“You won’t,” said Giancarlo flatly. “So there’s no point in even trying. The most important thing to remember is that no matter where you go in Italy, most people will understand you if you speak proper Italian.”

“Sounds like I’ll have my work cut out for me when I go,” said Carter, suddenly feeling a little concerned in this regard. “Do you think by the time I leave I’ll know enough to get by?”

“Oh yes,” said Giancarlo, nodding confidently. “That is, if you continue as you have, and try to work a little harder.”

“A little harder?” laughed Carter. “Hey, I’d study more if I had more time.”

“An interesting choice of phrase,” noted Giancarlo, narrowing his gaze at him. “How would you say it in Italian?”

Carter furrowed his brow for a moment.

“Se avessi piu tempo, studiarei di piu?” he offered, as always uncertain as to whether he had used the subjunctive and conditional properly.

Giancarlo sat back and nodded his approval.

“Atta boy,” he said.

CHAPTER 18

CHAPTER 18

One morning, Giancarlo decided on a whim to take a ride to his office at the college, something he rarely did in the summer. His aim was to spend an hour or two there perusing the online editions of the various Italian newspapers he liked to read from time to time. It had been several weeks since he had last read any of these, and he was curious to learn just what the latest comings and goings were in his native land. Had he been willing to shell out a few extra dollars every month, Giancarlo would have been able to do all the Internet reading he might like from the comfort of his own home. Born and bred with an exceedingly frugal nature, however, he refused to pay for high-speed access and contented himself instead with a dial-up connection. It was painfully slow, but by and large adequate for his purposes. Giancarlo was not one to communicate very often through e-mail, so for the few hours a month he might otherwise spend reading online, it hardly seemed worth the extra expense. In any case, it was a good excuse to get out of the house, and the faster connection in his office would more than make up for the time spent in the car.