Page 14 of Marcello

“That’s the Naples dialect, right?”

Federica got a sour look on her face. “No. UNESCO designated Neapolitan as its own language back in 2008. We’re not just a dialect of Italian.”

UNESCO was the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. They did a lot of things, but the one I was most familiar with was protecting world heritage sites like the Great Pyramids and the Galapagos Islands.

“Wow,” I said, taken aback.

“What?”

“I just didn’t expect to hear about UNESCO, that’s all.”

She gave me a wry look. “Yeah, well, you’re not the only one who went to university.”

“What was your major?”

She turned her arm towards me, the one with the tattoo of Frida Kahlo. “Take a guess.”

“Art?”

“Ding ding ding! You get the prize.” She gestured around. “As you can see, an art degree is the perfect entryway to a job as a pizza parlor waitress.”

I laughed. “Yeah, well, you’re doing way better than me, and I was a business major.”

“Actually, unemployment is so bad in Naples that you’re doing okay just to have a job. It’s, like, 43% if you’re under 30.”

“Holy shit…”

The dishwashing job was starting to look like a real score.

“Why’d you leave Florence?” she asked.

“Uh… it’s a long story.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Now that sounds interesting. You’ll have to tell me about it over a beer after work.”

Wait –

Is she hitting on me?

Federica wasn’t my type. Artsy chicks with weird hair and facial piercings didn’t do it for me. But since I didn’t know anybody else in Naples…

“Okay,” I agreed.

“Cool,” she said with a smile. “Well, let’s get you started, Marcello.”

She led me back into the kitchen –

And I stared in dismay.

There was a long, steel industrial counter.

In the middle was a sink filled to the brim with murky water.

The right side of the counter was stacked with towers of food-encrusted dishes and plastic drinking cups.

On the left side was a half-dome metal hood with a handle.

Federica quickly showed me how to wash off as much food from the plates as possible, shove them in a plastic tray inside the dome, lower the hood, and flip the START switch.