"On the Road Again 23#" drabbles by Steve McBrevity
Benito’s Hiding Place 23#
On the Road Again 23#
As a hitchhiker you either go right or left or straight on - back is not an option.
We went right, as our left turn had been in Bologna. Thus we rocked up in Predappio near Forlì, a cute village completely redesigned to feed Mussolini’s vainglorious ego. The village was turned into a military parade ground and its character brutally vandalised by clunky fascist architecture.
Benito’s tucked away in the family crypt hiding inauspiciously at the rear of the Predappio cemetery attended by a guard of honour standing waxwork-like robed like an ancient Roman senator. You couldn’t make it up.
World of Contrasts 23#
On the Road Again 23#
This coffee communism was clearly infectious in a carefree sort of way judging by the competing voices and general hubbub ricocheting off the cellar’s stonework. Ironically outside the garbage was piling up, the buses paralysed, all whilst the dark menace of the Red Brigades hovered ominously in the background. Still, this beautiful small city of 80,000 students, whatever their political colour, was an intensely fascinating and energetic place to spend a day.
We sadly said ‘arrivederci’ to Gino and Bologna, not knowing what lay in store for us, unwittingly moving from one extreme to another at the whim of fate.....
