we were all in the kitchen, I turned and asked them how the room was working out and in the face of their quiet assurances, I switched to explaining our dinner to come and what help I needed from them. Once they understood, I started putting plates, cutlery, food, wine and all else that was needed for our meal into their hands to be carried outside to the table on the patio.
It was only after we sat down and began to pass the dishes around the table that I had a chance to take a good look at the three beauties that had landed on my doorstep. They had changed for dinner and were now each wearing sundresses and light leather sandals. Their thick, black hair, pulled loosely back with clips, hung down below their shoulders. Without their sweaters on, their shoulders and arms were bare. All three were slim and each of them appeared taller than I would have expected young Japanese women to be. Looking at them, and with each of us holding a glass of wine, I welcomed them and gave a toast of "cin-cin".
Dinner was a slow, relaxing meal as I answered their questions about the town, what I was doing here, my painting and, although I was trying not to intrude too much, they answered my questions about themselves. My initial impression, that they were not young students, was proven correct as all three told me that they were 30 years old, having worked in Japan for several years after completing art school in Kyoto. This trip was their escape from clerical jobs. They wanted to be artists or in some way work with art and hoped graduate studies in Europe would help with that ambition. Hence their interest in me when we were on the train. Oh well, I had already assumed it wasn't for my good looks.
By the time I got up to bring a lemon tart and coffee to the table they were starting to relax, and their questions became more personal - did I have a family, wife, girlfriends and the like, with some nervous laughter between the answers, as they worked up their courage to ask more questions. Over small glasses of limoncello, with big smiles and wide eyes they asked for a tour of my studio, and so, rising from the table we all four strolled across the grass and into the rough garage-like building, across the small garden, in which I worked at painting.
In the light of the overhead lamp, I unlocked the door and held it for the ladies to enter ahead of me. With the skylights in the ceiling there was still enough light for them to be able to move across the studio while I stepped inside and turned the lights on. They immediately gravitated to the south wall, my working area, where several large paintings in progress were leaning against the brick, propped up on low stands that allowed me to work from top to bottom without need of a ladder or to bend over too much. The paintings were abstracts, all bright slashes of colour and texture, thick pools and brushstrokes of pigment that was often literally "popping" out from contrasting backgrounds. More than 10 years after starting down this road, my paintings were, I felt, capable of grabbing my audience's attention and eliciting an emotion. All around the walls more paintings were stacked, either finished or resting until I could work my way back to them. The ladies separated and began looking carefully at the paintings in front of them and then drifting along the sides of the studio to examine the stacked paintings, or at least what was visible of those. With their attention focused on the paintings, questions were few and far between for half an hour, giving me the opportunity to quietly watch them. All three ladies eventually gravitated to the long, well-worn sofa that occupied the center of the studio, talking between themselves and beginning to ask more questions of me.
In the low light their slim animated forms were beautiful and without thinking I barked out one word, "Stay", as I reached for a sketchbook to try and capture the way the light fell on their faces, the lines of their long legs and the curves that belied my initial image of them as "girls". To my surprise, each one of them turned to give me their full attention, doing exactly what I had requested without a question or a word of argument. I began drawing and continued for the next half hour as they slowly restarted a quiet conversation, all the while watching me as I moved around in front of them. Even as I began to complete my quick sketch and would, with a quick command, reach out to lightly grasp a chin or turn a face to better catch the light, they stayed in place without protest.
And then I was finished. I thanked them, and immediately Kaeda got up and walked towards me, lightly grasping my arm to ask a question about the paintings in front of us. Her touch was gentle, tentative even, but I could feel the warmth of it on my skin and immediately knew I wanted more. I returned her touch by wrapping my arm across her shoulder and walked her across to stand in front of the work. It felt good to hold her and she appeared comfortable with my touch, so I left my arm in place as I guided her through the painting and how I was putting it together. It wasn't long before, Ichiba and Sakura joined us, crowding in close and seeming to want to be included in my embrace of Kaede.
When I kneeled to trace the texture of the paint on the canvas, Kaeda followed, while my arm remained across her shoulder. Ichiba and Sakura came down to the floor as well. As I drew my fingers across the paint, tracing the outline of the brushstrokes, I encouraged each of them to try It for themselves and when they hesitated, took Kaeda's hand in mine, and flattened it against the canvass.
"Don't worry, I haven't worked on these in over a week and the paint is firm enough that you can't harm anything", I said. Her hand was slim, and soft and delightful to hold. Leaving Kaeda to explore the textures, I took each of the others' hands in turn, flattened them against the canvas, and then started them moving their fingers to allow them to trace the underlying textures. By the time I was finished, all three were blushing from the hand-to-hand contact.
