The car stops in front of a large gate. Mom smiles, pats her belly and says, “We’re here.” I jump down, curious. Dad opens the gate and we stand in front of a large house, surrounded by greenery. All around, just silence, wind in the trees, and a garden that never seems to end. Dad says it’s over 13,000 meters of land all of ours, I don’t know how many there are, but I see so many!

I run toward the house. The entrance is wide and smells of orange. On the ground floor is a bright living area with large windows. The kitchen is huge – I can already imagine grandma making arancini – and there is a room with a sitting area and a stove of those beautiful ones, which also warms the heart. At the back, a modern bathroom and a laundry room, all comfortable and neat. There’s even a door that leads straight to the garage: no more shopping bags in the rain and I’ll finally have a workshop where I can fix my little cars.

I run up the stairs. On the second floor is a bathroom, and a room where, they say, Mom and Dad will sleep with their soon-to-be-born baby sister. Another room for the grandparents that will become a kitchen when they get a room on the ground floor.

A door that leads into a secret third floor, everything here is still in the rough, when I grow up Mom said there will be a room for me, one for my sister and three more to accommodate friends and relatives plus of course the bathroom, actually two.

Outside there is a barbecue area under the trees. Father promises that in the summer we will have barbecues with the grandparents, who will come to live with us during the vacations.

But the best thing is that I will finally have Spike. Father read in a newspaper about an abandoned Belgian shepherd. He said we will adopt him together. I will never leave him, Spike will be my best friend.

This is not just a home. It is a dream, here in Piazza Armerina, in the hills of Sicily. It is the place where we will grow up, together.

Born soon little sister Spike and I will need a companion for adventure.