That evening, after adding freshly-gathered eggs to the red-black dye, I collected my son from his grand- parents and took him to the end of the village. It was 7:30 p.m. and the mountains blushed pink to our left. Soon they would be silhouetted in twilight as the moon rose. The day before, we had met a cousin at market in the castle town of Pontremoli and she had invited us to visit.


When our cousin opened the door and introduced her son to my son, I saw the family resemblance in the shapes of their faces and eyes, and in their stocky builds. This is what it meant to go back to your roots. “We’re third cousins,” another woman had said when introducing herself to me two years ago. Yes, I could tell. She shared my children’s noses.


The eggs emerged from their bath a deep red, the color of wet jasper, almost the color of rust. We cooled them in the pot by putting it on the tile floor. The dog came to sniff and Zia fed him leftover torta di riso. Here dogs eat pasta, feast on minestrone and fresh chicken eggs, but this one did not like the scent of that maroon soup.


“Bring your socks tomorrow and we’ll dip them in the pot,” said our Zia. We smiled, thinking of red socks to wear on our feet, warming our roots.


PAT KENNELLY CREATIVE COPY FOR


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at is an experienced writer and blogger, who specializes in food, gardening, business and travel writing. Please see her blog at http://writingnag.com


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PUBLICATIONS INCLUDE: Denver Post, Articus, Irish American Post, Artella, Springs Magazine and Haibun Today.


PAT KENNELLY • 719-466-1149 Winter/Spring 2012 greenwomanmagazine.com 53


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