Chapter 34
Michael's point of view
Well at least now I know I feel bad of the fact I only did it cos I got the short straw, I would have rather one of the others asked them. Thank God he didn't get angry. But what shocked me, I thought he'd be like Tom and Uncle Dally are about the bad things they have done, you know indifferent, but he was ashamed of what he did and I could see the remorse, he was truly sorry for what he did, am glad I asked him now, he's my dad and I can read him better than the others.
I walked back into the house now, everyone is sat down in the living room, my mum and my aunts are in the kitchen and dining room, and the men are all outside, surrounding Uncle Darry as he cooks the meat for tonight.
Walking in to the front I sat down on the floor and leaned against the arm of the sofa, letting out a puff of breath a stretched my head back and closed my eyes taking in what I'd jut found out.
'So what they say?' Riley asked.
'They told me what happened.'
'Well obviously, but did he do it in self-defence?' Tom prompted
I nodded, 'Yea, and we have to asked Aunt Tia, Katie and ma mum about some family in New York'
'What!' Aunt Katie stood in the door way holding a pot of what I guessed was Laborotzie spaghetti; she looked taken back by what I'd just said.
'We don't know anything' Nick spluttered out, trying to cover.
'If you were any good at lying, you'd be dangerous Nick' His mother announced from behind Aunt Katie.
'Come on outside, we've decided that we're eating under the stars' Aunt Luce's voice echoed through the house organising us.
We stood up reluctantly and walked into the dining room, taking tid-bits of food, I was only after the spaghetti, it's the best I've ever tasted, I remember the first time I had it, well could remember eating it anyway. It was at Daniel and Morena's after school one day, we had got in after a epic game of tag and block, I was staying at theirs that night, ma mom and dad was going out, I can't remember where, but I wasn't bothered, we were in Daniel's room when Aunt Tia called us down, I remember, we had to wash our hands and watch our "P's and Q's", we didn't say grace like we had to at home and at Aunt Luce's, I felt bad so I said a quiet one under my breath before I started to eat and it was heaven, I had seconds, Aunt Tia was laughing at my appetite I kept wolfing it down with garlic bread in between.
She saw me hovering at the end of the table and smiled.
'Come on then, I'll get you some, you big kid' She laughed openly
'Am the big kid? Am I missing something, if anyone's the big kid it's you Aunt Tia' I laughed back, taking the full plate of spaghetti eagerly from her. She grinned and whispered, don't tell anyone.
I waked outside laughing to myself, I think Aunt Tia is my favourite Aunt she's cool, like Uncle Dally but she's not an ass as Uncle Steve says. I wonder now if she hadn't gone to New York, would she be the Aunt Tia we know now, I don't think she would, she wrote in her diary that she couldn't take it, she wanted out. Did Uncle Pony feel like that, how did he feel when he woke up and found her gone?
'Hey Mike, what you got there?' I heard Riley
He came bounding over and looked at the plate, with mischief in his eyes.
'Mmmmm, Laborotzie spaghetti' he said before snatching the plate from my hands and running off with it.
'Hey! Riley! Give me my food back' I shouted as I set off to retrieve my dinner, with the sounds of everyone's laughed behind me.
Kara's Point of View
I watched as Michael caught up with Riley and retrieved his spaghetti, only to find it almost gone, the rest of it was scattered around the garden, where he's taken chase after his cousin.
'Aunt Tia?' He asked
'Oh am sorry Mikey, there's no more left' she said, Michael bowed his head and put his plate down on the porch wall, walking over to where everyone was sat round the mini bonfire that Uncle Two-bit had made.
'So I hear you guys did some reading today?' Aunt Sam started.
Everyone knew what she was doing.
We nodded our heads guilty. 'There is not need to feel guilty, it's my fault you found it, I should have remember earlier that I left it and gone and got it' Aunt Tia interrupted before she could carry on.
'Yea you should have burnt the stupid thing!' Uncle Steve said.
'Shut up Muscles!' Aunt Tia said menacingly and I felt a shiver up my spine. The look could have killed
'That diary and the content of that box is worth more than that, its got all my photos in, all the lyrics and the hospital bands from when everyone was in hospital, you want me to burn all my memories of my mom and sister, well … do you?' She carried on, Uncle Steve shrunk back in his seat and Aunt Cathy looked at him with a mix of pity and anger.
Everyone turned when Uncle Pony got up and walked into the house, he returned a few minutes later with the memory box and the diary, and another notebook that wasn't in the box. He handed the box to Aunt Tia and she smile up at him. Opening the box she looked through it quickly and found the picture that was also on the wall in there house, a picture of the old car lot and the gang stood grinning at the camera.
'This was taking in the months before everything went bad, the girl next to Johnny is your Aunt Delia, she was the middle sister in the Laborotzie three and she was killed by a man known as Harry Kennedy, he was the man who also killed my mom' Aunt Tia said passing the photo to Michael who was sat on her right.
When the picture got to me, I looked at it closely, I had always wondered about Delia Laborotzie, she looked a lot like Tia, they had the same face shape and lips, but they eyes were totally different, Aunt Tia's are ice blue, the sort that makes you stop with shock at their sharpness and stare, while Delia's where more warmer and kinder.
She next opened an envelope that was addressed to Lucinda. The letter looked old; I guessed it was the letter she was talking about sending from New York to say she was safe.
'To my Sister Lucinda and every other nosey person in the Curtis house who are going to read this letter. (That's all of you)
Well, I know your probably two things right now, the first being pissed off to high heavens about me running off and the second scared stiff your going to get a phone call saying something happened to me. The first I understand the second you don't have to worry about am safe, I'm living at the moment with 4 other people, 2 guys and 2 girls (Jake, Lauren, Emmy and JC) they're really cool, Emmy is the same age as me and JC's sister KC is my age too (she's always hanging with us). As for my education am going to school here, and it's totally different, the lesson are easy and am doing photography as a extra lesson and I haven't been in a fight …yet!
…that's probably because I go to the gym around the corner with Jake and JC, and knock the hell outta the punching bags there, I'm still running, I run laps around Central Park, its huge, I got lost and had to ask directions from the park police on their huge horses.
I got a job, thanks to Jake, I work for him, and he and his family own a really big family business here, so am doing well and I am happy.
I know you're really upset I went, but you need to understand I needed to get out, you dig? Well I hope you do. I hope Dally is getting better and I want to hope that Johnny is okay, but I don't know, I heard what the doctor said. Luce can you tell Pony that am really sorry I left him and that I love him, and I hope he can for give me, he deserves so much better than me anyway, and with me out the way he can move on.
Right, I think I've written enough, you would argue otherwise if you were here I'm sure. But I gotta go, I need to go to the gym, JC is shouting me, and then I got work later, so I guess all I need to say is I'm sorry, I love you and I miss you all.
Love you loads
Tiadora Angeletta Laborotzie
xxxx
P.S. I DON'T want you to try and find me, not yet. I'll come back when I'm ready and here's a song I wrote up on the way up here, it's about De, its called Concrete Angel
She walks to school with the lunch she packed
Nobodies what she's holding back.
Wearing same dress she wore yesterday
She hides the bruises with all linen and lace, ohhh.
The teacher wonders but doesn't ask
It's hard to see the pain behind the mask
Bearing the burden of a secret storm
Sometimes she wishes she was never born
(Chorus)
Through the wind and rain, she stands hard as a stone,
In a world that she can't rise above
But her dreams give her wings
And she flies to a place where she's loved ….Concrete angel.
Somebody cry with the moon every night,
the neighbours hear but the turn out the light.
A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate,
when morning comes it'll be too late.
(Chorus)
A statue stands in a shaded place,
An angel girl with an unturned face.
A name is written on a polished rock,
A broken heart that the world forgot.
(Chorus).'
Aunt Tia watched our faces as Aunt Luce read the letter and showed us the song, it was one that Aunt Luce had put music to, I never knew that Aunt Tia had written it about Aunt De, I smiled at her when she looked at me, she winked back and looked over to Pony who was trying to get her attention.
'Get over you? You had to be kidding!' he said, Tia smiled and nodded 'I knew I wouldn't be able to get rid of you, you're like glue'
'So… your job? What was it then Aunt Tia?' Riley asked innocently.
'I worked for the Macavoli Family, you probably don't have a clue who there are, you've never been to New York, if you had you would know that you can't move in New York without them knowing about it, they're like the fuzz, but Italian and wouldn't have a qualm about shooting you dead and throwing you in the docks' Aunt Tia said
My eyebrows shot up, even Tom's
'You're kidding right?' Daniel looked at his mom. Tia shook her head and sighed.
'Sam?', 'KC?' Aunt Tia said looking to Aunt Sam and then to Aunt Katie, what was surprising was that she called her KC instead of Katie, I realised then it meant that my Aunt Katie was her friend JC's sister from New York.
'In New York's there's always been Gangs since when everyone started to emigrate to America the land of the free, first you have the American fighting the Irish and then the Irish and the Italians and god knows what else, everyone was killing everyone. Now its more organised I guess you could say. The main gang is the Macavoli, they are the top dogs, have been for what 35 years now' Aunt Katie explained
We sat stunned and mouths open.
'Now every other gang works for them, any others aren't even worth taking a look at. The Macavoli work in a way, boss has 3 sons and 1 daughter. The Eldest is Mario, he isn't a nice guy at the best of time, but in his line of work well he has to be tough, Mario is in charge of what we call A squad, to everyone else that the Drugs, everything your New York Junkie wants and gets comes through A Squad' Aunt Katie carried on, Aunt Tia and Aunt Sam nodded in agreement at the statement of Mario Macovoli's character.
'Creepy bastard' Aunt Tia added. 'Next you have Jake or by his full name which he hated Jacque, a very different name, he was the guy I housed with when I first got to New York, he was the one who got me my job and he was one of my best friends and still is'.
'Jake was in charge of B Squad or Guns and other fire arms. That was the group at Tia and I got up to, but we'll tell you that later, next son is Marko, he was C Squad he was Alcohol, well has when he wasn't abroad at the vineyards in Paris and Italy and where every he went, then you had the boss's daughter Natalia, she was a model, she didn't do the business that was left to her husband Nicholas, he did D Squad and that was Poker rings and anything to Gambling, you could say that they have every angle covered, they have family in the police force that make them look respectable', ' if a little shifty' Aunt Sam finished
I didn't know what to say, they were involved with this. I didn't think it was this big, it was amazing and I'm shocked that am not afraid but fascinated, it sounded cool and exciting and something that would have been amazing to live through, looking round I guessed my thoughts were not shared, Daniel and Morena were looking at there mom as if she had grown another head, Michael who thought Aunt Tia was the best and the coolest was looking between his mom and her with bewildered eyes, Tom look impressed, Darryl and Riley looked shocked but it was easy to read that they wanted to know more.
We sat the rest of the night being told the story and read bits of Aunt Tia New York diary of their time in New York, they're not innocent, they hurt people, had shot people, Aunt Tia I could tell was uncomfortable telling everyone that she's being involved with killed a guy, but she wasn't sorry she kicked a woman's head in and knee capped some guy who had beat up Emmy and some other girls, Aunt Katie had been shot at and had the scars on her arms from were she'd nearly been knifed, she always told us she did if when she fell off her bike when she was younger, Aunt Sam hadn't done that much she had been in charge of finance for the business, but had seen her fare share of people been beaten up in front of her and killed.
One thing I know is that it hadn't made them bad people, they were rough around the edges, Aunt Tia had been through hell before she got to New York, Aunt Katie had been abused by her Dad and Aunt Sam had never had anyone, she was orphaned when she was younger and was in and out of foster homes. They had a good time in New York as well as the bad times, they were really close and stuck together, they left together and now they moved to Tulsa and they got married and had us terrible children.
I always wanted to be like Aunt Tia and Uncle Dally when I was younger, but know I think that if I had to do and go through the things that they did, I don't think I'd make it; they're built of different stuff, the same for Aunt Katie and Sam. Am happy with the life I got, now all I gotta go is get the damn Thomas Winston back for what he said earlier.