Peppino

by Seth Coleman

  The children looked back and forth to one another with apprehension, while Antonia excused herself. “Your parents and I have made a decision. All of you will be going back to boarding school in Messina next month…except Peppino.” She paused. “I have decided that he will stay with me.”

  “But we don’t want to go away again,” Carolina whined.

  “I don’t want to go either,” Marianna added along with the pleas of Concettina and Vincenzo.

  “That’s enough!” the baroness said firmly. “It has already been decided.”

  “I’m to stay here with you?” Peppino reacted angrily.

  “You will have your tutor as usual,” she said, looking coldly at her protégé.

  Peppino stared at the baroness as she turned and walked out of the room. “I despise her,” he said emphatically through clenched teeth.

  “I don’t want to go if Peppino is not going,” said Concettina.

  Peppino smiled at his little sister. “I will come and see you lots. I promise,” he tried to say cheerfully. “And besides, you’ll be home for Christmas and holidays.”

  Vincenzo looked at his other sisters, signaling to them to keep quiet, not wanting to add more fuel to Peppino’s anger. “Come on, let’s go out and play,” said Vincenzo as he grabbed Concettina from Peppino’s lap and motioned to his sisters. “Peppino, why don’t you and I go hunting this Saturday? We won’t have much time left before we are all off to school.”

  “Can I come?” Concettina begged.

  “No!” Vincenzo said firmly. “But if you’re a good girl, we will try to find a rabbit to bring home for you.”

  “Goody, goody!” yelled Concettina excitedly, clapping her hands together, with a big smile on her face.

  Peppino looked at his brother. “Let’s get an early start.”

  Vincenzo nodded and walked out of the room, Concettina still in his arms. Marianna followed, but Carolina paused at the door, stopped, and turned back toward her brother. “Be careful, Peppino,” she said, lowering her eyes and fiddling with the doorknob.

  “What do you mean, Carolina? We are both good hunters; you know that.”

  “You know what I mean, Peppino. We’re on your side. I’ll be praying for you.”

  “Save your prayers. We’ll be fine.”

  Carolina looked helplessly at her brother and then turned and walked out of the room, leaving Peppino by himself. That witch, he thought, getting up and walking to the window. First a thought, then a slight smile crossed his face before he started to laugh out loud.

  **********************

  The two brothers got up before dawn on Saturday and saddled the horses. Antonia fixed them both lunches, which Vincenzo loaded into his saddlebag. An hour later, as they entered into the gaming forest, the sun began to rise.

  “Vinny,” Peppino said, “I want you to go hunting as we planned. I’ll meet you back here about one hour before dusk.”

  “No. I am going with you,” he insisted.

  “No. I don’t want you involved. Besides, no one will believe it if we come back empty-handed.”

  “But, Peppino—”

  “No buts! You’re not going, and that’s final.”

  Vincenzo stared at his brother for a moment, realizing that it would be useless to argue. “All right,” he said, giving in, “but be careful, and don’t let anyone see you. I don’t want it to get back to the baroness, or I’ll be in trouble.”

  “I’m always careful,” Peppino said, turning his horse around and giving him a slight kick that started him off through the woods. “And don’t forget the rabbit for Concettina.”

  Peppino rode cautiously, avoiding footpaths, not wanting to run into any neighbors who would surely stop him to ask questions. An hour later he approached a small wooden miner’s cabin. It looks deserted, he thought to himself, searching for any sign of Nicola or his men. Seeing none, he dismounted and led his horse by the reins.

  “Hello!” he hollered, waiting for a response. “Hello!” he yelled again.

  This time the door opened, and Emilio came running out to greet his friend. “Peppino!” he said joyfully with a big grin on his face.

  “Emilio, am I glad to see you! I thought for sure you were a goner!”

  “I would have been if it weren’t for Nicola.”

  “So I heard.”

  Nicola appeared in the doorway, followed by two of his men. “Hey, you two, when you’re finished, come on in here; we have a lot to talk about,” Nicola added with a smile.

  Peppino walked up to Nicola with his hand outstretched and grabbed it. The two shook hands heartily.

  “It’s good to see you again, Peppino. Your wound is all healed, I see.”

  “It wasn’t anything serious. You were right; it just grazed the skin. But you should have seen the baroness.” He laughed. “She had a fit when she found out.”

  “I thought she might,” Nicola said seriously. “I’m told that you are in the clear?” he asked in a tone that was more of a statement. “The monsignor isn’t going to do anything?”

  “No, he’s afraid of her. But I feel badly that Emilio has to take the rap and I got off free.”

  “Don’t worry about that. You can end up being a bigger help to us this way.”

  “I can?” he asked with surprise.

  “Very much so. But we’ll talk about that later. Right now we want to concern ourselves with Elena.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  “We, huh?” Nicola grinned.

  Peppino smiled back. “Don’t think for a second you’re going to leave me out of this one.”

  Nicola hesitated, looking seriously at Peppino. “I’ll let you help on one condition.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Once we get her out, you will do exactly what I asked. I’ve already told you that you can be a big help to all of us, but only if you do what I tell you.”

  “Okay,” Peppino said anxiously.

  “Don’t be so quick to agree. Once you make the commitment, I’m going to expect you to follow through with it even if it doesn’t seem to make sense to you.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “I’m going to ask you to do what is best for all the people.”

  “Then I will do it,” Peppino interjected with youthful exuberance.

  “You may not like what I ask, but you must agree to trust me. When the time comes, I will tell you what I want you to do. Until then, I want your promise that you will follow my orders.”

  “If I do what you tell me, will it help the people and get rid of the monsignor?”

  “Yes, it will.”

  Peppino looked at Emilio, who nodded his head slightly, then back to Nicola. “All right, I’ll agree to do anything if you let me help.”

  “All right, it’s a deal, but I will hold you to your oath.” Nicola held his hand out to cement their agreement.

  Peppino shook his hand, thinking only of helping the girl. “What can I do?”

  Chapter 7

  It was 11:30 a.m. by the time they reached the small jailhouse in Bovalino. Emilio and Peppino had been given their instructions. Although the abduction was to be handled by Nicola and two other men, the boys had been chosen to create the diversion. Not only was the plan devised to free the girl but also to put a little burr in the side of the monsignor when he was exposed.

  Peppino knew that there would be no end to the trouble he would be in if the baroness were to find out, which he knew she would. But somehow, and possibly because of that, he was even more anxious to be a part of the plan.

  Nicola’s men had already returned from their first assignment. They had been able to get close enough to look through the side window and count the number of persons who were inside. They had seen four policemen sitting around, talking, and playing cards. They were able to spot one female, although it was difficult to tell if it was Elena. There were three male prisoners in a large cell, two of whom they recognized as local drunks. The third w
as a stranger who appeared to be better dressed than the others.

  Now it was up to Peppino and Emilio. The two boys stood facing each other. This time it was Emilio who held out his hand for their pledge. “To succeed or die trying,” he said.

  “To succeed or die trying,” Peppino repeated, placing his hand on top of Emilio’s.

  Peppino started walking toward the front door of the small jailhouse, happy to be doing something daring again so soon after his last exploit. Confidently he climbed the first two steps leading to the small porch, making sure to clop his feet heavily against the wooden steps so he would get the policemen’s attention before he entered. When he walked through the door, all eyes were on him.

  “Officer,” Peppino said, pretending to be out of breath, “I’ve just seen Nicola. He’s behind a big building near the marketplace.”

  Two of the officers who had been playing a game threw their cards on the table and stood looking at their captain.

  “Are you sure it was Nicola?” asked the policeman.

  “I’m positive; hurry. Go look for yourselves. It was him, I tell you.”

  “Wait a second,” said one of the guards. “Aren’t you—”

  Suddenly the front door flew open, and Emilio stood there looking at the four men.

  “That’s the kid from Brancaleone!” one of them yelled.

  At that, Emilio turned and started running around the side of the building. The other men pulled their guns and started out the door after him.

  “Wait!” said the head officer. “Carmine, you stay here. We’ll go after him.”

  The three men ran after Emilio, leaving Peppino with the guard. Within seconds, several loud thuds could be heard through the window. “What was that?” Peppino said, looking at the guard.

  Without answering, the man pointed a gun at him. “You’re the kid that helped Nicola,” he accused. “Don’t bother denying it,” he said, moving slowly away from the window and standing with his back against the wall, making sure to keep one eye on the door and the other on Peppino. “Move over this way, and no tricks.”

  Peppino turned for a second, glancing at the cell, and saw Elena standing behind the bars, watching the confrontation. Two of the other prisoners started yelling obscenities at the guard, while the other one stood and watched.

  “Yeah, it’s me,” said Peppino arrogantly.

  “Move over here, or I’ll kill you where you stand, kid,” the guard said, waving his gun and motioning to Peppino to move to his side.

  Peppino started moving slowly. Suddenly the man reached out and grabbed him by the wrist, yanking him closer. He wrapped his arm around Peppino’s neck so tightly that he started to gag.

  Elena let out a screech as she watched in horror, her eyes darting from Peppino and the guard and back to the door. The instant she saw the first glimpse of someone moving through it, she started screaming and pointing to the window. “Look out behind you; he’s at the window!”

  As the guard glanced toward the window, Peppino seized the moment, bringing his leg up and kicking hard into the man’s shins, while at the same time setting his teeth deeply into his arm.

  The guard yelped and realizing the ploy too late, looked back at the door to see Nicola rushing at him. Ripping his arm free from Peppino’s teeth, he started pulling the gun’s trigger, shooting at random.

  Several bullets whizzed through the room, one of them barely missing Nicola. Emilio lunged himself at Peppino’s captor, careening into his shoulder, knocking him against the wall. Peppino tried again to bite the guard’s flailing arm, while Nicola grabbed for his gun, knocking it to the floor. Peppino then yanked one of the man’s arms, flinging him back toward Nicola, who had a fist waiting to plow into the officer’s head. For a second, the guard stood dazed and then started to collapse. Nicola grabbed both of his arms quickly and pulled them behind him, tying a piece of cord around his wrists. The guard, grasping for breath, sagged in defeat before he was moved to a chair and forced to sit down.

  “Get the girl out,” Nicola said to Emilio. “I didn’t say anything, but I suspected she was not hurt as badly as the monsignor wanted everyone to believe.”

  Peppino rushed to the desk quickly and rummaged through the drawers, tossing its contents on the floor, looking for the key.

  “Why would he do that?”

  “Because when she died, there would have been no questions,” he answered, moving quickly. “Over there,” Nicola said, pointing.

  One of Nicola’s men saw the key hanging on a hook and rushed over to grab it. Fumbling, he managed to insert it into the lock and swung the door open.

  Elena limped to Nicola’s side and stood in the middle of the room, not knowing what to do.

  “Move!” he said to her while motioning to the others to start out the door.

  “What do you want us to do with the other prisoners?” asked Emilio.

  “Let them out too… the more confusion the better.” Nicola said nodding toward the other men.

  “Thanks, Nicola!” yelled two of the prisoners as they scrambled out of their cells and toward the door. The third man stood stationary in the cell.

  “Well, come on, hurry up,” Nicola said to the third prisoner.

  “No, I can’t…”

  “He’s a priest!” yelled Elena. “He came to speak with me before they took me away.”

  “A priest?” said Nicola, surprised. “I see. Well, then tell your monsignor this for me: we won’t stop fighting against all the hypocrisies he has committed in God’s name.” Turning to one of his men, he ordered, “Lock him up.”

  Seeing the attention switching toward the priest, the guard lunged at his gun, which still lay on the floor a few feet away. Just barely reaching it, he stretched toward the handle, touched it with his fingertips, and started to whip it around to get a better grip.

  Peppino, noticing it first, scrambled for the gun but found he was holding the barrel, which was now pointed directly at him. Frightened, he frantically tried to push it aside so that it was pointing away from his body.

  Emilio, seeing his friend in trouble, rushed toward them and thrust his knife at the guard. An erratic motion caused by the struggle between Peppino and the guard knocked the butt of the knife out of his grasp, wedging it into the space between their chests as their bodies slammed together in the altercation. Emilio squeezed his hands between them, trying to grasp for the handle.

  Peppino managed to move backward an inch at the same moment Emilio’s hand had found the handle of the overturned knife. In a burst of strength, he thrust his hand upward. Finding no resistance, the blade shot directly up through the air for a split second before lodging itself into the guard’s throat.

  All of them froze as they watched him fall, blood pumping from his body into a pool on the floor.

  Emilio stood in shock, then looked at Peppino and then Nicola. “I didn’t mean to!” he cried. “He brought his hand up. I didn’t—”

  “All of you get out of here now. There’s no telling how long the other guards will stay knocked out,” said Nicola. “Elena, the horses are around back. Go with the others. Now!” he ordered.

  All of them ran out of the building, leaving Nicola alone with the priest and the guard. Nicola walked toward the body and bent down on his knees. He picked up the man’s hand and then laid it on his chest. Hesitantly he got up and walked toward the door as if there was something he wanted to say to the priest. Stopping, he looked back at the cell and then to the priest, who stood staring at him. Nicola started to say something, then caught himself as he moved quickly out the door and around the building to where his friends were waiting.

  Peppino looked down at the three guards who lay at the feet of their horses.

  “Hurry!” Emilio hollered. “One of them is starting to come around.”

  Peppino took one last glimpse at the three officers who lay on the ground behind the jail. Then a thunder of hoofs signaled their departure, leaving a trail of dust behind.

>   **********************

  Vincenzo sat against a tree trunk, waiting for his brother. Darkness was already starting to shroud the forest. I knew he was going to get us into trouble, he thought to himself. Although he was only one year younger than Peppino, he knew he was much more responsible. He admired his brother for his passion to fight against wrongs, but it was this quality that caused constant turmoil in their family.

  Vincenzo longed to make friends with the other children by disregarding the invisible line that divided the classes in the square as his brother did, but he felt bound to the strict social code that had been in place for centuries. Unlike his brother, he never really questioned the authority his family had over the peasants. He didn’t like the system, but it was the only one he knew, and it worked. The upper class and everyone else seemed happy with it, even the peasants themselves.

  Vincenzo, Peppino, and their sisters were treated with great respect in Calabria. Even the bullies left them alone for fear of retribution, not from the authorities but from their own parents. However, this made life in Brancaleone lonely, as there were few children in the community considered acceptable by the baroness. They all did have a few friends who visited occasionally, and there were many cousins in their family, but it was not often they would visit. Some were from other villages, making it hard to form relationships with them when their visits were so infrequent.

  But still he possessed the same principles that drove his brother. He wanted to be as strong in his convictions, but he was not.

  Vincenzo knew that even though he was the second son of the family, he was the one looked upon with the most favor. Peppino is right, he thought. He had even wondered at times if the baroness would have wished him to have been the first born. But that birthright belonged to his older brother and would never change. This fact didn’t bother Vincenzo in the least, but he knew it unnerved Peppino.

  The quality he most admired in his brother was loyalty. Whenever he had a problem, Peppino was right there by his side. This time, he thought, I will be there for Peppino, no matter what.