Mitla Pass - Leon Uris [132]
Hannah opened the locket she wore about her neck. Angelo wiped his hands and put on his glasses, aware of the proximity of the locket.
“My son, Lazar.”
“Hey, lemme see. A Marine! Now, thatsa somethin’.”
“He was wounded at Belleau Wood.”
“I pray for him.”
“He’s recovered quite nicely. Married his nurse. A French girl.”
“Oh, datsa great. Frenchwoman”—fingers to lips—”lika beautiful vino.”
Angelo returned the compliment, showing Hannah a photograph of a sailor boy. “This is my bambino, Dominick.” Now a confidential whisper, as though the Kaiser’s agents were listening from under one of the piles of fish. “He’s a submariner. His boat is in dry dock. Even comes down and helps his poppa at the stall.”
So! That was the culprit potskying around with Pearl!
“Thisa boy, he give his old man lotsa trouble. Fishing boat is good enough for my other sons, for Tony’s sons, but not Dominick. He was a rookie policeman when the war come.”
Abruzzi gloried in his knowledge of submarines and went on to explain that the United States had four submarines in service patrolling the European coast, namely, the L-l, L-2, L-3, and L-4. Earlier that year, the L-5 had been launched and commissioned at the naval shipyard in Newport News. Dominick Abruzzi was a member of the crew.
The L-5 started for Europe, but developed trouble two days at sea and sped home. The dry docks at Newport News, at the opposite end of the bay, were filled with ships. The L-5 was towed to the yard at Sparrows Point for repairs and modifications and the crew assigned to temporary duty in Baltimore.
That was where Dominick met Pearl, who was a lady welder assigned to work on the sub. Every night, Dominick would go to the Jewish servicemen’s canteen to meet her under the name of Charlie Goldberg. Nature then began to take its course.
PEARL TOOK OFF her shoes to make her feet quiet, turned the key in the front door lock, and closed it ever so carefully. She went up the stairs with her feet pressed against either side to avoid creaking.
Hannah sat in a rocker in Pearl’s room, knitting.
“Momma! You startled me. You’re up late.”
“I could make, perhaps, the same observation.”
“Oh ...”
“What are you carrying your shoes for, Pearl? They’re too heavy on your feet?”
“I didn’t want to wake up the babies.”
“That’s very considerate.”
“Momma, what’s wrong?”
“So, maybe you’ll tell me.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“You haven’t been home a single night all week.”
“I’ve been ... at the canteen. You can kind of forget what time it is. So much fun and all.”
“I’m your mother, Pearl. You shouldn’t lie to your mother.”
“Momma, what are you talking about?”
“One Mr. Dominick Abruzzi.”
“Oh!”
“Momma already knows, shaynele. This is not a good situation you’re getting yourself into. It would be better if you didn’t see this boy again. I want you to promise.”
“No, Momma, I won’t ... I can’t.”
When Hannah read her daughter’s expression, she realized. “Have you been to ... have you, God forbid ... have you?”
“We’re married!” Pearl wept, putting her hands over her face.
“Married? Married? Does his father know?”
“No, no one knows.”
“But you’re a child.”
“I lied about my age.”
“So, who would marry you? I demand to know.”
“A priest. He did it secretly.”
“A priest! A Catholic priest! Vay iss mir! Oy, let me think. Your cousin Gilbert knows a lawyer. It can be annulled.”
“No, Momma. I’m going to have a baby.”
“Gevalt!”
SUCH A MAJOR transgression was not to be easily forgiven. There was a tear-soaked banishing, as Pearl moved two blocks away to the huge three-story house belonging to the Abruzzi family on Albemarle Street. The place was filled from top to bottom with family. As though there weren’t enough kids already, they spoiled Pearl as if she were the Virgin Mary carrying little Jesus.
Pearl fared well and got plump like her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law. Italians, she learned, could be extremely affectionate when they weren’t