If you stay in one place long enough, the world will pass
by. What better place to sit, on a baking hot July afternoon in Taormina than a
shady bench in the Public Garden, with a view of the bay of Giardini Naxos?
The first visitor is a black cat, which uses the stepping
stone as a jumping-off point for a leap into the fountain bowl and proceeds to
satisfy its thirst at leisure.
Next is a family with boisterous young
boys. They make the happy discovery that
by pressing down on the fountain source with a thumb they can create a water
jet with which to soak their brothers, and anyone else who gets in the way.
A
gaggle of teenagers cool off by dipping their foreheads in the fountain. A
passing tourist goes one better by soaking his New York Yankees baseball cap in
the water, before putting it back on his head.
A grey tabby cat joins me at the bench. After a thorough scratch, it finds a piece of
dry bread crust, which it crunches noisily, before taking up position in the
shade of a bush, ready to pounce on an unsuspecting lizard.
Back at the fountain, a young couple employ the spray technique,
but without malice, in order to cool each other off.
At last, an elderly couple come to the fountain to drink.
