The yellow sun illuminated the clear, blue sky. Gentle waves splashed against the shore. The church bells clanged. The birds chirped. A typical summer day in the floating city. Venice. A paradise to many, an abode of relaxation, a magnet to travelers.
Maurizio rowed his gondola upstream. He was headed home for lunch. His thoughts were occupied by the saffron aroma of his wife’s homemade risotto. He could almost taste it.
Suddenly, he felt himself being thrown back. A garish purple gondola had appeared from nowhere and collided against his boat.
Maurizio looked up at the mustached boatman. He waved his fist, “Watch where you’re going, idiot. Are you drunk?”
The boatman in the other gondola just shrugged his shoulders, by way of apology. Maurizio shook his head. He clearly had the right of way. Where did these morons come from.
Maurizio continued to curse under his breath as the two gondolas separated and continued along their way. He rowed ahead and gradually his thoughts returned to his upcoming meal.
Half an hour passed without further incident. Maurizio navigated past the central market district. He slowed down and steered towards the land. He was almost home.
Once again, he found himself jerked back. He lost balance and fell on his back. He looked up and saw that another gondola had collided with him. He face turned flush red. He could feel the anger rise up inside him. He gritted his teeth.
He stood up. “What the hell do you people think? You can do anything you want? Maurizio will teach you a lesson you will never forget. Maurizio will beat you so bad that…”
He stopped short. He found himself yelling at thin air. There was no boatman. The brown gondola that lay before him was empty. It had simply come loose from its mooring and floated with the waves.
Maurizio felt his anger subside. He laughed at himself. He pushed the empty boat aside and continued on his way. As he pulled towards the land and parked his boat, a realization struck him. Both the collisions were identical. But the first seemed to justify yelling and the other seemed to justify laughing. He smiled to himself.
From that day, he treated any offending boatman as if he were an empty boat.
