Giovanni remembered the trees from the year before, and thought to leave a wish as he did then. Not that he believed it would come true, but what could it hurt. He thought about it for a moment, and almost wrote in Italian what popped up in his head first:
I wish I could tell Iv-
Then, realizing what he was writing, swore under his breath and crumpled it up. What nonsense. But that nonsense had been getting more pervasive in his thoughts. He wasn't sure what to make of it.

Picking up another slip of paper, he wrote a different one, both in Italian and English:
I wish for my son to become stronger and better than I.