“Bye, Uncle Wilf,” he says, scattering some ashes over the edge. “I like your castle. And Len and Lionel the lizards. And the pizza oven. But not the snake.”
We all smile and pass the urn back down the line to Angelika, who empties out what’s left.
“Goodbye, sister,” she says.
For a while, we all stand in silence. Thinking about Wilf and savoring the sunset.
“There’s one more thing,” I throw in.
And from out of my tote bag, I produce the stone inscribed with the names WILF+ ARNALDO. I pass it around so everyone can see and explain where I found it. They’re all fascinated and the kids run their fingers over the scratched names.
I turn to Luisa. “I was wondering if you and your team could put it back in the wall, with the other stones.”
She smiles. “Of course.”
Luisa lifts a few stones from the top layer of the wall and slides Wilf and Arnaldo’s underneath, explaining that they’ll make sure it’s secure in the morning. “And their love for each other will always be part of the castle.”
Amongst all the buried secrets. I run my hand over the wall.
“Now, I don’t know about you,” breaks in Angelika, “but I’m desperate for a drink.”
I grin. “Come on, let’s get down before it goes dark.”
I give the wall one last pat and lead everyone back to the path.
“By the way,” Luisa says to Archie as we troop down the steps, “that bone we found belonged to a wild boar.”
“Oh, no,” is his response.
“Don’t be disappointed,” counters Luisa. “If it had been human, it would have made the dig very complicated.”
“Yeah,” jumps in Theo. “And you wouldn’t want this place to be a crime scene, with police everywhere, would you?” He stops himself. “Actually, don’t answer that.”
We all laugh.
“And it looks like the underground chamber is safe to explore,” Luisa adds. “So we can find out if it really is a dungeon.”
Archie’s face lights up. “Can I come?”
“We’ll definitely make some time to take you down,” she says. “After all, you found it!”
I can’t see his face but know he’ll be beaming.
We reach the bottom of the hill and, just as we’re emerging from behind the chapel, I spot a group of wild boars on the patio. I quickly stretch out my arm to hold everyone back.
“Ssssh!”
Stefano is directly behind me. “We must tell them to go,” he says.
“Can’t we just watch them for a minute?” I protest. “They’re not doing any harm.”
We all fall silent and watch the boars trotting around the patio, grunting as they sniff at the ground, presumably searching for food. I count seven of them altogether. Three are bigger and darker, with white, bristly hair. The smaller ones are a lighter brown, but gray around the nose and under their bellies.
Theo licks his lips. “I bet they’d taste nice in a pasta sauce,” he whispers.
“Dad!” Mabel hisses at him. “Is it a family?” she asks Stefano.
He whispers something to Luisa. “Withcinghiale, the male does not stay with his mate,” she translates. “Groups of females form herds with their young.”
