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By Root 856 0

the dark of the room was frightening. They had boarded up the window when the winter came; she couldn’t even see the blue shade across the street anymore. The only light in the room came from a little window high in the door. She tried to stifle the sobs. When she cried, they shouted and called her names. But today she couldn’t stop. The more she tried to choke down the tears, the louder she cried. Chairs scraped on the floor, and she cringed against the back wall, but even the threat of the men hurting her couldn’t stop the sobs. They had been meaner lately, ever since they got rashes and tore at their skin.

The window to her door blackened, and she could see the face of an animal.

“Stop it or il lupo will get you!” they called in rough voices. They bounced a stuffed bear up and down. “We said stop the goddamn crying or we promise il lupo will get you!”

“Stupid men,” thought Angelina. “It’s a bear, not a wolf.”

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1909

Rocco sent for Lucrezia. It was the second time in two days that he’d become frightened his wife was going to die. She still wouldn’t go to the hospital. Medically, Lucrezia couldn’t explain why Giovanna was delirious, but she supposed that if Giovanna spoke to her honestly, the reason would become evident. All Lucrezia could do was sedate Giovanna, and her secrets.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1909

“Leo, she’s a witch! Let’s get rid of the kid!” fumed the younger of the Gallucci brothers.

“Stop moaning,” commanded Leo, who had met them on a street corner.

“You’re not the one whose skin is blistered. I’m going to be scarred!” said the older Gallucci brother.

“You got a rash, that’s all,” dismissed Leo.

“Then how come she knows about it?”

“Because she’s probably following you, you idiots. I told you to be careful.”

“Leo,” said the younger brother, trying to play the reasonable one of the two, “we need to tell Lupo everything this crazy lady knows.”

“You want to get killed? You think Lupo would be happy knowing we were followed?”

The older Gallucci looked skeptically at Leo. “What’s going on here, Leo? Who’s Edwin Reese anyway?”

“How should I know? She’s nuts. Lupo said to not touch the kid if we keep getting money. And that’s what you’ll do.”

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1909

“Come on, girl, see the snow.”

The woman was holding the door to the room open. Angelina’s eyes tried to adjust to the light, but she was blinded by the glare on the snow.

With the other children next to her, Angelina gazed out the door, her hands shielding her eyes. A few feet already blanketed the ground, and it was still snowing.

“America is brutta,” scoffed one of the women.

“I like the snow,” replied the other.

“But you can’t go out. You can’t move.”

“Where can we go with this kid anyway?”

“It won’t be much longer.”

Angelina always tried to listen to them but had a hard time with their accents, especially when they spoke quickly, as they were doing now. But she guessed that the conversation had something to do with her, and she tried to make herself invisible.

“Mamma, can we go out?” pleaded one of the children.

“Let them go,” said the younger woman.

“I’ll light a fire. They won’t last but a few minutes.”

She opened the door and shooed the children out, leaving Angelina behind.

“Signora, please, can I go, too?”

Ignoring Angelina, she turned to the other woman and shrugged. “She can’t run away, she’ll sink in the snow.”

“Va bene. Go, go,” she commanded, pushing Angelina out the door and closing it.

The other children giggled, trying to walk. Angelina threw herself into a drift. Her skin always felt like it was on fire. The snow stopped the itching of the bug bites and put the fire out. She was clean in the snow; it didn’t matter to her that she was frigid and shivering. Opening her mouth, she gulped in great swallows. She rubbed her hair and scalp, which also felt like it was aflame, in the icy crystals. Rolling back and forth, back and forth, she cooled and cleaned her body until a strong pair of hands gripped her waist.

A wet slap landed on Angelina’s face. “What are you, pazza? You can