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Brood of a New Age
6.
Graziella woke up in a huge bed and it took her a few seconds to realize that she was no longer in her own bed in Italy.
It was dark except for the glow of a small bedside lamp, the sun had set and only when she had taken Grigio in her arms again and had cuddled and comforted him for a few minutes could Graziella slide off the bed, which she now remembered was supposed to be hers. So was the room. She looked around, lost. This room was large - certainly six times as large as her small room in Limatola. And where in the daylight she had been impressed and delighted by the big bed with the twisted bedposts and the big room that made her feel like a real princess, now everything seemed too big. Or was she just too small?
She stepped up to one of two large casement windows and pushed aside one of the curtains. The big townhouse had four floors and her room was on the third floor and even had a balcony. Downstairs she saw not a street but a courtyard where some cars were parked. Two or three that looked very expensive and fancy but also two white vans with some men standing next to them in the darkness whom she could only recognize because she saw the red glowing cigarette tips.
In Limatola, from her window, she had been able to see part of the village, the mountains opposite and even the Castelo di Limatola. In winter she had seen white steam rising into the sky from a hundred small chimneys and imagined that under every roof a witch was brewing her soup. And in summer, the music of the town festival or even the wedding parties celebrating in the Castelo had echoed up to her room. Often already at five o'clock in the morning swallows had done their pretty aerial dances and shrilly shouted their joy about it. Graziella had been able to watch them for hours, dreaming herself into a little swallow's body and soaring over the roofs and forests of Limatola. Many times her mother had scolded her to stop being a swallow and do her English exercises.
Because unlike all children and even unlike most adults in Limatola, her mother had always insisted that she learn this foreign language every day. Because her papà lived in America and would come someday. And he would take her and her mamma to America and he would marry mamma and they would have a big house and live in the most exciting city in the world. Over and over she had said this. Until she even argued with her grandma because she didn't believe that Graziella's father would come soon. Nonna's letters, in which she reported how Graziella was doing, were never answered. But twice a year money came. Enough that nonna no longer had to do laundry for others and enough that Gabriella's mamma only had to work a few days a week in the hotel that was located in the Castelo. Maybe she didn't have to, but she wanted to - because she was waiting for Graziella's papà to come and stay there, as he had stayed there when he visited Years ago. They had been doing well. Graziella had always had a private teacher for her English lessons and had worn the most beautiful dress of all the girls at her communion. And also the dress she was wearing now had been sewn especially for her by her nonna. Graziella stepped back from the window in front of the large mirror that stood in the corner. Pondering, she stroked her skirt. It still looked good. Hopefully good enough. Even the bows in her hair were still in place. She had been so tired that she had just dropped onto the bed with her clothes on and had fallen asleep immediately.
She had tried so hard during the flight to keep her dress clean and without wrinkles. She had sat so stiffly that after a few hours everything had already hurt her. And in the night when the nice man next to her had slept, she had to ask one of the stewardesses if she could help her with the dress so that in the narrow toilet booth the hem did not get into the toilet bowl. That had been embarrassing for her but she had had to pee SO badly even though she had hardly eaten or drunk anything. And when she was finally supposed to meet her papà after the flight - he hadn't been at the airport. Instead, a tall black man with very severely cut short hair who had looked at her very strangely when she had stood in front of him.
The airport employee had grabbed her hand tighter as if he didn't want to let her go with this strange man, who had introduced himself as an employee of her papà. She didn't want to go herself. But the man with the glasses had a sign with her name on it. And her nonna had always said that Graziella had to be brave and strong. Braver and stronger than other little girls because one day she might not have anyone to care about her crying. Again, something her mamma and her nonna had argued about.
She had been allowed to sit in the front seat of the black man's car and that had been exciting because she had been able to count on five fingers the times she had ridden in a car. In Limatola they had not had a car. She had taken the bus with her mamma or nonna - several times, in fact. Her dentist was in Caserta. And for Viola's eighth birthday, Viola's papà had driven them all to the movies in his van! And in the last weeks her Nonna had always gone by bus to the hospital to see a doctor because she had often had stomach aches and she had been allowed to come along because nonna didn't know how long she would need and none of the neighbors had been able to look after her. And the day had been really long. Graziella had had a book but she had still been terribly bored and as an apology Graziella had then gotten a burger in a fast food restaurant. But here she was sitting in the front seat for the first time! And although she had tried to remain calm and not to fidget next to the big black man, her eyes had almost fallen out of her head as they had driven over this big bridge towards these many, many, many HUGE skyscrapers. It was EXACTLY like in Mamma ho riperso l'aereo - Mi sono smarrito a New York. The man next to her had laughed in a funny quiet way and had spoken for the first time apart from Do you speak English? and Come on.
"A small-town kid never forgets the first glimpse of the skyline," he'd said, and Graziella didn't know the word skeilein yet but had nodded. "A large part of the loony bin belongs to your dad", he had then said with a smile without taking his eyes off the street. And although Graziella didn't know what a lunibin was either and had some questions in general - this black man knew her papà much better than she did - she couldn't talk about the whole rest of the trip because there was just SO MUCH to see. The black man then drove into the courtyard of this house and took her to her room, told her to rest. He didn't know when her papà would come to see her, he had to work a lot.
So that was her first day in New York. No papà. And still that scratchy dress on and the hair clips that were really starting to hurt her. But maybe ... he was home now. She could say hello to him. Maybe she would also meet her aunt, her great uncle and maybe even her grandpa should he live here- because none of her new family she had seen yet. She would curtsy like her mamma had taught her to do should she EVER meet her papà and he would hug her and apologize for not being there for so long and then she could take off that stupid dress. Roberto would surely have made fun of her getting dolled up and then she would have had to smack him again, surely getting her dress dirty in the process.
But there is no Roberto here, she reminded herself. There is no one you know here. Graziella noticed that Grigio was trembling in her arm and stroked his head. He always got excited quickly. She knew Grigio was wishing that stupid Roberto was there right now. Of course, she'd rather have Viola or one of the other kids, but Grigio would be happy with anyone he knew.
"Don't be afraid. We have to be brave. Everything will be wonderful here," she repeated softly as she had done dozens of times before. Her stomach growled. She lifted Grigio in front of her face. "Are you hungry, too? I'm sure there's a kitchen here and no one will be angry with me if I look for something there. After all, I live here now and someone who gets such a big great room is surely allowed to walk through the house alone. I have also not eaten anything all day. And if we are very lucky papà is at home and if we are very very lucky we can eat with him."
She knew that Grigio was not a real rabbit and if he had been real he would not have answered her. But Graziella liked to pretend it when she was alone. Her mamma had always said only babies talk to their cuddly toys and Graziella didn't want anyone to think she was a baby. So she tucked Grigio under her arm and headed for the door to her room.
Then she made up her mind, ran back to the bed, put the stuffed animal on it and said to it in her mother's stern tone:
"I know you don't have to eat anything and just wanted to come along to take care of me. But it would be good if the family didn't see me with you or they would think I am a little kid who can't go anywhere without his stuffed animal. So I suggest you guard the room and my suitcases." She pointed to the two leather suitcases that were still locked (gifts from her grandma that had already belonged to grandpa). Graziella waited a moment for a silent answer from the rabbit. Then she nodded and gave a thumbs up before turning around.
The house was big and the furniture looked expensive. Fortunately it was not dark. In fact, every light she saw in the hallways was on, and if her nonna were here, she would immediately tell Graziella to turn off every lamp except the one in the room they were in. Because money didn't grow on trees! But if the big black man was right, her papà owned a lunibin, so he must have had enough money for all the electricity. Graziella felt small and insecure walking all alone through the big house and wished she had let Grigio come with her. But that was the way it had to be. Since the kitchen had also been on the first floor in Italy, she walked down the stairs and through the hallway. Here, too, every light was on. But she saw no one and heard no voices. Suddenly a swinging door was pushed open, almost hitting Graziella in the head, and she gave a startled whimper, as did the plump woman with the gray hair, who put her hand to her chest in fright, pressing against herself the wet towel with which she had apparently just dried her hands.
"For God's sake, you scared me!" she said breathlessly, and Graziella looked at her with wide eyes. Then remembering again her mother's lessons of always making a perfect first impression, she grabbed the hem of her dress with her fingertips and curtsied.
"Buonasera, sono Graziella," she whispered shyly and when she lifted her gaze the woman smiled kindly but quizzically.
"Do you - do you speak my language?" she asked uncertainly and Graziella gasped. True enough, she was in America! Here, everyone spoke English.
She curtsied again. "Good evening, I'm Graziella Draconi. Pleased to meet you, dear auntie."
The woman looked at her for a moment, flabbergasted. Then she laughed indulgently.
"Oh, you sweet little thing. I'm not your aunt after all. I'm Maria and I work here."
"Oh. Oh, I'm sorry." And she was really sorry. Not because she had "wasted" a perfect curtsy or greeting. But because this woman had such a nice face and she would have liked it if she had been her aunt.
Then the two faced each other and for a moment they were both at a loss as to what to say or do with each other. Until Graziella's stomach growled again.
"Oh, you must be hungry after your long journey. Mister Glasses told me the flight from Italy took a long time."
"A whole day," she muttered, enduring Maria's gaze wandering over her.
"And you wore that beautiful dress the whole time? It looks uncomfortable."
"It-it's my best dress. I sho-should wear it when I meet papà and my new fa-family. So they can see that I'm not an ugly, dirty child that you can't do anything with. I mean, the rest of my family. The other family. From America." She had grown quieter and quieter on the last words. She was babbling nonsense. On the one hand, she wished even more that Maria was her aunt because then she would have had an aunt who saw how awful that dress was and who wouldn't persuade her to wear something like that again. But on the other hand, she was glad that she hadn't stuttered around like that in front of any of her real new relatives.
She cleared her throat unsteadily and that finally got Maria on the right topic and also made that very strange look she had gotten when she had mentioned her new family disappear. A chubby hand reached out to her.
"Come on, my little Graziella. The Dracons are all still ... out and about. But when they come they don't want to find a starving child. I'll make you something yummy." Graziella smiled broadly and gratefully and let herself be led into the kitchen.
Half an hour later, Graziella had eaten a very good focaccia with ham. She had even been allowed to drink Coca-Cola with it! Now she spooned blissfully on her panna cotta with caramel sauce. She had asked Maria for a towel so that she wouldn't get her dress crumbly or dirty, and Maria had put the towel around her neck like her nonna would have done. Maria was great and sweet and not pushy because while Graziella had eaten she had cleaned the kitchen. Now she sat across from her with a capucchino and told her many things she had not known.
Her relatives had long since changed their Italian names and were now called Dracon. So she was Graziella Dracon. That didn't sound so nice but English wasn't quite as nice a language as Italian either. Besides, even her relatives didn't speak Italian. They understood the language - but they didn't speak it at all. Graziella didn't understand that because when they were among themselves they would be able to speak Italian but she wouldn't be able to change that. Her grandfather was really her great-grandfather, even though Graziella didn't know how old he really was and Maria couldn't tell her. But Francesco's great-grandfather in Limatola was almost a hundred years old, sitting in a wheelchair and drooling a little like a baby, but he could tell good stories about when he had fought Germans in the mountains of northern Italy. Perhaps Graziella's great-grandfather here could also tell good stories (American stories). And if he drooled, Graziella could also put a bib on him - she didn't mind.
The big black man with the glasses was apparently also called Mister Glasses and Graziella found that at least funny. He was papà's "right hand man" and when Graziella had asked what was wrong with her papà's own right hand, Maria had laughed and explained to her that this was what they called the most important employee of a businessman. Graziella had asked Maria in a low voice not to tell her new relatives what stupid questions she was asking. Maria gave her that strange look again and Graziella slowly realized that it was pity. The same look she had seen from many eyes two years ago at the Easter procession when she had fallen down and torn her new pantyhose and scraped her knees bloody and had to be carried home by Viola's dad. Everyone had looked at her then with pity. But she didn't know why Maria was looking at her like that.
"Graziella, you can ask me anything when we are alone. I won't tell your dad or the others," she said. Graziella nodded gratefully and continued to spoon the panna cotta. She was glad to have found a friend in America, even if Maria was an old woman. Not as old as her nonna, but certainly fifty. She felt safe with her and gladly accepted the offer to ask questions.
"Signor - I mean Mister Brille said my papà owns a lunibin. What is that?"
Maria furrowed her brow and pondered. Then she opened her eyes.
"A LOONY BIN! Oh Graziella, Mister Glasses is so funny. He meant the city. Because New York can be crazy sometimes. It's a slang word that probably isn't in normal dictionaries. You learn subtleties like that in a language over time."
"Okay. But - what does my papà do for a living? Why does he own part of the city?"
Maria bit her lips and seemed to think again.
"Your dad. He's a businessman. He ... is involved in quite a lot of business. What he does exactly and how, I don't know. And you don't need to know about that stuff either."
"But-"
"Graziella." Maria's tone was not stern but insistent. She reached across the countertop where Graziella sat on one of the stools and put her hand (rough and warm like her nonna's hands) on hers.
"Now listen to me carefully. Your papà, Anthony Dracon is an important man and does important business. His sister Antoinette, her uncle Dino and your great-grandpa Dominic Dracon are all businessmen. We don't ask what exactly they do because it's not important to us and we don't want to disturb their business. And you want to make a good impression on them. You want to live here and for them to like you."
Graziella nodded vigorously.
"Then don't ask any questions and don't disturb them. If you see or hear anything that bothers you or seems strange, you come to me and we'll talk about it. But only when you and I are alone. Do you understand?"
Graziella nodded again and bit her lip as Maria had done before. Maria sighed in relief and winced as a door somewhere slammed loudly into the lock. Loud laughter reached Graziella's ears and she looked at Maria who froze for a moment. Then, unusually nimble for her age, she jumped up and came around the counter as the voices approached. She hurriedly untied the towel she had wrapped around Graziellas neck.
"That's your daddy. Remember what I told you. Do it just like that and you'll be able to live here just fine."
Graziella slipped off the stool. NOW came her papà? So quickly without warning and without her being able to prepare herself internally? But okay, she still had her dress on, it wasn't too wrinkled and her hair clips with the bows were surely still in place. She stroked her hair again, because her mom had always said that was the best thing about her, and stood up as straight as she could.
"Maria! Make us something to drink, we had a really shitty -."
The swinging door was pushed open and the man at the front lost his grin when he saw her standing in the kitchen. The people behind him paused as well and looked ... not enthusiastic. The man at the very front tilted his head as if he didn't even understand what he was seeing. He did not look nice. Somehow too young and - as her grandmother would have called it - greasy. Besides, he had a wide white streak in the middle of his hair with which he looked like a skunk! (Although there were no skunks in Italy, she had already seen the animal in a photo when she and her English teacher had gone through animal species.) And this was supposed to be her papà? But she couldn't look disappointed now. The first impression was the most important.
Graziella took the hem of her dress as before and made a perfect curtsy.
"Good evening, I am Graziella. It's a pleasure to meet you," she brought out without stuttering. But in spite of the fact that the adults were delighted - as she was used to - a gasp seemed to come out of all their mouths.
"I thought you took the child to her room?" said the beautiful woman with full lips and short black hair, standing next to Mister Glasses in the doorway. Her mamma had always said a woman had to have long hair and be proud of it. But Graziella thought this woman looked great despite her short hair. Proud and strong - like a lady of the world. Graziella just knew that this was her aunt. Mister Glasses in the back cleared his throat.
"I did. I thought she was sleeping."
"The kid was hungry. You can't let a child go to bed without eating after a 20-hour flight," Maria said sternly, giving Mister Glasses a reprimanding look, and Mister Glasses, who was much taller and certainly stronger than she, shrugged apologetically.
"Sorry. Kids aren't my major."
"And what about Sonny?"
"He always found food on his own! Even as a toddler he ate raw fish sticks right out of the package."
At this her papà and the Glasses man laughed and Graziella realized that they not only worked together but were somehow friends. Another pushed past the laughing men.
"Hello Maria, a cappuccino for me, please," said the older man with the white hair who was now pushing his way into the kitchen. He was the first to speak to her but although this was probably her great uncle (or grandpa) he did not hug her but extended his hand to her as if she were an adult. Graziella didn't know this from Italy but she remembered that Viola's dad had once talked badly about a neighbor who had a weak handshake like a wet fish. So she shook this man's hand as powerfully as she could. He didn't even flinch and his handshake was strong too. But he let go and nodded. "Hello Graziella. We didn't expect to see you tonight. I'm your great uncle Dino," he pointed at the other people, who obviously didn't introduce themselves.
"Glasses you already know. The young lady is your Aunt Antoinette." Graziella returned the beautiful woman's cool nod with a shy smile, which she was used to being well received by adults. But her aunt only frowned and sat down at the counter and ordered a barraquito from Maria. Maria had already turned away to make the cappuccino that Dino had requested earlier and, with a smile, accepted Antoinette's request as well.
Dino had his arms crossed and was looking down at Graziella somehow dissatisfied and she didn't know what she had done wrong. She had imagined her great uncle and aunt very differently. No one seemed pleased, there hadn't been a single kiss. In Italy, she had been constantly cuddled and smooched by her nonna's female friends and occasionally even by the men who had always found her so adorable. She had to remind herself again that this was America. Maybe they just didn't kiss here. Not even to greet. But like her aunt, her uncle looked like a strong man of the world in his dark suit and white shirt. He had a full white but severe and clean cut beard. However, as in his hair on his head, there was a stripe of black in the middle.
This made him look like the older opposite of the man who had come into the kitchen first and who was now moving around Graziella, hands in his pockets, looking at her from all sides. Graziella felt strange. Downright disgusting. Because it reminded her of Signor Amato who had wanted to buy Signor Bianco's mare last year. She and a few other children had been there when the two had negotiated. The man had not only looked into the eyes, but even lifted the hooves and looked into the mouth of the animal. But she was not a mare. She was a human being and not a horse. Why did she suddenly feel so small and worthless? And what would happen if her papà did not like what he saw? Would he send her back to Italy? The way she felt at the moment - under his disgusting gaze - she would even want that.
Then he twisted his mouth into a satisfied and still greasy arrogant smile.
"Well, what a little sugar doll. You make me want to cast you in porcelain and put you on a shelf."
Graziella exhaled in relief and curtsied again.
"Thank you, papà."
She winced as Maria started up the modern coffee machine behind her and it rattled to life, spitting cappuccino into a cup.
"The grandmother wasn't lying when she wrote that she spoke English. A polite child," Antoinette murmured after the noise faded. But still her aunt did not look pleased.
"Yes. But still young enough to really make her rotten," her father said cheerfully putting a hand to her chin and pressing her lower lip down with his thumb. To see her TEETH! Trying not to cry, she opened her mouth. His grin became even more unpleasant. "I'd rather you'd come in ten years, Dolly."
"Anthony, don't play the sick bastard here," his sister said threateningly.
""Excuse your ... dad," her uncle said, grumbling the word dad as if it somehow made him nauseous. "He has a strange sense of humor and a loose mouth. He needs to get used to having a kid."
He shot a serious look at her father and the latter, with a smarmy smirk that was meant to seem apologetic but missed the mark by miles, raised his hands like the gangsters in the old movies when they were confronted by the police.
"We'll all have to get used to it," he said unconcerned, strolling less than guiltily to the kitchen island, where he sat down as well, wordlessly accepting the cup Maria placed in front of him.
Just as Graziella was considering whether to sit at one of the other chairs - and considering whether she even wanted to - her great-uncle turned around again.
"You ate?"
Graziella nodded.
"Then go up to your room. Unpack your suitcases. Get some rest. Tomorrow morning, around ten, someone will drive you to the wives-"
"Oh, yes," her father agreed. "The hens will love a cute thing like you!"
"-and there you can play with the other kids in the family." Dino finished his sentence. He and the younger man briefly stared at each other, and it reminded Graziella of two street dogs sizing each other up before going for each other's throats (something she had indeed seen before). But here there was no growling and no biting. However, she knew the men didn't like each other, maybe even hated each other. And she could say with certainty that this was not how a family was supposed to be.
Graziella stood there for a second. Then she squeezed off a smile curtsied again and said.
"Good night papà, great uncle and auntie."
"For heaven's sake. Call us by our first names. I feel ancient when you call me that," her father bleated and her aunt confirmed, rolling her eyes. Her great uncle grumbled again but nodded.
"Just call me Uncle Dino, like these two. You call your aunt Antoinette and your mutton head of a father Tony. Now, good night."
"Good night," Graziella repeated in a whispering voice.
Mister Glasses pushed her out the swinging door.
"Regular coffee for me, Maria," he said, and it was obvious that no one else was going to bother with her tonight.
With wobbly legs and an ice-cold lump in her stomach that hurt much more than the hunger from before, she headed for the stairs while the adults - her new family from whom she had expected so much - all remained in the kitchen. But maybe, Graziella thought as she had already taken the first steps, she just didn't understand these American relatives yet. Maybe they weren't really mean or weird or gross. Maybe they were just ... Americans. Because it was only a swing door that led to the kitchen she paused as she realized how well she could hear the voices as another conversation started.
"I hadn't even remembered she was supposed to arrive today," her great-uncle admitted.
Graziella tentatively sat down on the stairs and pricked up her ears hoping to learn more about these strange people.
"What a sugar doll, right? Extremely good genes," she heard her father say and her aunt reply:
"You're such an arrogant creep, Tony."
"My ladies would all say I'm too young to have a child that age."
"You should have thought about that before you forced yourself on the maid there - thanks Maria, that's an excellent one as always. The training at pianta rampicante was to teach the Dracons new tools to finally put the other families in their place and you made sure we were both kicked out after only three months!"
"I guess you'll never forgive me for that! She wanted it-" Graziella heard her father hiss. " - and it was fun," he added, and although Graziella didn't know what he was talking about, she froze at his tone.
"Like it was fun for the Family to do the DNA test?" her aunt said bitingly. "Or enjoyed paying hush money for eight years? WE demand money - we don't pay it. But you couldn't keep your dick in your pants."
"Kids, cut it out. The girl is here now. It would have been worse if she had arrived last month. Now at least you're out of jail again. "
"That cost us a hell of a lot, too, Uncle Dino."
"That freak wolf almost killed me! And you, Dino, the lawyers had to bail you out of custody - that was costlier than anything else. So much for your masterful attempt to take over the city. Planning isn't everything after all, if you only want to take out the winged rats one by one when they get in your way. You didn't get a single one."
"How would you have done it, boy?" growled the older man, and she heard her father laugh under his breath.
"If it's no good picking off the rats one by one, you'll have to smoke out their lair."
"As if you knew where that might be. And even if you did, you couldn't tell if you were dealing with five or fifty of them," Antoinette said, and Tony laughted and sounded utterly cheerful. "So better to waste a bunch of resources on the Dino Dracon signature overkill. Which then achieves nothing anyway. We've all been playing in the losers' league. So you can climb down from your high horses."
"Enough!" snapped Dino so angrily that Graziella winced. "The family must appear reunited after the recent failures. Instead of chasing monsters, we need to get back to our core competencies, strengthen and secure the territory we still have, and position ourselves more safely - preferably not under the open sky. We are all out. That was at least a success after the Huracán and Yingpei affair. We have to keep quiet now, so that we don't put ourselves even more in the spotlight of the other families. In a few months, when the dust has settled, we can do pest control and come up with a new plan to remind the other families that the Dracons are a force to be reckoned with."
"Maybe, it will even make a good impression if it goes around that Tony has a child now," Mister Glasses gave to consider.
"Do you seriously think anyone - anyone! - would be stupid enough to buy the family-man from my brother? The girl just makes us vulnerable. The other families are still dancing on our noses - and Anthony's little legacy is just in time."
"She's family," Dino said coldly. Then dishes clinked softly. "Thank you Maria. You can go now."
"Thank you, Mister Dino. Good night, Anthony. Antoinette. Glasses."
"Good night," everyone returned curtly and casually, and Graziella jumped up as Maria suddenly walked down the corridor, a handbag hanging over her shoulder. But unfortunately she must have seen Graziella out of the corner of her eye because she turned around, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, and stared at her wordlessly. This made the words which had been resumed in the kitchen all the louder.
"There could have been other ways with which we would not have had to pay the old hag every half-"
Graziella did not hear the end of the sentence because Maria had jumped up the stairs, taken her by the hand and hurriedly ran up with her. Only fragmentarily she understood the following
"-Question of honor that-"
"-As long as only the grandmother wrote, it was okay but-"
"-Mother totally crazy- seriously wanted to play MotherFatherChi-"
"-A hit man, Tony! How low can you sink if you-"
"Graziella!" hissed Maria outside her bedroom door, making the already barely intelligible voices from downstairs entirely unrecognizable. Her eyes were moist and almost panicked.
"You must never eavesdrop anywhere again. Only bad girls do that, understand?"
Graziella nodded and unhappily kneaded the front end of her skirt. Now she couldn't care less about the wrinkles. She had understood almost nothing of the conversation. Not because she had not understood the words but because they had spoken of things that had no meaning for her and with which she could not connect anything. But one thing had become all too clear.
"Papa - and Aunt Antoinette. And Great Uncle Dino...they're not happy to have me here are they?" she asked, already knowing the answer of course even though she knew Maria would say otherwise in a moment. Adults always lied when they wanted to protect children from something.
Maria wiped away the tear that rolled down her cheek with her thumb.
"No, Graziella, I wouldn't say that. They don't know you yet. And you don't know them. You all have to get used to each other. A lot of things are different in America. The people are ... you have to experience family yourself. Look at everything over the next few weeks." She gently grabbed her ear. "Listen. Look, but don't ask questions. That's how you learn here."
"Just come to you with questions?"
Maria smiled.
"Yeah right. I'm sorry this first meeting wasn't what you thought it would be. It's not always like a fairy tale and it's probably part of growing up to accept that. The main Dracon family seems ... strange. Sometimes a bit cold and ... well. But if you've proven that you can be a good girl and prove yourself valuable then they'll have a lot to offer you."
"How do I prove myself va-valuable?"
She shook her head and seemed dissatisfied with her previous words.
"I expressed myself badly. The most important rule here is: family is the most important thing. Everyone else is just an outsider."
"Outsiders?"
"Yes. Everything that happens in the family stays in the family."
"Are you part of the family too?"
"As I said, I work for the Dracons. But yes, I am also family in the broadest sense. We are a community and everyone is important. The Dracon family is made up of more than blood. Even employees are part of it." Again Maria stroked her cheeks with her hands and smiled broadly. "From seven o'clock to eleven and from sixteen to nine, six days a week, I'm here and there for you. So don't be sad anymore."
"Okay, Signora Maria."
"Just Maria, Graziella."
Graziella finally got a kiss on the cheek before Maria got up again with cracking joints and opened her room door.
"Good night."
"Good - good night."
Then she was back in her big new room. She didn't hear Maria leave but she knew she was gone. So she didn't even live here in the house.
She ran to her bed, finally took off her patent leather shoes, which were terribly pinching. Made the hair clips out of her hair, took off her dress and laid it neatly over the back of a chair. Then she slipped under the covers of the huge bed in just her undershirt and underpants and pulled Grigio into her arms and hugged him tightly. He looked at her questioningly from his beady eyes.
"It's not the way we imagined it. But Maria is nice. When she says I can live well here if I settle in I believe her, she assured him. Still, Graziella Dracon couldn't help sniffling a bit and a tear or two coming from her eyes. She stroked the rabbit and felt the hard card inside the stuffed animal. The business card of the policeman from the plane. "Not yet. I need to look at this first. I'm brave and strong," she whispered, closing her eyes tightly. She left the bedside lamp on.
Just a big city boy ... and just a small town girl. -Who loves the song Don't Stop Believin' by Journey too?
Now Nashville was introduced and in this chapter also Graziella Dracon. The adult conversation is adapted from the comic issues of Dynamite up to issue 6 but of course it will definitely not end that way (for sure the Dracons- at least Dino- will end up in jail). And he doesn't play an important role here either. But I needed him as a "calm", cold figure.
If you will notice that in the following chapters (or already noticed). I have NO idea how children tick and speak and act. My mother says I was never a normal child myself - so how should I know how to put on such a character properly? In Souls of the Night with Tachi and Heather, I could justify their strange often precocious "adult" behavior with events in their earliest childhood. I don't have that luxury here. My child characters will always be strangely mature and well-articulated (if you ignore the bumpy translation of my German sentences into English).
Thanks for reading, Q.T.