“Please no, Poppa,” Elizabeth pleaded. “I’ll stop fighting with Mandy.”
“Lizzy is always taking my clothes,” Amanda said.
“I don’t care who’s doing what to the other. Once this school term is over, you won’t have to fight over clothes, because you all will be wearing uniforms. Your mother will go to Holy Name tomorrow and register you for September. And if I hear another argument or fight, the three of you will spend your entire summer vacation in this very room. You will only be allowed to come out to eat and use the bathroom.”
“We can’t watch television, Poppa?” asked six-year-old Carolina.
“No television. I swore I would never beat my daughters because I saw what my father did to my sisters, but I swear by all that’s holy that I will take a belt to all of you if you don’t learn to get along. We’re all going to Nonna’s later this afternoon, so if you don’t behave, then I’ll have Miss Townsend come over and watch you.”
Frankie couldn’t stop grinning as he closed his door. It was about time his father had stepped in to chastise his daughters, because his wife had declared she was at the end of her rope with them. Her husband had refused to hit their daughters, and while she disagreed with him when it came to childrearing, she had gone along with him because he was man of the house.
Kathleen D’Allesandro was two months pregnant with her fifth child, and she hoped it would be her last. Her first four children were born two years apart, and after she delivered Carolina six years ago, her menses had stopped completely; she attributed it to early menopause. But now, at thirty-one, she was pregnant again.
Although Frankie loved his parents, he had no intention of repeating their lives. His mother was eighteen and his father nineteen when they married. He was born a year later; then came three more children, every other year. Not only did his mother appear to be overwhelmed taking care of four kids, but with another on the way, Frankie knew it wasn’t going to be easy for her.
He wanted to graduate college, get married, and then buy a large house with a backyard and enough rooms for his kids to have their own bedrooms. Although his father owned and operated a neighborhood grocery store, he still wasn’t able to compete against the local Safeway and A&P. Gio claimed he was happy that he’d earned enough to pay his bills and take care of his family, but admitted the business didn’t bring in enough for him to set up a college fund for his kids. Frankieknew he would have to earn the grades and focus on attending a public college; and if he wanted to go to a private one, then that meant he would have to secure a scholarship.
The commotion in his sisters’ room had stopped, and Frankie was finally able to complete his algebra and science assignments. Now, when he went to visit with his relatives, the notion that he wouldn’t have to come home and stay up late to do homework was no longer a reality.
“Where are you going, and how do you know these people?”
Ramon Torres stared at his grandmother’s reflection in the mirror as he brushed his hair. “I’m going to Spanish Harlem with Frankie and his family.” He knew that whenever he left the house, his grandmother would question where he was going and with whom.
His grandmother’s penciled-in black eyebrows lifted. “Spanish Harlem?”
“Sí, abuela,”Ray answered in Spanish.
“El barrio is peligroso,”Carmen Torres said, mixing English and Spanish, as did a lot of Puerto Ricans on the mainland. “You have to watch out for the Latin Kings, Ramon.”
Ray set down the brush. “Where I’m going is not dangerous, and there aren’t any Latin Kings.” He didn’t tell his grandmother that if there were gangs, then they were Italian holdovers from the turn of the century, when large numbers of Sicilians congregated between 106th and 116th Streets along the East River, but over the years many relocated to other neighborhoods; the ones who’d stayed continued to hold onto their language and culture.
“I just want you to be careful.”
“I will be careful,abuela. Frankie’s cousin is going to drive me there and back. He’s a cop.”
Carmen made the sign of the cross over her chest.“Está bien.”
Ray agreed with his grandmother. It was good. When Frankie had called to say his police officer cousin was pickinghim and Kenny up, he knew they would be safer than taking the crosstown bus to and from East Harlem. Frankie inviting him to meet his relatives was a first, because other than his parents and sisters, Ray had never met any of Frankie’s large extended family, many who lived across town.
“Well, well, well. Look at you,” crooned Delores Torres, as she walked into her brother’s bedroom. “Who’s the lucky girl?”
Ray frowned. “There’s no girl, Delores. Kenny and I are going with Frankie to his grandmother’s house.”
His fifteen-year-old sister was close to completing her first year at Julia Richman High School. She’d elected to attend the all-girls school because the curriculum included classes that would prepare her to apply for nursing school. Once she graduated, Delores planned on attending Bronx Community College of the City of New York to pursue a nursing degree.
“If I wasn’t going to a wedding with Mami and Papi, I would tag along with you, because I’m willing to bet there will be some good-looking Italian boys there, I could talk to.”
“You’re just boy crazy, Delores,” Ray spat out.
Carmen Torres shook her head. “You should concentrate on your books, not boys,” she said in rapid Spanish. “You will have more than enough time to think about them after you become a nurse.”
Delores pursed her lips as if she were expecting to be kissed. “The only thing I think about is becoming a nurse and marrying a doctor.”
“What makes you think doctors marry nurses?” Ray asked his sister.
Delores’s expression grew serious. “Don’t they?”
Ray picked up a bottle of cologne with a small amount his father had given him, poured a drop onto his palm, rubbed his hands together, and massaged it on his throat. Papi had cautioned him never to douse himself with cologne or aftershave, because some women found it overpowering. Although he wasn’t shaving, he still wanted to look and smell nice.
