Giulia. Maria Gabriella Zampini

looked round to see whether Ale or Daniele had witnessed what had happened, but there was no sign of them; she did, however, clamp eyes on Leonardo, who gave her a knowing wink.

      There was at least half an hour to go before the gig. The five band members got their instruments ready, did some sound checks and swapped places dozens of times, while the other kids attempted to hold back the crowd, who were pushing to get as close to the stage as possible.

      Giulia was being shoved and pulled in all directions, barged and jostled by youngsters who were seemingly oblivious to everything and everybody around them. Her top was becoming dislodged and her hair was getting caught up in people’s buttons and jewellery.

      She decided to move away from Andreas, whose protective gaze was getting a bit too much. As the gig started, she slowly moved away to a raised platform a few metres from the stage.

      â€œMamma, what are you doing over there?” Ale shouted, waving furiously to attract her attention. “Come down here with us - you won’t enjoy it from up there!”

      Giulia weighed up her options. She wanted to be at the front with all the others, but she just didn’t want to be too near Andreas. The voice inside her head was telling her she ought to keep her distance but, my God, that aftershave she had caught a whiff of...

      She began to advance towards the stage, castigating herself yet again: ‘You should be ashamed of yourself! You’re old enough to be his mother! So his aftershave got your hormones going? Just take a sedative and go to bed! What’s an old woman like you doing in a place like this anyway? By now, most people your age are either tucked up in bed, having a civilised meal out or maybe relaxing to some music in a piano bar. What in God’s name are you doing at an Afro-Cuban gig?!’

      She continued with the argument inside her head as she edged back into the crowd: ‘But I like Afro-Cuban music. I was listening to this kind of thing before these guys were even born!’

      Andreas stood up and pointed to where he had been sitting:

      â€œYou sit here, please. I go.”

      â€˜I go...where exactly?’ thought Giulia as she sat down, but when she looked up he had gone. Vanished into thin air.

      The gig was awesome. It lasted a good three hours, with only a few short intermissions, and the youngsters really did themselves proud.

      Giulia clapped and cheered, then got up and danced uninhibitedly as she closed her eyes and got lost in the rhythm.

      A bit later, someone handed her a welcome chilled glass of rum and coke, and then another....she turned to Ale and shouted to him above the music:

      â€œThanks, son!”

      â€œWhat for?”

      â€œThe rum and cokes!”

      â€œMamma, if I could afford them I’d be drinking them myself!”

      â€œSo where have they come from then?”

      â€œHow do I know? Looks like you’ve got yourself an admirer!” Ale winked at her and turned away.

      She decided to stop worrying about where the drinks had come from. Worst-case scenario: someone would tell her she owed them the money. She reimmersed herself in the music and thought no more of it.

      Eventually, exhausted and dripping with sweat, Leonardo, Giampaolo, Luca, Michele and Edoardo called it a night. Bland dance music came back over the speakers and the band hurriedly started to get their things together. The stage was needed for the podium dancers who would no doubt titillate the guests as the night wore on.

      As she helped the band to pack up the remainder of their things, Giulia wondered where Andreas had got to; she realised she hadn’t seen him since the start of the gig.

      â€˜Who knows where he went?’ she said to herself. ‘But why should it matter to you anyway? Maybe he’d found himself a nice young girl of his own age and gone home with her...’ She felt sick at the very thought of it and realised she had fallen for him good and proper. Silly old fool!

      The sun crept in through the shutters, hurting Giulia’s eyes. It was roasting hot in the bed and she had a pounding headache.

      â€˜Those damned rum and cokes,’ she thought to herself. ‘What the hell was I playing at?!’

      She tried to position her watch so it was in the sun, cursing the indiscernible dark-blue face, and discovered it was.....four o’clock! And with the sun streaming in like that, it was hardly likely to be four in the morning!

      Giulia groaned as she hauled herself out of bed and trudged into the bathroom. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, and it was not a pretty sight: there were big dark patches under her eyes, the number of wrinkles around her mouth appeared to have doubled and her hair resembled Medusa’s on a bad day!

      She stepped into the shower, turned on the cold tap only and braved the torrent.