Elizabeth Street - Laurie Fabiano [115]
“Yes! Yes! Can I go, Mamma, please?”
Giovanna noticed that Carmela had not let go of her mother’s hand nor looked up from the floor.
“Carmela, are you feeling well?” Giovanna asked.
“Oh, she’s fine,” answered Limonata, before Carmela could open her mouth.
“Please, Mamma, can I go?”
Giovanna looked at Angelina’s excited face and silently chastised herself. Where was this reluctance coming from? Only minutes ago, she couldn’t get Angelina out from beneath her feet, and now her neighbor was offering to take her for a walk.
“We’ll just go for an hour,” said Limonata.
“Mamma, should I put on my dress?”
Giovanna hesitated and said, “Don’t change now. When you get back.”
“Okay, then. Let’s go,” mumbled Limonata, taking Angelina’s hand.
“Wait,” said Giovanna. “Angelina, give Mamma a kiss.” Angelina jumped up and her mother bent down. “Please, Limonata, only an hour. All our family is coming for her party, and she’ll need to change.”
Limonata led the girls to the stairs. “No problem, just a walk and a banana.”
Seeing Limonata’s smile, Giovanna felt guilty for her initial hesitation and called down the stairs after them. “Limonata, if you and Carmela would like to join us, you’re welcome for dinner.”
Limonata didn’t turn around but said, “Grazie, sì, sì.”
“We’re walking far, signora!”
“We’re going to my brother. He always has a banana.”
“You can get a banana on Mott Street.”
“But today is Sunday.”
“Oh.” Angelina seemed to take notice of the silent Carmela’s clothes for the first time. “Carmela, you have so many things on, aren’t you hot?”
Before she could answer, Limonata did. “She has a cough, she must stay warm. See, here we are already.”
A tall, skinny man with a droopy eye was waiting in front of a butcher store on Delancey Street. “Angelina, this is my brother.” Angelina didn’t see a banana and looked around his back in case he was hiding it. Noticing her looking, Limonata said, “He’s going to take you to get the banana.”
“But I have to get home for my party!”
“Oh, not far,” mumbled Limonata.
The man took Angelina’s hand, and she pulled it away, clinging to Limonata.
“No, no, Angelina, you go with my brother.”
“Aren’t you coming?”
“I have to go to the dentist to have my tooth pulled. He’ll go with you.”
“I don’t want the banana. I want to go home.”
“Come on, I’ll take you home,” said the brother.
Limonata was already halfway down the block with Carmela racing to catch up, so Angelina reluctantly took the outstretched hand of this man.
Angelina shouted to Limonata, “Can Carmela come with us?”
Limonata didn’t look back or answer, and when Carmela turned around, she yanked her daughter’s arm forward.
“Come on, kid. I’ll get you the banana and take you home on the train.”
“The train?” This sounded good to Angelina. She couldn’t walk any farther and wanted to get home soon.
“Forza,” ordered the man.
“Where’s the birthday girl?” asked Teresa, bursting through the door with her three little ones, as the older children, including Domenico, squeezed around her to get in the tenement.
“Our neighbor Limonata took her for a walk, but they’re late. I asked her to be home long before now.”
“She probably couldn’t get them out of the park,” said Teresa, setting down a package and a tray of stuffed calamari, her specialty.
Lorenzo eventually made it up the stairs. “Ciao, sorella mia!” He took a look at Giovanna and asked, “What’s the matter?”
“What’s the matter? She’s seven months pregnant and cooking in the heat,” answered Teresa.
Lorenzo squinted at Giovanna who replied, “No, nothing. I’m just upset that Angelina isn’t back yet.”
“Don’t worry. She’ll be upstairs any minute.”
Angelina looked at the tall, dark, thin man buying the tickets for the El. He didn’t look at all like Limonata, who was short and pale. Turning away from the kiosk, he shouted in a thick Sicilian accent, “Come on, kid,” over the roar of an approaching train.
The train was practically empty. After sitting down, Angelina moved a seat away from Limonata