I am thirteen.  I have just come back to my grandmother’s house from about a year with my father.

Measured in weeks and months I was not away very long, but I feel that I have just returned from time travel into a different world.  I am not even sure that I will not wake up and find that being here is wishful dreaming.

I don’t remember when my cousin Amadeus began coming by for tea.  He and I have a lot to talk about.   Never mind that he is tall and handsome or that he has the reputation of being a bad boy.  He is smart.  Very smart.

Yes, there is an undercurrent of excitement when we are with each other.  But then, he is my first cousin.   We are not allowed to marry first cousins.  He is safe.

One afternoon, Amadeus and I take our tea and cake with us and go up to the terrace where we can see the inner harbor.

When we come back, Titi takes Amadeus aside.

He does not come for tea again.

We are still friends.  After all, we are cousins.