Written for Weekend Writing Prompt #381 where
Sammi asks us to use the prompt word “bungle” and
get creative in exactly 41 words. Here’s my flash.
Dio mio! I’m afraid I’ve bungled things quite badly.
While planning the seating arrangement for my son’s wedding, I inadvertently placed Zia Carmella at Table 1 and her sister, Zia Francesca, at Table 2.
An insult! Disgrazia!
This means war!
NAR©2024
41 Words
* In times of war or siege, Italian families would vacate their homes and rent apartments in safer areas. In order to protect themselves they would hire soldiers to sleep on the floor in shifts. The meaning of the phrase “going to the mattresses” symbolizes the association in Italian folk-memory of mattresses with safety in wartime. The phrase wasn’t well known outside the US and Italy prior to the Godfather movies. It was used there, and later in The Sopranos, to mean “preparing for battle”.
When Kay met Michael, scenes from an Italian wedding (Godfather, 1972) featuring Al Martino as Johnny Fontane. This is “I Have But One Heart (O Marenariello)”
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