I Don't Speak Italian

Summer vacation 2006, I, Jack Cardinale was lost. 

It all started one afternoon in Italy, on a small island named Marettimo. I had a good summer that year but I had a few down points. 2006 was the year Italy won the world cup, so everyone on this island was playing soccer. There were no cars on the island because there was no way to get there but a ship. Since there were no cars on the island, we took this to our advantage and we would play soccer in the streets. That's where we first discovered the cats. 

At first we thought it was just a rare site, but soon we discovered they showed up everywhere. At the docks, by the beach, everywhere. I guess the cats were at the docks and the beach because of the fish. When my cousin Laurence and I became bored, we would feed the cats or name them. Some of the names were, "White Tiger," "Policeman," and "Tom." Laurence was bit by "Tom" that summer, but luckily it was nothing serious. I thought after that he would stop playing with the cats, but he didn't, he just wouldn't play with "Tom." 

One day Laurence took me to this little alley behind our house. We had played soccer there many times, so I thought he was going to challenge me to a one on one. My mom said we had to be back in 10 minutes because we were going out to dinner. When we got to the alley, the cats  surrounded us. All I could manage to say was, "Wow." I was amazed and couldn't believe what I saw. I was in the middle of thinking, why would they all be here at once? When all of a sudden, they scattered! I told Laurence, "Come on, lets go into that building. A bunch went in there." The worst part about my choice was, it was a condemned building. 

As we went inside I had to stop so my eyes could adjust to the darkness but after that we went right in. I saw three cats when I went inside. They all fled. After we knew all the cats were gone we went back out the alley, but my parents were gone. We looked everywhere but they were no where to be found. While we were looking for them we found two of my other cousins that live there. I was thinking this would be really helpful if I knew how to speak Italian. Since they couldn't understand us and we couldn't understand them they knocked on a person's door to see if they could translate. The problem was these people didn't speak English either. 

    These people only made it worst for us. They told my cousins that live there that they thought my parents were waiting for us at the docks. I knew my parents weren't at the dock. I knew they were probably looking all over the island for Laurence and I. 

We were being dragged to the docks by my cousins. We tugged and pulled but it was no use. I was about to be on a boat to Sicily without my parents and there was nothing I could do about it. When all my hope was gone I looked down one of the alleys and my parents were there calling our names. I screamed at the top my lungs "Mom dad over here!" It was no use. They couldn't hear me. Once we got to the dock I took one look back thinking bye family. In surprise my parents were standing there calling my name. Knowing they saw me gave me a little extra boost of adrenalin and I broke free. I immediately ran to my parents and made them get my cousins to release Laurence. They did as told and we were so exited to be free but then my parents told me I was grounded. I know it was better than being separated from my family. So I spent the rest of my time in Italy learning Italian.