Heaven Is Paved with Oreos by Catherine Gilbert Murdock Read Free Book Online Page B

than a normal bathtub. A lot of people I know would not fit in this tub. None of the Schwenks would. They would have to fold in half just to rinse.
    Z and I unpacked our clothes, which did not take long, and just as I was sitting down Z said, “We must not sit or we will never stand up again!” So off we went to explore the Eternal City (= Rome’s nickname). We only went a little ways, though, before we sat down again, at this caffè. But a caffè is different from a hotel room. Even if you don’t drink anything, you’re still drinking in every moment!
    So we are drinking coffee and drinking Rome. Z is having a cappuccino. She says Italian coffee is better than American coffee could ever be, and she works in a coffee shop! She even let me have a kind of cappuccino with lots of milk that came in a glass like it was juice—coffee juice!—and it was delicious once I added sugar.
    Here are the Italian words that Z knows:
Ciao
= hello or goodbye. You pronounce it “chaow,” kind of like
meow
but only one syllable. Z says it all the time. I am not sure she uses it correctly.
Grazie
= thank you. It’s pronounced “grot-see-ay.”
    Z also knows words like
pasta
and
pizza
and
spaghetti
and
cappuccino.
And
caffè,
and the names of the churches. And the name of the hotel. And
bellissima
and
amore.
But she most definitely cannot say
My granddaughter and I are lost and could you please direct us to the nearest clean bathroom.
When Z said that she spoke Italian, it may have been wishful thinking.
    Miss Hesselgrave did not know Italian either. She says not to bother because the Romans will always pretend not to understand. And she says a woman must never under any circumstances travel in Rome without a male escort. But she also says that two American ladies when properly protected are quite enough to navigate the city. By “protected” she means parasols and comfortable shoes. Z and I do not have parasols, but we do have comfortable shoes, so I think even without a male escort or Italian or parasols, we will be okay.
    The sky is extremely sunny, but that is not a problem because I have my fisherman’s hat and sunglasses, and I now have a great deal of energy, which is good because Z has just said that we must muster and prepare to walk!
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Thursday, July 11—LATER
    Z and I came to Rome to be pilgrims, but we will start being pilgrims tomorrow. Today we are only tourists.
    Rome used to have lots of pilgrims back in Miss Hesselgrave’s olden days. You could tell they were pilgrims because they dressed in brown and carried wooden walking sticks and looked like they’d been walking for months, which some of them had, to visit Rome and especially the seven churches. Going to all seven churches helped you get into heaven. Pilgrims weren’t supposed to have money either but instead rely on the kindness of strangers. If you were a really good pilgrim, you would walk to all seven churches in one day even though they’re miles and miles apart.
    Miss Hesselgrave made it clear in
Two Lady Pilgrims in Rome
that she was not
that
kind of pilgrim. She liked the walking part and she was a fan of God, but she stayed in hotels and never once relied on strangers’ kindnesses. Miss Hesselgrave had a low opinion of strangers, especially Roman strangers. She also took several days to visit the seven churches, and she spent more time describing the artwork and the history than she did the religious part. I think she felt religion was too personal to put in a book. History and art she could talk about forever. Trust me.
    Rome doesn’t have any pilgrims now, though, at least not pilgrims who dress in brown and beg for food and look like they’ve walked for months. Well, it has some people who look like that, but I think they’re homeless people. They don’t look church oriented if you know what I mean.
    I do not see anyone else carrying a copy of
Two Lady