Photo Mr. Theklan
Bored, lonely, and on his third beer, Joshua Johnson falls in love with a woman he will never know.
I don’t know why I came to Montagnana. Yes I do. It has a hostel. It has a hostel in one of the best preserved medieval walls in all of Europe. In the plains between Venice and Verona, Montagnana is a lush lawn lapping against a rise of brick.
As the restaurant begins to fill and yell and simmer over with bay leaves, mozzarella and garlic, I’m lost in self-pleased, melancholy reverie, sinking back into the wicker chair waiting for the waitress. Why did I come to Montagnana again? Oh, yeah, the wall.
Brown from a lifetime of Montagnana afternoons, she is tall, dark. She moves like a slender tree. The smile that breaks across her face and never fully retreats breaks my heart.
I love you
I want to marry her before she can take my order.
I eat a whole pizza, drink two beers and as the restaurant begins to fold in and clean itself I slowly nurse a third.
Why did I come to Montagnana again?
Oh, yeah, her.
The stars are sharp and low and loud. Her. I imagine her riding out of town with me on a ‘63 Desert Triumph. I see my life in a modest villa with Waitress Girl. I don’t want to leave the restaurant. Should I order another pizza? My beer is going warm.
I pay and force one foot and then another. I want to say something to her, just something to let some of this feeling out into the world.
Do you have a boyfriend, because I think I love you.
She flits in and out of view, carrying plates, pocketing change, looking tired. My foot sneaks forward an inch or two. I grind the gravel with my toes in little circles. She disappears with a load of dirty plates.
I walk away, like I hoped I wouldn’t but knew I would.
Community Connection
Have you been smitten while on the road? Did you have the courage to say something, or did you keep it bottled up? Either way, do you regret your choice?
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14 Comments... join the discussion!
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One of my greatest travel memories is of falling completely for a Portuguese guy I met on the side of the road in Sintra. I abandoned all sense of judgment (and ignored the voice of my mother whispering in my ear), got in a car with him and four of his friends, and spent the whole night making out with him on the beach in Estoril. He spoke to me in Portuguese, I spoke to him in Spanish, we didn’t understand each other, but it didn’t matter. It was over in the morning, of course. We promised we’d write. We didn’t. But it didn’t matter.
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I enjoyed this story – I think most solo travelers have been down this road and have felt this at one point or another during their travels. I did enjoy this story though – a good break from the Excels and charts in my cubicle!
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I spent 10 days in Iceland this summer and ended up falling hard for the girl who worked the front desk at the hotel I stayed. I asked her for drinks figuring if she said ‘no’ then all I had lost was…nothing. She accepted but we ended up not going for drinks. She took me on a drive of this gorgeous fjord outside Reykjavik a couple of days later. Even though I went home never having even hugged her, we still talk every other day and plan on meeting up when I return in next year.
If you ever have the chance, just do it. The worst you have to lose is a couple minutes of sadness due to a rejection. What do you have to gain? Everything.
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I had the same experience in South Africa my home country, i was on work trip she was sitting with her friend for Buzz Bus to take them to Coffee Bay after few minutes of hesitation i decided to go for chat ended up spending with 2 hours with her and taking all necessary contact details. We are now together and i have visited her in Netherlands when i backpacked Europe during the year.
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Reminds me of Hemingway’s “A Moveable Feast” :
“I’ve seen you, beauty, and you belong to me now, whoever you are waiting for and if I never see you again, I thought. You belong to me and all Paris belongs to me and I belong to this notebook and this pencil.”
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wow thanks i dont feel so alone, traveling does something to ur heart, check it out…
I got back from costa Rica about a month ago, i met a guy from brazil and fell in love, ever since i got home i have not stopped thinking about him we write ever now and again…. its sorta sad really, it has always been my dream to move to brazil but now im afraid, you see im scared that the second i step foot on brazilian grounds i will think of him and trek across the country to find him. But he will be with someone else, someone that was not just a slice of paradise, and or a chemical reaction between the heat, sun, palm trees and clear water beachessomewhere in my head i wish i had never met him because i know that some things can never be
on the other hand i hope i fall in love a million times over again with men from all over the world
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Oh my God, I lived such a similar experience too! Another client at the health spa… we were both on the edge of talking to each other…
Although it was just an instant, I learned that some guys out there will be able to steal away my cynicism towards love in nothing more than a second.
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HAHA!!! I can speak from experience of the Rich Coast!
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So familiar
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Next week it’ll be 16 years that I’ve been married to the woman I became smitten with on a train from Prague to Germany.
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Isn’t it wonderful though? I had a similar “movie moment” in Hawaii that lasted two weeks until we parted ways….ahh….funny what taking yourself out of a comfortable environment will do to your heart…
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I once asked (after a week of debating and consulting my mother for advice, ha) a heart-meltingly gorgeous vendor at an outdoor market in Switzerland to get drinks later. He said no. Maybe it was my terrible German.
Great story – I think it’s really easy to fall for beautiful people while traveling. If you walk away from someone, you may lose the opportunity for a new friend, fling or lover – but if he or she is a terrible person that you never have to know that and can just preserve a memory of a gorgeous person. That’s ok, too, no?
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“I’m never gonna know you now, but I’m gonna love you anyhow…”
Sooo… is Bridget the waitress??
This was a nice change of pace, a very personal article that touches on one of those universal experiences. Well, maybe not universal, but surprisingly frequent. Loved reading about all the love-at-first-sight traveling experiences. Too bad I can’t contribute–my only love-at-first-sight encounter was with an alcoholic speedfreak street musician when I was 15. (It was little like Amy Winehouse and Blake Fielder-Civil , minus the beehive and millions of pounds…) Thanks for keeping the dream alive!
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