An encounter I will never forget. My
travel friends and I have arrived in Perugia, Italy, a small hill top town,
known for its massive cathedral and wide, stone streets, with colorful yellow,
orange and brown three story Italian apartments that line the streets. We have
decided to stay overnight because the Perugia jazz festival has started and we
have tickets to a jazz performance. People are walking around in large numbers.
We squeeze our way through the crowds after the jazz performance, and walk up
the stony steps toward our lodging place, a hostel.
After checking in, I walked out onto
the balcony of the room. It was sunset. The balcony had a red brick patio with
old curvy iron railings. I could see the entire town below and in the distance
I could see across the rolling hills grapevines, hay fields and olive trees,
surrounded by purple mountains in the distance.
That night I heard the distant jazz
music coming from an open stage and the cathedral’s tower clock chiming on the
hour.
In the morning, the air was cool and
slightly breezy. The sun barely showed above the horizon. I escaped to the
patio to feel the cool breeze and admire the city from my high perch. I looked
around to see what buildings were around me and who may be up at this early
hour. Looking down, I saw a man moving toward a window across from me about two
stories below.
As he moved toward the window to look
out, I noticed he was naked. He was a slim man, mid-30’s, tanned, slightly
muscular, dark brown hair and very naked. He looked up at me, and I looked
away, pretending I was interested in the tomato plant that was sitting on my
balcony. I looked back at him, and he was leaning out the window, looking below
at the slow movement of pedestrians that passed by. I thought he looked like a
naked statue that I viewed in a museum the prior day. I did not make eye
contact with him again, and breezed inside the apartment for a shower. Later, I
informed my roommates what they missed while they slumbered.
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