FICTION     
A small Italian town on the Adriatic  -  50 years ago.      -   Weebly.com                                    

Bel Momento **
​Epilogue
by  Joe Catalano

​As described in the final passage of Bel Momento, their moment together ended more than 50 years ago, as dawn began to light the sky.
 
All moments end, but the end of theirs was foretold from the start. That didn’t diminish their delight in it, and when it came, it was not met with tears. It just was complete.
 
In the days, years, and then decades that followed, whenever he remembered their moment, he would savor it for a minute or two before he returned it to its place, just two steps away from his here and now.
 
As decades replaced years, he wondered how much of his recollection was fantasy, embellishing a seed of truth. He knew their moment happened, but his only record of it was lying under later memories in his life. But it was irrepressible, and whenever it pushed through thousands of those that followed, it always brought a smile.  
 
In the half century since, he never tried to describe that moment to anyone, so no early rendering could be compared to today’s.
 
Only Bonnie could confirm, correct, or deny what he recalled. But it was such a lovely memory he allowed several more years to pass before he tried to test it against reality. He knew it was unlikely that he’d find her at all. But soon after he began his search, he found an address that might be hers.
 
His note was simple. He asked if she had spent a week with him in a small Italian town on the Adriatic more than 50 years ago.
 
He thought he was prepared for the range of responses his note might prompt: silence; I don’t recall; yes, but that was a long time ago; yes, why are you writing to me. But he was not prepared for her response.
 
“Yes, I am that Bonnie. When we were together, time went away.” She described how the dawn ended their moment. And, like him, she wondered if the passage of time had allowed fantasy to overwrite memory.
 
His search, and her response brought them together again, to smile for their moment when time went away.
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  *  *  ​​Editor's Note:       Joe Catalano's story “Bel Momento” was published in Issue 11 of Vistas & Byways, Spring 2021.  You can read it online by clicking here.

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​Joe Catalano practiced law for more than 30 years before he retired in 2018. He has since pursued his interests in photography, high performance driving, travel and writing. He has enjoyed his first OLLI as SF State courses in the spring semester 2019 and thanks the members of the OLLI at SF State Poetry Writing interest group for their input and support. He lives in San Francisco with his wife Joan. 
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Vistas & Byways Review is the semiannual journal of fiction, nonfiction and poetry by members of Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at San Francisco State University​.​
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