Broken Hearts On Boulevard Unirii novel Chapter 47

I calmed her down a bit, but not really enough because she lay down beside me on the bed covering her face with her hands.

At eight-thirty, which in Bulgarian is "precisely" eight o'clock, the big guy came to take us to the restaurant. Angelo, Elena and Elia got into his car while the rest of us crammed into the van sitting one on top of another. I followed him.

He drove wildly, all the while talking and waving his hands and letting go of the wheel. I got nervous to see how he constantly turned around, trying to talk to Elena, who was sitting in the back.

The restaurant was not far away and we were there in less than ten minutes. It was called Mister Baba's Fish Restaurant and was located at the entrance to the port of Varna. On top of a cliff, a large, old boat had been turned into a restaurant with an open air deck. To enter the restaurant, we had to climb a spiral staircase that was attached to the wall built around the boat.

The huge fat guy must have reserved a table as everything was prepared on the deck and the waiters knew we were coming.

He sat at the head of the table. When Claudio wanted to sit next to him, he motioned with his hand that he should sit elsewhere. The two chairs next to him remained empty and Angelo and Elena sat next to the empty chairs.

When we were all seated along the long table, he opened his mouth and began talking.

"My name is Velcho, and as you can see my mother chose an appropriate name," he said.

"Velcho, means big in Bulgarian," Elena explained.

"My wife Rozitsa and my son Todor will be here shortly. He speaks English," he said proudly. Elena continued to translate for us.

The waiters who were standing close to the table jumped at his every movement, ready to serve just as soon as he gave the word.

Trays laden with deep-fried small fish that resembled sardines began to arrive. Interestingly, no plates were brought out.

Velcho picked up a spoonful of the small fish and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Eat," he said. "See how we eat in Bulgaria. Like this, with your fingers."

The waiters began to bring the main courses. They arrived with trays laden with shrimp and calamari and a huge basket with black mussels in tomato sauce and garlic. The smell was divine. The delicious red wine that we drank started to take its toll. The main thing was that Velcho was cheerful and happy.

Gert was suddenly overcome with a laughing attack when he asked me if the sequel to Fellini's[ Italian movie director Federico Fellini]Amarcord was being filmed here. I gave him a kick under the table and struck his kneecap.

"Are you crazy? The fat one is going to shoot us. He is going to think that we are laughing at his wife and son," I said. Despite the pain in his knee, Gert burst out laughing again, then Sofia, who was sitting next to him and trying to calm him down, suddenly burst out laughing too.

Out of the blue, Velcho, who was drunk, drew his gun and fired shots into the air. We all ducked under the table in terror.

The owner of the restaurant ran to him and asked him to stop, but Velcho grabbed him in a bear hug and didn't let go. A waiter who was standing nearby helped free his boss from the grip of Velcho, who was yelling, "I'm so happy." His wife sat there with a stupid smile on her face, which made her look like the smiling pig in an advertisement for Prosciuto di Parma.[Parma ham (Parma is the town in Italy where they produce the ham)] I couldn't control myself any and burst out laughing.

When dessert came, we were so full that we didn't touch anything. Velcho asked the waiter to pack up the entire mountain of baklawa[Balkan cookie]for his son.