Chapter One The Recipe

1929


“Hey Frankie, let’s get outa here! He’s comin! I can see him runnin’ fast!”
“Get the hell off those tracks, you kids!” A deep voice came from behind a rail car.
It was dark and you couldn’t see much. The red and green two-color lantern he was carrying was reflecting off the switchman’s striped shirt and the shiny worn tracks of the rail.
They were warned before, about playing around the rails, but always got away from the man wearing the black and white striped cap.
“God-damn it you kids, I’ll get you this time!” He was gaining on them. “You’re gonna spend some time with the cops this time!” He yelled. “You guys think you’re little toughies don’t you!” His voice was shaking as his breathing came in gasps. He was catching up with them in a hurry.
“Frankie, we gotta do something; He’s gettin' closer! Pop will skin us if we get caught!”
They now could see his arms pumping as the grinding of crunching gravel was being smashed under his feet. The pulverizing sound got louder as he got closer to the two boys. It was though a big monster was chewing giant rocks into powder, masticating in rhythmic heaving sounds.
Their stride was much shorter than his. For every step he took, they had to make two or three. Sweat was pouring from their faces as they approached the gas lighting of the intersection.
“Joey, look at that old ladder! Hey, I got an idea. Help me with it, we can put it over the tracks. You know he has to take it off. You know, in case a train comes by.” Frankie said.
“Yeah, Frankie, good idea!”
“Hurry, He’s getting closer, Joey. This ladder is heavy; we’re going to have to drag it over.” Frankie was moving it but needed to do it faster.
They struggled to move the heavy wooden thing to the tracks. Frankie noticed some dog shit under the dim lights then looked around on the ground. He found what he needed; it was a wide stick laying on the ground that would be perfect for the use of spreading. “I’ve got another idea, Joey”. He said, laughing “But we got to be quick.”
Frank smeared as much dog shit, on as many rungs of the ladder as he could. “Now let’s get running, because if I’m right, lantern man is gonna be real mad.” Frankie and Joey continued down the track as fast as their legs could go.
The glare of the lantern he was carrying did not allow the switchman to see the boys manipulating the large ladder into position. For all he knew, they were taking a breath. God knows, he needed a break. He was breathing very hard and was about to give up when he noticed the ladder blocking the tracks.
“Jesus Christ, so that’s what you're up to.” He muttered, under his breath. He knew that he had to get that thing off the tracks because the ‘Ten Eighteen’ was due soon. He set his lantern down on the groundand grabbed the ladder in an attempt to lift it. It was heavy; he was breathing so hard from running that he didn’t have much energy left. He lifted one end and walked his way down the ladder rung by rung lifting it by by grasping each square stepping rung with his bare hands.
Then it hit his nostrils! He screamed! “You little bastaaaaards!” Suddenly, all his energy came back to him. He flung the ladder free of the tracks,tried to wipe off his face, making the odor much worse, grabbed his lantern and ran to catch those two ten-year old little shits.
At that same time, the boys that were hiding in the bushes, near the tracks couldn’t believe the new burst of stamina that their chaser had found.
Laughing bursts ceased and the fear came back to them; they broke back into a fast run. They didn’t bother to look back as the loud cussing and gravel- shattering began again. All of a sudden,things were quiet. Both boys looked back. It appeared the switchman had tripped and fallen. There was no longer a lantern of green and red. There was an orange glow of burning kerosene where the colored lantern should have been. The lenses on the lantern shattered and the loud cursing of the chaser swore. “I’ll get you boys, so help me!”
Again the man got up and started to run after them. The boys were frozen at the sight of the big man chugging towards them. His striped shirt reflected the light from the intersection’s glow. To their surprise, the white shirt and the man took another fall. Frankie and Joe looked at each other and burst out laughing. They just could not believe their luck.
Joey’s eyes were tearing from laughing so hard. “We better get back; we don’t need to get in trouble from Pop.”
“Yeah, let’s cut through Fratello’s yard.”
“Yeah, OK, but let’s not get caught. Make sure you watch out for dog shit!” They both erupted in laughter again.


Leonardo caught the two boys trying to sneak in the back door. “Hey, what’s the matta' you two? Where you been?-- Joey, if you gonna live with us, you gotta behave, and you, Frankie, you know betta' than this.Ya both missed supper and look at your trousers! What you gonna wear for school? What’s all that grease and stuff you got on there?” He touched a black spot and examined it by rubbing it between his fingers. “You two been horsin’ by the tracks again?”
Frank looked down at his feet. “Sorry Pop, we was, well we was, kinda--forgot about the time.”
His father put his hand on his head. “Why are you so wet; you been sweatin?”
“Yeah, Pop we was in a hurry-- to get home.”
“Like I never heard that one before.” He put his hand on Joey’s head, spun them both around and lightly swatted their butts. “Get into the tub and wash them clothes with you. Give me them shoes so I can run them on the buffer. I’ll get you something to eat.” He turned his back and shook his head with a smile.


Joey’s mother and father, the Santorini's, were killed about a year ago, in some kind of neighborhood problem. All that was known at the time was that Salvatore Santorini was a gambler and owed some tough guys a lot of money. When he couldn’t pay, his parents disappeared.
At that time, Joey moved in with Frankie and his father. Later the Santorini family, except for Joey, was found under the railroad trestle, dead. Ever since then, Joey was like a brother to Frankie. During those days, families fixed their own problems. They didn’t have to go to an authority, one reason was, there was no one to go to.
Frankie Bonino’s father, Leonardo, was a great cook. Joey was a skinny, tall kid but it wasn’t because Leonardo didn’t feed him. He would make his special spaghetti and meatballs and for a change he would make rigatoni and meatballs. Sometimes he would add some veal or sausages that Fratello’s meat shop would make for him. The thing that made Leonardo’s sauce special was because he added a special ingredient to that sauce. No one in the neighborhood knew what it was that he added. Leonardo’s mother taught him how to make it and he swore he would never give up the recipe. It was something that set it apart from all others. Anyone walking through the Italian neighborhood on a Sunday night would be in heaven from the aroma filling the streets on that day.
Spaghetti was always one of the dishes made by the Italian women on Sundays. Anyone that would walk by the Bonino’s house always had a tendency to linger a little longer to try to guess what he put in the sauce.
He always started with fresh garlic and a little onion. He would then sauté them together with olive oil and fresh oregano from the garden. He would put in the seasonings that all of the other women would add with the addition of one other. That was the mystery.
When Frankie was a kid the Italian women would try to bribe him to provide the answer for that final added ingredient, They did this by offering a cannoli for the answer. When Frankie told his father of this, Leonardo made sure that Frankie asked for two cannolis for the chance of finding the secret. Of course, he never told, but they kept trying.
When Joey arrived in the home, the price for a possible discovery went to three cannolis. During that period, the three of them must have eaten hundreds of those sweet little pastries. This was one of the pacts that the three of them had developed over the years.
Although Leonardo never gave out the secret, he must have known these women were interested in something else. It must have been Leonardo’s charm and his ability to make beautiful music with his mandolin. He would melt their hearts with his charm.
Leonardo was married and never strayed. It was a good family. Frankie always saw his father happy. The one time sadness touched the household is when Leonardo’s wife died of a heart ailment after a long bout with diabetes. In fact, Frankie’s mother, Maria, would trust only Frankie to administer her insulin shots. There was some thing that Frankie had inherited from his father that made him gentle but yet firm when it came to important matters. It was though the situation was under his control at all times.
When Joey came into their home, it made Leonardo think of the future and not the heartbreak of the past. This effect caused a special bond between the three of them.


When Leonardo was a young boy, he had the ability to play any musical instrument. He wore delicate wire rim glasses, so his father cautioned him not to break them. The other kids on the block would tease him whenever they would go out to play baseball, or stickball. Leo, as the kids would call him, would taunt him into playing, but he knew his father couldn’t afford another pair. Lenny found other ways to use his time, so he took up the mandolin. It wasn’t much of a mandolin but it was a precious one. It had been handed down to him from his grandfather. It had been glued and repaired but still sounded good. He had always dreamed of playing to an audience, or at least, to take lessons. Everything he was able to play was self taught. He found he could play any instrument, even though he could not read music.


Antonio Ceridino was a famous violinist that was from the neighborhood. He was the talk of New York for years, playing to sold-out audiences with his operatic style. Puccini, Rossini and Verdi were amongst the most famous operas ever written. They would have been proud of his style and virtuoso. As Antonio grew older he was unable to walk so he decided to give up the theater and teach by way of giving lessons to those that could afford them.
It just so happened one day when young Leonardo was practicing his mandolin at his father’s Brooklyn shoe shop, in through the door walks Antonio Ceridino. Antonio was so impressed with Leonardo’s playing that he asked to see the boy. Soon, out of the back room came Leonardo. When he learned that Maestro Ceridino wanted to give him lessons, at no charge, Leonardo almost wet himself. Antonio made it clear that his training could not interfere with those that paid for their lessons.
They set a schedule of once per month and Leonardo felt he was on his way to his dreams.
The Bonino family came into hard times and Lenny had to work at his fathers shop more and more, particularly when his father took ill. He had to put his dreams aside in order to help make ends meet. He knew enough about the shoe repair business from helping his father that when his father married he was able to take over when his father passed away.


Although his dreams to perform his music in theaters had to be put on hold, he lived with tremendous pride for the work that he did in repairing and building custom made shoes. He was well known for the fine work that he did.
His biggest pride, however, was when his son, Frankie, was born. Frankie was built exactly like his father. He was strong with thick arms and a barrel chest. Although he was short, when he came into a room his width would make up for his height. Most that saw him thought him just a boy but he filled a doorway minus the top portion. He wore a little smirk that no other boy would ever try to erase. Frankie, like his father, was kind to others and had an air of confidence about him. The kids, no longer teased him about his glasses for fear of a pounding. Frankie knew it would take a lot to provoke him into a fight, maybe it was because he didn’t want to break his glasses or tear his clothes. He just took things easy. Unless a kid would say something about his family, he would just pass it off as a foolish prank.
It seemed every kid in school got picked on one time or another.
Skinny Joey was one of them. It seemed that one of the street bullies, Guido Scani, stole Joey’s coat. It was in the heart of winter and Joey needed that coat to keep warm for the walk to and from P.S.90.
Because of the depression, the Bonino family would find it hard to replace that coat. Like many of the families during those years, the depression created many problems that most people would never have
thought of during good times. A thing like being able to afford warm clothing during the winter was sometimes impossible. There was barely enough money for most families to put food on the table. Fortunately, Leonardo had many friends and he often traded shoe repair work for other things such as the occasional pound of chopped meat to make his meat balls.
Once in a while a chicken or some stew meat would be on the dinner table,compliments from Fratello’s Meats. Fratello had a large family and they would always need Leonardo’s expert shoe repairs.
Others, found the less than honest ways to get money. Stealing and mugging were running rampant throughout the community. Families had to protect what ever they had that would be of value to those that would try to sell these things on the street. As skinny as Joey was, his coat was very important to him. What made matters worse, Guido and his street friends were teasing skinny Joey about it. They were calling him ‘skinny weenie’ and ‘sick stick’ along with throwing pebbles at him each time he turned his back.
After that day from school, Joey came home cold and shaking from the walk.
Pop asked. “Where’s your coat Joey?”
“I forgot it at school” He looked down at the floor.
“Why didn’t you go back and get it? He looked at his son. “Frankie, why didn’t you go back to get it?”
“I was going to but Joey said he would get it tomorrow Pop. Joey said he would get it first thing.”
“You know you need to be more careful of these things. Things are tough right now. Make sure you get it back.” As always, he put his fat hand on top of Joey’s head and at the same time nodded toward his son Frankie. “Both of ya now, go get washed up for supper.”
Frankie asked. “What’s we havin Pop?"
”Well I thought we would try something special, You’ll see when you get to the table.”
Pop would always serve dinner from a giant platter. He’d first dish out a large serving to Joey and then Frankie. After he served the boys, he would then set the whole platter in front of him and eat everything on it. That was his plate. That’s the way his father did it and that’s the way Leonardo did it.
Frankie looked at his filled plate of spaghetti and meat balls. He made fun as if they would get meat every day. “Hey Pop, I don’t see nothin' new here.” He took a bite of his meat balls. “What’s this Pop,
raisins?” He chewed. “Hey these are good!”
“Well I thought we would celebrate tonight.” He gestured with both hands open.
Frankie was wide eyed. “What are we celebrating Pop?”
“Ah, nothin really, I just thought we should celebrate, that’s all.
“Yeah, good, celebrate.” Frankie looked over to Joey. “Why so quiet Joey. You haven’t said a word since we started to celebrate.” Frankie laughed. Leonardo laughed.
Joey looked deep in thought without a smile.
“What’s a matta son?” Pop asked with some concern.
By calling him, son, Joey looked up with tears in his eyes. “Guido Scani stole my coat.” He looked down at his plate of food and tried to hold back tears. His chin was quivering as he spoke. "I didn’t forget it.”
They all stopped eating at once.
Leonardo looked at Joey, then at Frankie. “Did you know about this Frankie?”
“No Pop.” Frankie swallowed as if he was swallowing a giant bowling ball. “No Pop, I don’t know what happened but I will find out tomorrow.
Pop looked back at Joey. “Why you not say something?”, he said in broken English.
Joey was still in tears. “Well, Guido, he’s got a lot of friends and I didn’t want to get hurt or get Frankie hurt if he tried to help, so I decided to forget the coat.”
“Ménage!” He shifted to Frankie. “Find out more about this first thing. Who the stronzo is this Guido?
Joey wiped his face. “Some new kid that moved into the neighborhood. I think he is older than the rest of us. He’s already got some kids that he pals with. They been doin’ a lot of bad things to the others. He told me he would break my arm if I said anything.”
“Help your brother Frankie.” Joey looked up again. This was something. Pop has called him son and brother in the same day.
Like a lost puppy dog, Joey needed to have a little more attention than other kids. Since he lost his parents, he has had a void in his growing up to maturity. Sensing this, Pop had taken him in as a member of the family with no apparent favoritism towards Frankie but he knew it would never be the same as having his own parents to raise him. Joey knew he was better off if he was raised by his own blood but in his mind, he couldn’t help wonder about the family life he would have had with his real parents.
“Sure Pop.” Said Frankie. “I’ve seen these toughies around school and have heard the same type of stories.”
“Joey, we got to stick together on things like this. If ever you get somethin’ like this at school or whatever, you need to tell us. I mean it now. I want you to point out this Guido stronzo to Frankie.” He looked at Frankie and told him what to do. “ Frankie, what ever you do to get this coat back, only Guido and you will know about it.”
Pop waited for them to say something but he could tell they were thinking. “Understand?” Pop Questioned.
“Yeah Pop.”
“Now, let’s celebrate with the raisins.”
The boys didn’t laugh. They did finish their dinner.


Joey did not know how to fight. His skinny arms and slight body did not allow him to look tough. He was always able to hold his own with Frankie when it came to wrestling in the yard but when it came down to fighting for real, that was a different thing. He had seen the tough kids in action, this was a big reason why he wasn’t looking forward to the next day. Guido and his pals were the toughest guys at school. They would bully the others in order to force them to give up any possession they had of value. If the kids they picked on refused to co-operate, Guido would beat them up. He definitely didn’t look forward to tomorrow.


Pop waked into where Joey was sleeping. “Joey, Joey! It’s time for to get up! Frankie is waiting for you.” He held out a sweater. “I want you to put this on today. Don’t worry it’s OK. Come, get up.”
It was a cold morning with a few inches of snow at the side of the street. School was five blocks away. Joey was cold but he could even be even colder if he didn’t have Pop’s sweater.
“Just like Pop said, Joey, point him out so I can plan what to do.”
“Be careful Frankie, Guido’s got a lot of friends.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it."
The two boys got close to the school, so they decided to split up.
Joey went ahead to wait by the school’s door so he could show Frankie.
About ten minutes went by when Guido and two of his guys came by. They started in on teasing Joey as Frankie came up behind them.
“Hi, my name is Frank Bonino, is anyone here by the name of Guido?”
“Yeah, I’m Guido, what do you want?”
“It’s nice to meet you. I would like to talk to you. Could you come here for a minute?”
“What’s it about?” He asked with caution.
“It’s about a deal that I’m sure you would be interested in.” Frankie motioned to the side of the building. The other boys that were with Guido started to follow them.
Frankie held up his hand. “Kinda private, ok?”
“It’s ok, I’ll be right back.” He directed the order to his buddies.
Guido and Frankie walked around to the side of the building. “Yeah, what is it?”
“I think you have something that belongs to Joey and he would like it back.” Frankie stood a little closer to him.
Guido backed up. “What? I ain’t got nothin.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.” Guido started to leave.
Frankie held up his hand. “We was gonna give you some money to get it back.”
Guido turned back to look with interest. “Yeah, How much?"
“Well let’s say, one dollar”
Guido snickered. “You make it two dollars and uh,it’s a deal.”
“Gee, two dollars? Yeah, ok, but you have to bring the coat today. His old man is mean and will beat him bad if he doesn’t get it back right away. Can you bring it, let’s say, we meet here, after school?”
“Yeah, Yeah,OK.”
“OK, oh, and uh, one other thing, can we do this alone? I kind of want to do this between just you and me. See, Joey’s Pop gave me three dollars to get the coat back and I wanted to keep the other dollar. I
don’t want anybody to see that I only gave you two.”
Guido thought to himself, 'I just hit the jackpot' and he knew he had him. “Hey, I’ll tell you what, give me that other dollar and we’ll
call it square.”
“How about, I’ll split it with you, then we can get more money later on another deal.” There was a pause as one of the teachers rang the hand bell for school to start. “What do you say?” Frankie stuck his hand out to shake.
“Yeah, OK" Guido turned ignoring Frankie’s outstretched hand. “You have the money, I’ll get the coat. I’ll meet you right here right afta’.”
Guido ran over to meet with his other guys. They all ran up the steps laughing.
Frankie walked over to Joey with a smile. “Don’t worry I’ll get it. Right after school, I want you to run home. I’ll be along after I get it.”
“Alright Frankie, what did you tell him?”
“I’ll tell you later; right now, we gots to get to school.” They both walked up the stairs. Frankie had an odd smile on his face.


The loud clanging of the school bell was deafening as the doors burst open to new snow. Hundreds of kids were piling out of the building.
The first to emerge were slipping and sliding down the stairs and at the same time laughing and yelling with the thoughts of the up-coming weekend. All they had in their minds was the fun that they were going to have playing in the cold fresh snow.
All Frankie had on his mind was Guido. Anticipating what was about to happen, Frankie had taken his glasses off.
“Hey Frank, did you bring the money?” Guido had gotten out a little earlier and was waiting at the side of the building. “Hey, where’s your glasses?”
“I took them off because they were giving me a headache.” Frank approached him and noticed that Guido was carrying Joey’s coat.
“You got the money?”
“Yeah” Frankie walked over, close to where Guido was standing. By reaching for what Guido thought was money in his back pocket, Frankie, with all his massive weight stomped hard and very quickly breaking Guido’s instep. Guido went down in instant pain. His face had turned white with agony. Frankie pointed his threatening finger and continued in a soft but firm voice. “If you ever do something to upset my brother, tease or steal anything from him again, I’ll break the other one.” Frankie grabbed Joey’s coat that had fallen onto the snow. He continued. “I don’t want you tellin’ anybody about this. You tell ‘em that you slipped and fell on the stairway, Ok?”
Guido cried out. “Ok.”
Frankie yelled at the group of kids around the corner. “Somebody, help! This guy fell over here!”
With his cheeks red and feeling his heartbeat surging in his head, Frankie walked triumphantly home.
Joey and Pop were waiting when Frankie walked through the front door.
“Hey, what’s for supper Pop?” Frankie threw Joey’s coat onto the hook by the door as if nothing had happened.
Pop glanced at it. “We are going to have chicken tonight.”
“Wow!” Joey said.
Leonardo knew that he wouldn’t question his son about how he got the coat back. He was certain that Frankie did things right. “Now you two wash up and use the scrub brush; it’s time for to eat.”
The boys came to the table noticing something different about the place setting before them. There were the usual plates with knives and forks but also had the addition of three wine tumblers. Pop’s glass was filled with his wine and theirs was half-filled with water. Pop lifted the large platter to the table with the large boiled chicken sprinkled with oregano surrounded with Italian bread with the hard crust and soft center. On another dish he had taken a big head of lettuce cut in three big wedges on which he had poured olive oil and red wine vinegar with fresh garlic chunks sprinkled about. As he served to each plate he would set the lettuce wedge and tossed a couple of tablespoons of parmesan on top. He finished serving the moist chicken to the two plates then broke the bread in chunks. He took the remaining food left on the platter and as usual, set it in front of where he would sit. No one would start eating until he began.
Then, before he sat down, he opened the icebox and took out the gallon of wine he had made the year before. The next thing he did was very unusual. He took the gallon of wine and filled the rest of their glasses with the red wine. “Now we celebrate, salute.”
The boys looked at each other and picked up their glasses. This was one of the most memorable suppers that they had ever had. They spent hours at the table that night and with only one glass of wine, they were drunk with happiness.
Leonardo taught them to take a piece of Italian bread and soak it in the wine and then let the bread melt in their mouths before swallowing.
No questions were asked at the table about the jacket or how Frankie got it. It was a proud moment for Frankie because he knew that special dinner was for him.

Impressum

Texte: No portion of this book can be sold or copied without the permission of the author. parente.joe@gmail.com
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 22.12.2009

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Widmung:
For My Grandfather