The Father's Son

by Jim Sano

  Gianni and Annie talked about the realistic options for where they could move in the city that would fit their finances and provide a good neighborhood atmosphere. Gianni found an apartment in the North End where he had grown up and had family and friends. Annie wasn’t completely enthusiastic about moving out of Savin Hill but understood that the situation would probably only get worse rather than better and agreed that it was their best option for now. They knew that the toughest adjustment would be for Jimmy since he had a close group of friends and was entering his final year of high school. When he learned of the move, Jimmy said he’d live with friends in Savin Hill. Gianni took Jimmy for a walk to explain that he understood this was extremely difficult and unfair, but that family was more important, and they would be moving before school started that fall. This didn’t sit well with Jimmy, but he knew that he didn’t have an option and he resented it. Part of Gianni’s decision to move out of Dorchester was his concerns for his seventeen-year-old son and the questionable associations he had developed around the neighborhood.

  Gianni, Annie, and kids made the move back to Gianni’s home neighborhood on August 13, 1970. It was a warm summer afternoon as they unloaded their furniture from the truck Gianni had borrowed from work and moved into the third-floor apartment on Lewis Street. The neighborhood was lively, and Annie played Sinatra classics as Gianni, Jimmy, and Bobby carried up the heavier furniture. Abbie and David did their share climbing the flights of stairs with packed boxes and other odds and ends. They took a break to eat their meal of Italian cold cut sandwiches and ice-cold ginger ale at the kitchen table as a well-used metal fan helped deliver a refreshing breeze.

  By the time they had finished setting up the beds, positioning the furniture and unpacking most of the boxes, it was 6:30 p.m. and they were all about ready to collapse just as they heard sounds from the street below. David remembered racing to the open window first to see the small building across the street with the words Madonna Del Soccorso Society Fisherman’s Club above the opened doors. A woman was singing “Ave Maria” as several men in white shirts and black pants carefully carried out a statue to the applause of a large crowd gathered in front of the club. David said, “Dad, there are a lot of people outside our house!” as everyone laughed and came to the window to watch.

  Gianni said, “This is the Sicilian Fisherman’s Feast, a tradition from the 16th century based on the devotion of the fishermen from a village called Sciacca to the Madonna del Soccorso or Our Lady of Help. They celebrate every year.”

  The air was filled with music and the smells of cooked sausage as confetti floated down from the apartments. The festive atmosphere intrigued David. “Can we go down to see her?”

  Everyone hurried down the stairs, squeezing through the crowd to get a look. Gianni lifted David onto his shoulders so he could see the large statue and ornate platform held by large poles hoisted on the shoulders of several men while others held streamers coming from the top of the columns. They followed the procession through the streets of the North End and then to the Columbus Park Pier where the fishing waters were blessed.

  While Gianni was used to the festivals in the North End, the vibrant neighborhood quickly felt like home to the rest of the family, except Jimmy, who was conspicuously absent as the evening celebration went on. Gianni looked at Annie as they sat at an outdoor table to share some grilled sausage sandwiches, fried calamari, and creamy sweet cannoli. Gianni smiled a smile that said he was happy to be home and that he was sharing this with his partner for life. They took a long walk around the neighborhood to enjoy the busy but quieter summer scene. They passed restaurants crowded with tourists looking for authentic Italian cooking and locals enjoying an evening out with friends. They passed churches, small groceries, barbershops, and brick and stone apartment buildings with residents hanging out the windows and groups of older Italians sitting outside their doors on the granite stoops or on old lawn chairs talking as much with their hands as with their mouths.

  One man from that night stood out crystal clear to David. Mo Diavolo—black hair combed back with Brylcreem, dark glasses, and an open shirt exposing his thick gold chain against his dark, hairy chest—called out from across the street, “Johnny, are you back from Ireland?” Mo was standing outside the small establishment he had bought and renamed the River Styx Bar.

  Gianni crossed the street and Mo gave him a big smile and a firm handshake while putting his other arm around his back. “Hey, Mo. Looks like business is going well. How have you been doing for yourself?” David could still feel the static rising between the two men despite the smiles on their faces. Annie knew that Gianni and Mo were very close friends growing up, but she also knew how Gianni felt about Mo these days. She didn’t know the details, but she could tell by Gianni’s body language that the conversation was going to be short. When Gianni crossed back over, Annie looked at his eyes to see how he was doing but couldn’t read them.

  The last stop on the walk was to visit Gianni’s parents. The kids were used to visiting their grandparents, “Nonna” and “Nonno.” Gianni was the youngest of their three children and the only remaining child as Gianni’s brother had died in World War II, and his sister had lost a long battle with cancer. They were all tired after the move, so the visit tonight was more of a short hello. On the way out, Nonna handed Annie lasagna from the freezer. “Annie, we’re glad you are all close by. Can you take a little something to help with meals while you are getting settled?” Annie took the dish and kissed Nonna on the top of her head since she was much shorter than Annie but still taller than young David and headed home with Gianni, Bobby, Abbie, and David to start their new life.

  Chapter 19

  After their summer visit to their grandparents in Maine, David knew Jimmy wasn’t looking forward to attending a new high school. Jimmy had made friends in the North End but took the subway back to Savin Hill frequently to spend time with his old gang and closest friends. He also knew Mo took a liking to Jimmy, let him into his bar with his friends, gave him tickets to Bruins or Celtics games, and encouraged Jimmy to work for the Dunbar Armored Truck Company located in Dorchester. By December, Jimmy was working part-time in the Dunbar security office along with his best friend from grade school, Tom Collins. Jimmy called him “Tommy C” after Tony C of the Red Sox. Tommy C was more energized than Jimmy to find ways to make money and enjoy life to the fullest. He had started school later than Jimmy and ended up staying back twice before sharing the same class with Jimmy in the sixth grade. Despite the three-year difference, he enjoyed Jimmy’s company and friendship, especially since Jimmy never judged him as others had.

  Tommy C was working on his certification to become an armored truck driver when he turned twenty-one in April. He couldn’t wait to be driving that tank around Boston and carrying all that money. Mo had encouraged Tommy C to practice for the exams and his driving test. Mo also told him that he could help him to get a gun permit and handgun since drivers and guards had to supply their own weapons. Mo knew one of the managers at Dunbar and put in a good word for both Jimmy and Tommy C.

  Tommy C loved showing Jimmy around the armored trucks during downtime. They were basically large, sealed metal boxes of hardened steel, chromium, and nickel, which created a dense, impenetrable casing. He showed Jimmy the gun ports in each door with spring-loaded plates you could only slide open from inside. He banged on the windows that were made up of several layers of automotive glass mixed with layers of bullet-resistant optical plastic and showed Jimmy how the windshield was at a 45-degree angle to aid deflection of bullets. The tires were armored and could run several miles even if flat. The steel ram bumpers and front grill also allowed the driver to push most vehicles out of the way. It seemed like nothing could penetrate this fortress. “The whole thing weighs 12,000 pounds and can carry 25,000. Pretty cool, huh?”

  “Not really,” Jimmy responded as he was sweating inside the hot, metal box.

  Tommy C smiled and told Jimmy to sit on the passenger side that
was separated by a steel bulkhead and was part of the cargo hold. “You are sitting where the second guard sits in what they call the ‘hopper.’ This door slams shut with an auto-lock and only the driver can reopen it electronically from the inside. For normal loads, I guess the hopper is the only one to leave the truck unless it’s a large haul and then we might have two more guards riding in the cargo hold.” Jimmy was impressed with his commitment to learning all the details of his future job and was thinking if he had done that in school, he may have even graduated on time.

  At Christmas, Mo surprised Jimmy with Bruins tickets and a leather diary inscribed on the inside cover: Jimmy, you are a great kid ready to start your own great life. Make sure it’s your own and promise me you will fill this up with some great stories. Styx. Even though he had long stopped believing in the reason for the holiday, Mo had the place decked out for Christmas to bring people in to celebrate. Jimmy knew he had to get home early for Christmas Eve dinner with the family, but Mo convinced him to stay a little while longer to get Jimmy’s reaction to the entertainment for the evening. He had hired a beautiful, buxom blonde woman who was wearing a Santa hat, boots, and a skimpy red and white- trimmed outfit. Mo sent the Santa’s helper over to Jimmy just long enough to get him lightheaded. Finally, Mo laughed and took her arm. “You have other stockings to fill, Natalia.”

  Jimmy told Mo he had to go and ran home just as Nonno, Nonna, some friends, and family were sitting down to enjoy the traditional Christmas Eve feast of seven fishes, including lobster, salt cod, shrimp, smelts, calamari, scallops, eel, and stuffed quahogs. Gianni glanced up at Jimmy as he was rushing in with sweat on his brow, smiling to let Jimmy know he was glad he was there. Annie and Abbie had spent the week decorating the apartment for the Christmas feast to their favorite Christmas music. Gianni had taken Bobby and David out earlier that day to pick out a tree from the Italian church a few streets over. They also brought home an assortment of desserts from the bakery that included Italian rum cake, cannoli, and Neapolitans to complement Nonna’s biscotti cookies and ricotta pie, both lightly glazed with sugar and colorful sprinkles.

  David could remember the adults toasting with limoncello while he sipped Italian lemon soda and enjoyed the festive atmosphere as the snow was lightly falling outside the apartment windows, creating a white blanket over the North End.

  As the evening wore on, they sat and relaxed, opening one present each before going together to midnight Mass. David remembered opening up a harmonica, something he always wanted to play. Everyone except Mom got ready to go to Mass at St. Leonard’s. The church, built by Italian immigrants and the Franciscans in 1873, was packed with parishioners from the North End and was lit only by candlelight. David could vaguely remember that it was hard to see very much, yet he vividly recalled all of his senses being filled by the Christmas hymns being sung, the incense, the decorations, and being in the middle of so many people gathered together to celebrate Christmas. Even at seven years old, as David felt his hand in his father’s and looked around, he knew that home was not where he was living but the family he was surrounded by.

  Chapter 20

  As the bedroom alarm played, David woke up, still in the leather chair and Trooper on the floor next to him. He sat up to stretch out the kinks from being in an awkward position during the few hours he slept. He was exhausted more by the memories of his childhood than sleeping in the chair. He thought about the mysterious messages being left. As he shaved, David found himself talking to his reflection in the mirror. “Who the heck could it be and why? Changing the locks and the additional security should take care of the problem—I hope.”

  It was still misty this morning, and he decided to make himself and Trooper breakfast at home. While sitting at the table and wagging a dog bone at Trooper, David said, “You always get riled up when a stranger comes to the door and stay that way until I come home, right?” He didn’t wait for a nod as he continued waving the bone as Trooper’s head followed it. “And on neither day did you seem the least bit upset, did you? Lucy has the only key, and it wasn’t her, right? Huh.” He left for work troubled on both accounts and thought it was best to just bury himself in work than to keep thinking about it.

  When David arrived at work, Izzie was sitting at her desk and said with a smile, “And good morning, Mr. Kelly. How was your evening?”

  “It was okay and how was yours?”

  Izzie shook her head. “I got my exercise getting home, going to the grocery store, cooking up some stew, helping one with a paper and listening to lines from a play for another, and then relaxing with washing and ironing. I bet you didn’t have that much fun!”

  David realized that this was a normal day for her, and he never heard her complain, only how blessed she was to have her children. He knew she meant it and that she wouldn’t trade places with him for anything. It continually amazed him how upbeat Izzie always seemed, and he started seeing things around her workstation that he hadn’t taken the time to notice before. Today he spotted a small picture of a girl sitting on the beach looking at the sunrise and the words, Heaven is like diving into an ocean of infinite love, written above. She always wore her cross and often went to the chapel at lunchtime or before coming to work. A very different life than his.

  David made it through a few meetings, but he was getting more and more restless. Finally, he told Izzie to hold his next couple of calls and left the office. He had no idea where he was going. He just needed to get out of the office. He wandered several blocks and found himself walking down the street that had elicited such a strong response from him just three weeks earlier. As he walked past the church rectory, he noticed a short man replacing a broken church window. Several lengths down the sidewalk, he took a deep breath and then turned about-face and headed back to the church. When he got closer, he noticed the wooden sign in front of St. Anthony’s Church with the schedule of Masses underneath. He stopped in front of where the man was on the ladder replacing a window. When the man’s hammer dropped to the ground, David stepped over the small wrought iron fence around the garden and retrieved the hammer. “Can I help you with anything?”

  The man looked down from the ladder at David. “Thank you, sir. I’m just finishing up, but I could use that rag in my toolbox to wipe clean the window putty. It’s a shame when people’s anger makes them throw rocks through a church window.”

  The handyman descended the step ladder and stood a good seven inches shorter than David but was sturdy and capable. His face reflected time-earned character with his rough, olive-colored skin and a large nose. He shook David’s hand. The man’s hands were larger and rougher than he had expected

  “I appreciate the offer. Can I help you at all?”

  David hesitated. “I, um, I’m looking for Tom or Father Tom, rather. Do you know if he’s around?”

  “He just finished taking a class of boys through the church, and I think he is back in the rectory. You can knock on the side door right over there.”

  David thanked him and headed towards the rectory but stopped and turned around. He reached out to give the man the hammer still in his left hand. “I don’t want to have to go to confession too.”

  The man grinned.

  Before David could knock, the door opened up and there Tom stood wearing his black shirt and the white clerical collar, with a dish towel in his hand. He greeted David with an Irish accent. “Now is it actually himself standing outside my door?”

  David smiled. “Yes, it’s me-self. I was just walking by and thought I’d stop in.”

  “Just walking by, huh? Do you have time to come in?”

  David walked into Tom’s kitchen. “You know, I’m still having a hard time seeing you in that,” he said as he pointed to his collar.

  Tom quickly swung the towel around his neck and smiled. “Does that help at all?”

  “Not really.”

  Suddenly, there was a faint knock on the door. Tom reached out and opened the door to let in a student from St. Anthony’s
School. The boy was about thirteen years old and stood there sopping wet from head to toe. “Father Tom, Sister Helen wanted you to know that—”

  “Let me guess, Michael, the sprinkler system went off again for no reason?”

  Michael dripped and nodded.

  “And Sister Helen was teaching a class in the room when this happened?”

  Michael dripped, gulped, and nodded again.

  Tom gave Michael a towel and walked him out to where the handyman, Angelo, was working. “Mr. Salvato, would you be able to bring some towels over to Sister Helen’s class and see if we can take care of things?”

  Angelo answered, “What makes you think I’m not any more afraid of a soaking wet nun than you are?” and headed off with Michael to face the situation.

  David asked, “Tom, why don’t you have someone come in to fix that?”

  Tom motioned to David to take a seat at the kitchen table. “Sit down, David. Rest that weary head of yours. Would you like something to drink? Water? Tonic?”

  David shook his head.

  Tom took out bread that smelled freshly baked along with slices of turkey, cheese, tomato, lettuce, and spicy mustard. “Then what are you going to have with your sandwich?”

  David glanced at the clock: 10:45. “It’s a little early for lunch for me. Thanks, anyway.”