Hand-Rolled Gnocchi

By Roger Arsht

Read previous episodes here.

     Annie put her arm around Richard’s waist, lifted him to his feet, and held him tight to her side. They hadn’t moved more than a couple of steps when Annie stopped their progress.  

     “What’s wrong?” Richard asked. “Am I too heavy?” 

     “No, not at all. I can see that you’re moving better.” Annie bit her bottom lip, and her eyes were dancing. “When was the last time you bathed?” 

     “That bad? I’m sorry. When I’m having an episode, I retreat to my room. I don’t shower. I just write. Ed brings me my meals.” 

     “Let’s go downstairs to my room. I think we can find a use for that oversized tub.”  

     They were working their way down the steps when Cathy exited the door of Richard’s stateroom with her arms full of sheets and pillowcases. “I’m sorry, Richard. I thought you would be spending the morning upstairs. 

     “He was,” Annie said with a mischievous smile. “I got this.” 

     As Annie and Ed turned into her room, Annie looked back to where Cathy was still standing. The purser gave her an encouraging smile and an appreciative nod of her head. 

     In the bathtub, Annie sat behind Richard with her legs wrapped around his torso. She had just finished washing his hair when she leaned backward against the wall of the tub so that the back of his head was against her chest. The warm water surrounded them, and any tension Richard might have had before they got in the tub was gone. 

     “Tell me a story.” 

     “What would you like to know?” Richard asked, sleepily. 

     “Tell me about…Wheels. What breed?” 

     “Golden Retriever.” 

     Annie let out a sigh. “We always had goldens growing up. They are the best. Was he English Cream or red?” 

     “Dark red. Eighty pounds. Strong and fast. I remember hearing the branches breaking when he would take off into the woods after a deer. I always wondered if he’d come back in one piece.” 

     “Thank God they’re not as fast as they think they are. Can you imagine what they would bring back if they were?” Annie responded while lightly scrubbing his face and neck with a sponge. 

     “It was bad enough when they retrieved parts of dead animals. The last thing I wanted to see was Wheels dragging a whole deer carcass. But we love them.”  

     “Like children. Why haven’t you replaced Wheels? Losing a dog is devastating, but most people after a year or two start thinking about a new addition. It’s been eight years.” 

     “I could never replace Wheels. He was…special.” 

     Annie could feel Richard start to tense, so she took over the conversation. “I had three goldens when I was a girl. Shadow was our family’s first. Friends would ask my father if he would worry when I would go on long hikes with only Shadow for protection. He’d tell anyone who’d listen how he pitied the fool who tried to harm us. Shadow was a big male retriever who was highly protective with no fear of any dog, horse, moose, or person. He even had a sense of humor. We were having new carpet installed in our dining room. The installer had four of five inches of his crack hanging out of the back of his jeans. When he pulled the old carpet off the tack strip it sounded like a machine gun. I didn’t see it happen, but Shadow bit the guy right on the crack. It was hard to keep from laughing as the installer complained about the dog’s behavior. Do you want to hear about Pumpkin and Jack?” Annie bent her neck to the side so she could see Jack’s face. He had fallen asleep. “Dear God,” she mumbled to herself. Fortunately, there was a phone fixed to the wall above her head. She stretched upward and lifted the receiver from its cradle. After two rings, Cathy picked up. “May I help you?” 

     “Yes,” Annie said with a little panic in her voice. “This is kind of embarrassing. I’m in the tub with Richard, and he has fallen asleep on top of me. I don’t think I can lift him off me, and I definitely can’t get him out of the tub.” 

     “Don’t move and don’t try to move Richard,” Cathy said with what strangely sounded like both panic and elation in her voice. “We’ll be there in two minutes.” 

     Cathy came into the bathroom first with towels and Annie’s bathrobe. “I’m going to pull him forward. Slide out as soon as you think you can. Grab my arm if you need some leverage to get out from under his weight.” 

     It was awkward trying to get out from under Richard and trying to shield her body from a stranger’s view. Eventually, Annie was out of the tub. She wrapped her hair in a towel and slipped on her bathrobe.  

     Cathy could see that the situation had made Annie uncomfortable. “I know this is going to sound weird, but this is great. Could you tell Ed and Alex to come in? They’re in the hallway.” 

     Annie went to the door and waved the men in.  

     “Why don’t you go upstairs for a couple of minutes? Ed said, gently. Annie went up the stairs and fixed herself a cup of coffee. She waited five minutes and walked back to her stateroom where she found Richard under the covers of her bed and still asleep. Cathy motioned with her hands for everyone to quietly leave the room. She turned off the lights as everyone exited. The group continued up the stairs as if anything other than complete silence would wake the dead. Once they reached the salon, Ed, Alex, and Cathy started a muffled celebration replete with hugs and high-fives. Ed called Annie ‘god’s gift.’ Alex referred to Annie as ‘heaven sent.’ The group could see that Annie was baffled by their reactions. 

     “What are we celebrating?” Annie asked. 

     “He never sleeps,” Alex said, excitedly. 

     “All the time or when he’s having one of his episodes?” Annie asked. 

     “Almost never,” Cathy said, her smile matching Alex and Ed’s. 

     “What do we do now?” Annie asked. 

     “You can stay dressed as you are, or I can get your clothing. Go shopping, read a book, or go jet skiing. Whatever you want. Just don’t wake him.” 

     “What if I want to buy him a puppy?” Annie asked with a questioning tone in her voice. 

     Alex, Cathy, and Ed looked at each other.  

     “That’s a great question,” Ed said and then thought it over. “I don’t think it will do any harm.” Then he hesitated. “Annie?” 

     “Yes.” 

     “You might need to keep the dog if things don’t work out. Think about that before you write the check. Get enough dog food for a few days. I’ll pick up a bed, toys, and more food later this week if it all works out.” 

      Alex jumped into the conversation. “Please don’t get him a golden retriever. Too much like Wheels. A water dog would be great since we're…well…you can see.” Annie thought the conversation was over until Alex said a little too happily for her liking, “Welcome to our family of conspirators.” 

     Annie figured she had all day to research breeders. She was surprised when Cathy offered to come with her. “I could use a few hours away from Secrets Kept. Working for Richard is wonderful, but his blue periods can be taxing,” the first mate and steward shared. “I expect that he will be asleep for hours. Ed and Alex said they would keep an eye on him. Unfortunately, I need to at the helm when we push off in five hours.”  

     “I’d love the company,” Annie offered. “Let’s take a few minutes and browse the web for breeders." 

     “Have you thought about what type of water dog?” Cathy asked.  

     “No, I only know about goldens and labs. Let’s look some up,” Annie answered. 

      Both women searched their phones for the right breed and breeder. After a few minutes, Cathy slid into a chair next to Annie to show her a picture of a Lagotto Romagnolo. “Do you know anything about the breed?” Cathy asked. 

      “Not a thing. How does the breeder describe them?” Annie asked. 

     “He says that Lagottos were bred to hunt waterfowl, and since the 19th century they have been used to find truffles.” The women grinned. They were sitting in the salon filled with racks of amazing wine. “I think we found the breed for a man who loves the water and good food,” Cathy said, enthusiastically, while Annie dialed the breeder.  

     It must have been fate. The breeder told Annie that one puppy from a recent litter had not been claimed by the people who had sent him a deposit. Full of enthusiasm, Annie begged and pleaded with the man to allow her to come that day. The two-hour drive to Virginia in Annie’s vintage Porsche Carrera gave the women time to learn a little bit about each other. 

      “This is some car,” Cathy said. 

     “It’s one of the most sought-after Porsche. It took me years to find one of these and restore it.” 

     “I thought you were a financial manager.” 

     “It’s a long story.” 

     “It’s a long drive.” 

     “I was adopted by a big, wonderful Italian family when I was three,” Annie shared. “I had four brothers, three sisters, and dozens of cousins. I couldn’t have asked for a better home life.” 

     “Why did they adopt you if they already had so many children?” Cathy asked. 

     “I was an only child. My parents contracted a rare blood disease. Eventually, both succumbed and I was parentless. Both families belonged to the same church. When the local priest asked the Riccis, my new family, to take me in. They didn’t see it as a burden to have one more mouth to feed or child to clothe. Every night they had ten or more people at their dining table.” 

     “I’m so glad. I’ve heard so many stories about children getting adopted by dysfunctional families that left the children scarred and bitter.” 

     “My situation was anything but dysfunctional. Everyone in my new family was a mechanic or a cook.” 

     “You mean the men were in the garage…” Cathy said before Annie interrupted her. 

     “No. Some of the men cooked and many of the women in the family fixed cars. Some did both. 

     My parents taught me to love demanding work and to savor the satisfaction of fixing something the right way. By the time I was a teenager, I could rebuild transmissions, replace clutches, fix the ignition timing on any domestic vehicle, cook a mean lasagna, make authentic gravy, or hand-rolled gnocchi.”  

     “Wow! Why didn’t you become a mechanic or a chef?” 

     “The money. My dad’s garage mostly worked on American cars. Occasionally, we’d get to work on a Maserati or a Porsche. That’s when I learned that there was a real difference in quality between the American brands and the high-end European ones. I also learned that exotic cars are expensive. So, I chose a career where I could afford them. I attended Wharton and studied my ass off. By the time I graduated, the most successful hedge funds fought to hire me” 

      "Ambitious.” 

     “I suppose. I fell in love with the design and the performance of those cars. And I knew was that I wanted a few of them.” 

     “How many is a few?” Cathy asked with a smile. She suspected that Annie’s passion had grown beyond a few. 

      “Seventeen,” Annie said, hesitantly. "Please don’t tell Richard. He knows I’m successful. Just not that successful. Confident women intimidate some men. Even ones that are world famous authors."