When he arrived in Altamura the night before, Carlo had wandered a bit searching for the Filomena household then came upon it suddenly. It was just turning to dusk when he arrived, and the lights in the house were ablaze in anticipation of his arrival.
The family friend in St. Louis had written to Elena and Cristiano Filomena twice already, priming them for Carlo"s expected visit. So when he stepped through the doorway, Carlo didn"t feel like he was confronting strangers. Handshakes quickly turned into hugs, and rapid-fire questions in colloquial Italian had Carlo"s head spinning. Their daughter, Giovanna, emerged from another room soon enough to rescue the guest from this onslaught of questions.
The broad table in the middle of the main room quickly filled up with fragrant plates of roa
