VIKING
An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
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New York, New York 10014
First published in the United States of America by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2017
Text copyright © 2017 by John Bemelmans Marciano
Illustrations copyright © 2017 by Sophie Blackall
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Ebook ISBN 9780698175464
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To the real children
of Benevento, as well as Galatea,
Eggy, Beatrice, Olive, and Jack.
—J.B.M. and S.B.
CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT
DEDICATION
OPENING NOTE
MAP OF BENEVENTO
THE WITCHES OF BENEVENTO
1 Shopping
2 Home
3 Promise Not to Tell, Part I
4 Promise Not to Tell, Part II
5 Catch a Janara by the Hair
6 Vendetta
7 The Boat
8 The House of Carrozzo
9 Beloved Ancestors
10 Home Sweet Home
CLOSING NOTE
SPEAKING WITH HANDS
HOW THEY LIVED
HISTORICAL NOTE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR
Dear, dear Reader,
Once there was a man who left Benevento to go to America. He loved the New World, but there was ONE thing he never could get used to: the lack of spirits.
He expected America to have no Janara or Manalonga or Cloppers—maybe even no demons (perish the thought!)—but no SPIRITS? That was like having a night sky with no stars!
This man (a soldier—you may know him) missed the fairies and sprites who dwell in woods and rivers, but most of all he missed the spirits that live in houses.
A house spirit can be a sprite who lives in the rafters or the ghost of an ancestor. Such spirits are considered marks of good fortune, and not ever to be taken for granted. Benevento is littered with abandoned homes whose occupants didn’t take proper care of their spirits.
So please, no matter how unpleasant their requests may be, always, ALWAYS heed your spirits and give them their daily offerings. Otherwise, you may find yourself looking for somewhere else to live, like the poor, confused lad whose tale now begins.
YOUR DEAR FRIEND,
SIGISMONDO
(WITH BRUNO AND RAFAELLA)
THE WITCHES
of
BENEVENTO
When you hear the Clopper’s clop clop clop,
Run through the Theater and never stop.
Keep far from Bridges and from Wells,
Where Manalonga love to dwell.
If you are good and do your chores,
The Janara won’t get you while you snore.
Respect your Ghosts and love your Sprites,
Kiss your Mom and say Good Night.
1
SHOPPING
RIGHT now, Sergio has a problem.
He needs eggs. Not for himself, not for his mom, but for his household spirit.
Lots of people in Benevento have such spirits, like the girl down the street who has a fairy living under the bed. Sergio’s spirit, however, is not a sprite or fairy but a ghost. People become ghosts when they die before they should. But that’s a whole other story.
Sergio’s problem is that, with all the Janara mischiefs, there have been no eggs, and this makes his ghost mad. Bis-Bis loves eggs.
Up, up, up the hill Sergio trudges, past the baker’s, past the Carrozzos’, under the arch, until he gets to Primo’s grocery stand.
“Sorry, no eggs,” Primo says.
“But I thought the Twins had gotten rid of their mischiefs!” Sergio says.
“They did,” Primo says, shrugging. “But they haven’t come yet today.”
Dang. Now Sergio has to go all the way to the Twins’ farm!
Down, down, down the hill Sergio walks, and breaks into a run when he gets to the Theater. (He isn’t going to get caught by the Clopper like Maria Beppina!) Through the city gate, he slows down to give the horns and spit, to ward off Malefix, the nasty spirit who lives there.
At the bridge he’s off running again, singing LA-la-la-la-LA! at the top of his lungs, so as not to hear the Manalonga.
By the time he gets to the Twins’, he’s all sweaty. When did it get so warm, anyway?
“Do you have any eggs?” Sergio asks.
“We have so many eggs!” Rosa says proudly. “We are up to our EARS in eggs! That’s why we’re late making deliveries—we have too much stuff to load up! Just look at this friarielli!”
“Nice,” Sergio says, taking a big bunch of leafy greens from her.
“And we’re the only ones,” Rosa says. “Everybody else is still getting mischiefed except us, because I stopped the Janara.”
“Do you still think your doggie doodles had anything to do with ending the mischiefs?” Emilio says to his sister as he places another crate of eggs in the ox cart.
“Doggie doo-doo?” Sergio says.
“Doodles, he said!” Rosa says. “And they weren’t doodles, they were drawings. Darn good ones, too!”
“For a four-year old, maybe,” Emilio says.
“Well it sure wasn’t the oregano your mystery person told you to rub everywhere that chased them away!” Rosa says, hands on hips.
Rosa is furious at her brother for not telling her who his “mystery person” is, but right now Sergio doesn’t care. He takes the eggs and friarielli and leaves the Twins arguing.
Back home, Sergio prepares the morning offering for his ghost. But, dang! He forgot to get candles. Bis-Bis is going to be furious.
“Sergio!” his mom yells from the other room. “I need you to go get bread!”
“But Mom, I have to finish—”
“Now!”
Back up, up, up the hill Sergio goes to the baker’s. Inside, he orders two loaves, one for his mom and one for Bis-Bis.
“How is your ghost?” the baker’s daughter asks, getting him the bread.
Sergio complains about all the offerings he has to make.
“You have to do all that?” she says. “Why, our little oven sprite barely wants anything! We just sprinkle a little flour in each corner of the room and Cicilia is so happy. And helpful! Our bread tastes better every day.”
“Is this kid whining about his ghost again?”
Into the shop walks Mozzo, Sergio’s least favorite person in the world. But then, he’s a Carrozzo, and everyone hates the Carrozzos. Well, everyone except Sergio’s mom. But that’s another other story.
The Carrozzos are the wealthiest family in the Triggio, and all because—some say—of the ghost who lives with them. (Sergio wishes his ghost would make him rich!)
“I don’t know what he’s always complaining for,” Mozzo says. “We’re happy to take care of our ghost, and he’s happy to take care of us!”
As the two of them go on about how great their spirits are, Sergio grabs th
e loaves and leaves. He’d rather be anywhere but here. Even home.
2
HOME
“WHERE have you been!?”
Bis-Bis is roaring with hunger and fury the moment Sergio opens the door.
“Do you have no idea what time it is? Were you going to make me wait all day to eat? Do you not even care about your ancestors?”
Bis-Bis is Sergio's great-great-great-great-great-grampa, who died in the earthquake of 1688, but not quite enough. He’s what you call an ancestor spirit, and Sergio has to look after his needs because Sergio is Bis-Bis’s last remaining descendent living in the house.
This should be a good thing. Ghosts—and house spirits generally—are supposed to be helpful, like Mozzo’s is. Those ghosts let their relatives in on the secrets of the Underworld and stuff, which is what leads to them being so filthy rich. Bis-Bis, on the other hand, just tells boring stories about when he was alive.
“Look!” Sergio says. “Eggs! I had to go all the way to the Twins’. And I made them just how you like.”
“Bah!” Bis-Bis says, making a sour face as he bites into one egg. “These are too hard-boiled.” This doesn’t stop him from finishing it though. Or eating two more.
“This salt is too clumpy! This bread is too soft! Where’s the pepper?” Even as he complains, Bis-Bis is gobbling it all up. “And you call this friarielli?”
“You’re lucky I was able to get you anything at all!” Sergio says. “The Twins are the only ones with friarielli or eggs because of how bad the mischiefs are this year.”
“Mischiefs! You complain about mischiefs!” Bis-Bis says, his mouth full. “Back in my day, the Janara were really bad. But did we complain about them? No we did not!”
Does Mozzo have to put up with any of this? Sergio wonders.
“And what’s that noise going on outside?” Bis-Bis says. “I can hardly enjoy my offering!”
Sergio opens the shutter to look. Primo and his family are moving all their furniture into the street.
“Hey, what’s going on?” he hollers down.
“It’s a party!” Primo yells up.
“What did he say?” the ghost asks.
“Oh, nothing,” Sergio says, locking the shutter. Bis-Bis hates parties.
After licking his plate clean, the ghost burps, farts, and burps again. Sergio has to breathe through his mouth to keep out the stink. Skeevo!
Taking advantage of his ghost’s food- induced stupor, Sergio excuses himself—“I must be going now”—and escapes out the door.
As he closes it, Bis-Bis roars, “Hey, where are my candles?” but Sergio pretends not to hear.
Down the outside stairs, Sergio arrives at his own door to the sound of crying babies.
Bad sign.
“Hey, Sergio, come on over!” Primo yells from across the street. “The band just started playing! They’re amazing!”
“Sergio! Is that you?” his mother yells from inside. “Why are you waiting at the door like an idiot? Come inside right now!”
Sergio’s mother is always complaining about him. About his being lazy, about his being stupid, and about the way he is always fussing over his ghost when it is really his poor mother (herself) and three baby brothers he should be worried about.
“Hey, Mom,” Sergio says, walking in. “Can I go over to Primo’s? They’re having a party.”
His mother looks at him like he’s lost his mind.
“You are not going ANYwhere until you clean up this place! Do you not see that bowl on the ground? Pick it up!” she says. “And that spoon! Don’t leave it lying there!”
As she orders Sergio to clean the house item by item, his stepfather arrives home for supper, dressed in his town crier outfit. He places his trumpet on the ground, perches his hat atop it, and pours himself a glass of wine.
He doesn’t say a word, but Sergio’s stepdad never says a word, except when he is yelling the news all over town. He does, however, give Sergio a look of bedraggled solidarity that says: I know. Believe me, I know. . . .
3
PROMISE NOT TO TELL, PART I
THE next morning starts badly, with Sergio rolling over on the table where he sleeps and getting poked in the ribs with a knife someone left there at dinner. It gets worse, with Bis-Bis complaining about the party keeping him up all night, and worser still when Sergio finds his mom filling a sack with stinky diapers. Then—
“OW!” Sergio says as Sessimo bites him on the leg. “Why, you little—!”
“Sergio! Be nice to your little brother!” his mother says. “He’s just a baby!”
Settimo, lying in the basket he sleeps in, takes his big toe out of his mouth to gurgle- giggle at Sergio’s pain. Which he does again when Quinto kicks him in the shin.
This is what Sergio has to put up with every day from his three little half-brothers. Sergio has three older brothers, too—full brothers—but they left home as soon as they were old enough to become shepherds, like their father was. Sergio can’t wait for the day he is old enough to go away, too.
“Make sure you do both sacks of laundry and the basket,” Momma says.
Sergio manages to hold one sack in front of him and sling the other across his back while balancing the basket on his head.
With his bad eyesight, Sergio can’t see more than a few steps ahead of himself usually, and with the bag in front of him it’s even less. He tries to steer clear of everyone crissing and crossing the Theater, but he can’t, and he bumps into someone. Both bags and the basket spill to the ground.
“Watch where you’re going, kid!” the man he walked into says angrily. He gives Sergio the mundza, a gesture that isn’t very nice. (At least it wasn’t a two-handed mundza.)
Now Sergio has to pick the caca diapers up off the muddy and manurey street, with people passing him holding their noses.
“Ha-ha! Look at the loser!”
Sergio lifts his head to see Mozzo Carrozzo pointing and laughing as he drives by in a mule cart. The spinning wheel tosses up a wet sheet of manure-mud into Sergio’s face.
Boy, does he hate those Carrozzos!
Down at the river, everyone is already doing their laundry: the Twins with their little brother, Dino; Primo with his big sister, Isidora; and—thank Plutone!—Maria Beppina. She usually helps Sergio with the laundry. (In fact, she usually kinda does it for him.)
They are all talking about how much fun they had at the party last night. Not Sergio. When he finally did get there, he spent most of the time hiding so he wouldn’t have to dance.
“I had a little too much fun,” Maria Beppina says, yawning. “I have to go home and take a nap.”
“You aren’t going to help me?” Sergio says as sweetly as he can.
Maria Beppina smiles. And leaves.
Dang! Now he has to do all these diapers by himself.
After lackadaisically rinsing a couple of them, however, Sergio gets bored and starts looking for river treasures.
Hidden under the rabbit hutch in his back garden, Sergio keeps a box of things he has found in the river.
“You’re wasting your time,” Primo says in a brag. “You’ll never find anything as good as the ring!”
Last week, Primo discovered a gold ring inside of a fish. It is without a doubt the greatest thing anyone has ever found in the river—puppet heads included. Sergio wishes he could have it for his box. What makes it even more amazing is that the ring is magic.
“Hey, isn’t it my turn to wear the ring?” Rosa says loudly. “After all, I am the one who caught the fish you found it in.”
“No way!” Primo says. “It was my idea to look inside the fish and and so it’s my ring. You’d just lose it, anyway. Or sell it.”
“Would not!”
“Would too!”
“Does anyone want to come mushroom picking with me?” Emilio
asks, interrupting Primo and Rosa’s bickering. “Zia Giltruta is paying two quattrini per orange monkey button, and five for any spotted toadstools.”
“Ugh,” Rosa says. “Mushroom hunting is the dorkiest, lamest thing ever! I’m not missing lunch to pick fungus!”
“Me neither,” Dino says, copying Rosa.
“Well, count me in!” Primo says.
“No, count you out,” Isidora says. “Poppa wants us to go collect firewood today, remember?”
“Ahhh . . .” Primo says, giving a silly googly- eyed look and falling backward into the water. Dino laughs. Of course, Dino laughs at everything Primo does.
Isidora shakes her head in disgust.
“Well, I’ll do it!” Sergio says. He could use some money.
“Let’s go,” Emilio says, tossing a sack of clean laundry onto his back to take home.
Sergio will deal with the diapers later.
“There’s a good one!” Emilio says, heading deeper into the woods. He walks about a hundred feet, squats down, and snatches a mushroom. “Yep, that’s worth two quattrini right there!”
How can Emilio see that far? Sergio has to squint just to see his toenails.
While Emilio drops it in his almost-full bucket, Sergio looks down into his shirt, which he is holding up like a pouch. He’s got three mushrooms.
“Are you sure you know where we are?” he says. They’ve been climbing in the woods for hours, and Sergio couldn’t find his way home if his life depended on it.
“Sure I’m sure,” Emilio says.
Sergio’s heart skips a beat as he sees a little glimpse of orange on the side of a log. “A monkey button!” he says. “I found one!”
Respect Your Ghosts Page 1