The following days were like a daze for me and I was mostly thinking about David and his family. My mother naturally noticed and after two days, she put me into a corner while we were at my grandparents' for lunch.
It has always been a tradition to go to my grandparents on Tuesday. Their house was at the other side of the town and you drove something about thirty minutes there. My grandmother had excelled herself again at cooking. It was my favorite soup which was served only at two occasions: Either they wanted to cheer me up or to talk about something unpleasant.
"Mad, what's going on?", asked my mother, the moment my grandmother went out with the dirty cutlery and my grandfather was napping on the couch.
"I'm worried about David and his family. His father is in a coma since the accident."
"Oh, my angel!", my mother embraced me. That was all I needed from her. My mother knew me well enough to know that I just needed to say it out aloud once and then I would have to deal with it myself to become calmer. This was a situation only David could calm me down for sure.
"Perhaps it is quite well to travel some days. A change of scenery for a short while could do miracles. That reminds me of the short presentation you had to prepare. All done for it?"
Grateful for the change of topic I took the new one and told her my findings.
Everyone in the group had to prepare a short presentation of 5 or 10 minutes. My topic was the Arc of Constantin which the emperor had built after his historical success near the city of Pisa. It was an intriguing topic about which I could speak much longer. I was interested in architecture (that was thanks to my father, an architect) and in culture (more the world of my mother). Two prints of famous paintings were on the wall of my room, while prints of manga or anime were all over the sides of my shelves or they were rolled together in a shelf or on the ground.
Till teatime, I was calm enough and talked with my grandparents about the journey. While my grandmother is getting a panic attack ("Oh my God, what happens if the plane crashes? Or if some thugs try to steal your bag?"), my grandfather is staying calm and asks about our plans ("Which archeological sites are you visiting? Will you go to the Vatican? If yes, you absolutely have to go up the cupola. The view is stunning!" I was talking mostly to grandfather and tried to avoid rolling my eyes because of the antics of my grandmother. And this was costing a lot of self-control. I saw my mother having a good time and I was happy to be distracted of the David-situation.