E.G. Willy’s work has been anthologized in Stories from Where We Live (Milkweed Editions), The Breast (Global City Press), and Creatures of Habitat (Mint Hill).
Here we are, then, in a typical Mediterranean village, sometime between the end of the last world war and shortly before the next one begins. There’s no obvious reason to think trouble is imminent. In the eyes of an ordinary tourist, everything looks lovely: the colorful, lopsided buildings packed on hillsides above the sea, the slopes lined with abundant vineyards and olive groves, the flowery vines spilling over fences. How could anyone not be happy here?
. . . a well-perfumed friend, wise both in the olfactory and in love, taught me to spray with economy, to wear scent as a private pleasure, evident only to a lover in kissing distance.