Page 61 - Litteratteur Redefining World December issue

Litterateur redefining world December 2020

Of course, rustic turned out to be an understatement. It was sixty kilometres

from the nearest town. There was no electricity, the power only working when
the generator was running, and that would break down every other week. Forget
about the internet when the generator was kaput. There was one phone, but it
was in Roberto’s bedroom. During the spring storms the phone line had gone
down for a month. William had spent the days of late winter and spring pruning
and preparing the vines in the raw wind and rain. At night he would huddle in
front of the sputtering fireplace inside his sleeping bag, reading by firelight.
Roberto would sit next to him in his shirtsleeves or sometimes a pullover, an
open bottle of spirits on the floor, staring at the popping fire.

Approaching the final slope to the vineyard, William crunched down the gears
once last time, the engine dragging the truck up the hill. He piloted the truck
through the gates; two timber pillars that bisected stone walls on top of a ridge.
The vines stretched away from the road that divided the property, the limestone
ground dry and parched. Despite the heat, the grapes looked full and burnished
under the sun, promising a fiercely flavoured vintage. The truck kicked up a
plume of dust as he drove the last stretch of his journey, heralding his arrival.

He’d been to town to collect some irrigation pipes, some things for the kitchen,
and of course the generator that had been repaired, yet again.

Roberto was waiting to meet him outside the machinery shed. As William
alighted from the truck, Roberto was upon him, his meaty body pressed against
his side, thick arm around his neck. His boss smelt as he usually did by this
time of day, a dense male smell: perspiration, dirt, and something underneath,
something hormonal and quintessentially Roberto, like an animal. William knew
better than to recoil. If he did Roberto would pull him closer, yanking his neck
into the crook of his elbow, bringing pain and causing embarrassment, if not
more of the smell.

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