Bell for Adano, A - John Hersey [41]
“Did this make you rich again?”
“No, being a tax collector did not make you rich in New York. I was earning twenty dollars a week. That’s two thousand lira.”
“Two thousand, richer than ever.”
“I did all right, too, only then they elected a man named LaGuardia, and since he was a different party from the previous man, a lot of people got thrown out, and I was one. I borrowed some money from my motherin-law -”
“Your mother-in-law? Were you married?”
‘Yes, Tina, I’ll tell you about that some time. I borrowed this money and bought a grocery store in the Bronx, and it was all mine. Only then about two years later things went badly, we had hard times, and I had to sell out before it was too late. I went back to the City to see if they’d have me back, because they had sent me a couple of notices while I had the grocery store, saying they wanted me. They said: ‘Why didn’t you answer the notices?’ I said: `I never got them, I must have been in Florida when you sent them to me.’“
“Where is Florida?”
“It’s in the south, I wasn’t there at all. That was the second time I lied to get a job. Since then I’ve tried never to lie, the truth is much better and much safer. So they gave me a job in the Sanitation Department. Later I took my examinations for advancement to Third Class Clerk, and afterwards I got to be a Second Class Clerk. I was earning forty-two dollars a week when I went into the Army.” Major Joppolo was getting a little boastful about his non-existent riches. “That was four thousand two hundred lira a week.”
Tina said: “The wife, is she pretty?”
Major Joppolo said: “Yes, she is very pretty, at least she seems so to me. I miss her very much. She has a mole on the left side of her chin, but otherwise she is very pretty. She is of Italian parentage, so she has dark skin like yours. In some ways you remind me of her.”
Tina had been looking up at the stars. But now she suddenly looked down into the dark valley of the street and said: “Let’s go in and dance.” And she opened up the shutter doors and went inside. Major Joppolo went in after her.
Captain Purvis had gone to work on Tomasino’s wine, and he was making a decided nuisance of himself, so Major Joppolo persuaded him to go home. He and Giuseppe led the Captain home.
When he got back to his own villa, and was undressed and in bed, Major Joppolo felt miserable. It wasn’t until nearly three o’clock that he realized why. Giuseppe was right. It made a man feel very unhappy to be as far from home as the Bronx, New York, is from Adano, Italy.
Chapter 12
THE NEXT morning Captain Purvis sat with his feet up on his desk. He was in a bad humor.
Sergeant Trapani was out of the office. The Captain spoke to Corporal Chuck Schultz, who was on guard. “That Major Joppolo,” he said. “I was beginning to like him, but he’s a wet blanket. God, I was just getting a wonderful buzz on last night, and he descended on me, sober as a whitefish, and he made me go home.”
Corporal Schultz said: “Was you getting buzzed on that Dago red?”
The Captain said: “Yeah, there’s an old fish-hound down here. Giuseppe took me to his house because, he’s got a couple of nice quail, he gave me some red stuff.”
The Corporal said: “That vino’s murder, Captain, it’ll give you the G.I. trots every time. “
Captain Purvis said: “Yeah, I got ‘em this morning. I feel terrible. But there’s no excuse for that Major doing me the way he did.”
Corporal Schultz said: “That vino’s bad stuff, sir, you don’t want to get mixed up with that vino no more ‘n you can help. Had some myself last night, and I been having to go every ten minutes this morning.”
Captain Purvis said: “Yeah, I’ve made about six trips myself. I’m still sore at that Major.”
Corporal Schultz was not a gold mine of conversation, and pretty soon the two fell silent. Captain Purvis yawned, stretched, stared out of the door into the bright street for a few minutes, yawned again, got up, walked around the room, sat down, yawned and