Elizabeth Street - Laurie Fabiano [129]
“Have you lost something, signora?” asked a man whom she had seen seated with the dignitaries.
Until that moment Giovanna didn’t realize how frantic she appeared.
“Oh, I’m trying to find my daughter.”
“Was she in the program?”
“Sì.”
“Signora, you have no need to worry. She was escorted back to her school.”
“Giovanna, is something wrong?” Rocco appeared by her side.
She slipped the envelope into her skirt pocket.
“No, no, this kind gentleman was telling me that the children were walked back to school.”
Giovanna read Rocco the letter in the bedroom.
Rocco left to see what Lorenzo could contribute. He returned with $40 and with what they had earned over the last two weeks; it only totaled $159. Knowing this wouldn’t be enough to satisfy the kidnappers, Giovanna grabbed her shawl and left the apartment.
Circling the block, she looked at her neighborhood in a new way—as a thief. She tried to figure out how to reach into cash boxes or pockets but could think of nothing that wouldn’t get her seen or arrested. Desperation mounting, she was about to go to Lucrezia when she remembered Pretty Boy’s pledge to help her family whenever she needed him. It took two hours to find Nunzio’s former co-worker, but when she did, Mariano handed over $130 without question.
Standing at the designated corner, Giovanna held the envelope to her chest. It held $289.
Rocco and the children insisted on going with Giovanna, but she was able to persuade them to remain at a safe distance and not be seen. They stood on the east side of Fifth Avenue near Thirteenth Street.
“I think it’s coming,” said Mary, jumping out into the street.
“Don’t do that again, Mary!” shouted her father. “You stay in the crowd!”
Clement tried to catch sight of his stepmother on the southwest corner of Fourteenth Street. “She’s still there, Papa,” he reported.
The first of the electric floats passed. They held elaborate scenes of heroes and fantastic creatures. Marchers holding colored flames walked at the edge of the floats.
“I don’t get this,” commented Clement with one eye on a float and the other on his stepmother.
“A girl at work said it was a German parade about myths and legends,” offered Frances.
Sure enough, a band marched by, playing what Rocco called “oompah” music. It was followed by another float covered in thousands of colored lights that illuminated the smoke from the torches. The clouds of colored smoke made it nearly impossible to see Giovanna. Clement strained to see through the haze. He was not only checking on his stepmother, but he was there with strict instructions from Domenico to get a description of the person who took the envelope. Lorenzo had forbidden Domenico to go with them after Rocco had come by earlier in the day to ask for more money. It broke Lorenzo’s heart that he had already given all the money he could spare and some he could not.
A break in the floats cleared the air, and clowns came stumbling down the street. One clown clutched a “North Pole” that was captioned I GOT IT. Another clown played a stringless violin, while yet another rode a bicycle with no tires. They were flanked by a line of clowns on either side who jostled the crowd, tilting hats and honking noses. The line of clowns blocked Rocco’s view of Giovanna, and soon the clowns were in front of them, one tugging at Clement’s suspender. Ripples of laughter flowed through the crowd as various people were picked on. When the clowns passed, Rocco looked to Giovanna. It was Clement who noticed first.
“She’s not there. Zia’s gone.”
A policeman stopped them from crossing the street. They ran behind the crowd on the sidewalk heading south, assuming Giovanna had followed the flow of the parade. At Tenth Street, Clement spotted her running through the crowd on the opposite side of the street, as they were doing. At every block, they attempted to cross the street, but each time a policeman caught them and sent them back.
The parade ended at Washington Square Park, and it was here that they were finally able to catch up with Giovanna.