Taking Tuscany (20 page)

Disqualifying himself right off the bat, J. R. skids off course and loses too much time recovering for any hope at making the finals. He becomes the official stopwatch judge instead. Benji, Dino, Dominic, Dario, and a few other neighbor kids are still in the running. These speed trials are a tough one for the moms to watch. It's all they can do not to yell “Slow down!” at their kids, knowing that would totally defeat the purpose.

After nearly an hour of watching human torpedoes fly down the ice at neck-breaking speeds, Dominic and Dino are tied for first. They'll have to run a tiebreaker if their records hold. It's the strangest thing to have my own brother and my good friend up against each other. I honestly cannot decide whom to root for, so I'm cheering for both of them.

Benji's friend Christiana is the last competitor to go. She takes a running start and flies down the ditch headfirst. No one has tried that position yet. She's such a featherweight, she skims over the ice like a leaf on a breeze and flies across the finish line two seconds faster than Dino and Dominic's record. The crowd is stunned.

“A girl beat you, Dino!” Benji teases. Benji is beaming with pride for his little friend. The power of a cute girl over brotherly loyalty … tsk, tsk. Dino and Dominic take the setback in good spirits. Christiana takes the gold. Benji offers to carry her ribbon for her over to the burn barrel where we've all gathered for the closing ceremony. With a hot chocolate toast, we all salute the Poppy Hill Winter Olympics of 1972.

Journal Entry: November 7, 1972

A Wondrous Winter Night

T'was on a winter's night

Beneath a pitch black sky

The wondrous Hooves of Heaven

Breathed a peaceful sigh

19

Un Giorno Ventoso

(One Blustery Day)

Saturday morning, Daddy and the boys are up and at 'em. They're hoping to finish a roofing project on an old farmhouse before the forecasted storm rolls in. The Lacolucci family lives at the bottom of our hill and are in dire need of a new roof to get through the winter. They have six children under the age of ten and make their living selling fresh eggs and milk. Daddy's only charging them for materials to do the project. I think they're throwing some eggs in with the deal.

Mama and I have decided to stay indoors and bake up a storm of our own. A big batch of sugar cookies should help sustain us through the tempest. When I say
big batch
, I mean
colossal.
From the amount of dough we've mixed up, I'd say we're talking at least a hundred cookies.

Mama wants to make sure we have enough to freeze for our traditional American Thanksgiving. We have cookie cutters for everything from pumpkins to pilgrims. It won't surprise me if we have enough dough left over to pull out the Frosty and Santa cutters, too. That reminds me to tell Mama something. “I know what Benji wants for Christmas.” He's not the only one who wants it, but it might work better if she thinks it's for Benji instead of me.

“What's that?”

“One of Ci-ci's puppies. Luigi is the runt, and Benji just loves him.”

“Ha! Nice try. Angelina Juliana, you need another dog like you need a hole in the head.” She gives me a lecture on why having dogs on two different continents doesn't work for people like me.

Mama gets busy cutting out pilgrims, while I mix up the frosting. Suddenly, a loud crash of thunder makes both of us jump. The sky opens up and the rain comes pouring down in sheets. “Oh, boy, there goes a day's work for the guys,” Mama says. “Looks like they'll have to come home early and eat warm cookies instead.”

Since we don't have anything in the way of Thanksgiving music, Mama throws on my favorite Andy Williams Christmas album. It's confusing to mix orange and yellow frosting with Christmas tunes, but it's so nice to hear songs we know the words to. At the top of our lungs, we belt out “Come on, we're goin' for a sleigh ride …” Then, for the ever-so-sentimental, I croon, “I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know.”

Mama takes the next line, “Where the tree tops glisten, and children listen …”

We're interrupted by the phone but keep right on singing. By the fifth ring Mama finally grabs it. “North Pole!” she says cheerfully, then stops. “Sonny?
… Benji? … Fell? …
I'm coming!” She is untying her apron before she even hangs up the phone.

“A. J.!” she screams, “Benji fell! Get my purse, get my purse!” She's running around, frantically looking for her keys.

“Here, Mama, here's your keys …” We run out in the downpour and jump in the car. “Where are we going?”

“To the hospital—Daddy's already there with Benji.” Mama swings the car around and speeds down the slick roads, then flies onto the
autostrada
heading toward Saint Augustine's Hospital.

Mama bursts through the emergency room doors, with me right on her heels. “
Dov' è mio figlio
?” Where's my son?

The startled reception lady nods toward the door of the restricted area, where a nurse motions to us. “
Seguimi
,” she says, follow me. She leads us through the double doors and down a long hallway to a small waiting area.

As soon as we see Daddy, Mama runs to him. “Where's my baby?”

Daddy grabs Mama and holds her back. “You can't go in there now, Soph,” he says calmly, but his eyes betray him.

“Can't go in? I'm his mother!” She tries to break free from Daddy.

Daddy holds Mama even tighter. “Sophie, listen to me.” He makes Mama sit on the couch beside him. I sit down beside J. R. and Dino, who look like they know something bad. I look back at Daddy.

“Benji's hurt …” Daddy says. “He's with the doctors … he isn't … he's unconscious,” he whispers.

Mama stammers, “Un-unconscious?” Then she screams, “Why can't I see him?”

“Honey
,
Benji … fell from the roof.”

“The
roof
?” Mama looks stunned.

“He hit his head. They're trying to stabilize him. After they get him stabilized, you can see him.” Daddy doesn't sound very sure of himself.

A doctor comes out to talk to Daddy. “There's a lot of swelling around the brain that we need to bring down. We'll have to keep him sedated to do it. Once we can get the swelling down, we'll have a better idea of what's going on. For the time being, I can't let you see him.”

“Not again,” Mama sobs. “I can't do this again.” She must be having a
déjà vu
of when I bashed my head at Pirate's Cove trying to save Ruby Jean. I think Mama has gone into shock. In a monotone she says, “J. R., call Adriana, tell her to come home. Call my sister, tell her to pick up Nonna and take her to their home. Have her call the church for prayer.”

J. R. goes to the nurse's station to use the phone.

I don't know what to do. Nobody is telling me what to do. No one is saying it's going to be okay. I want someone to tell me Benji is going to be okay. I go over to the nurse's station. “
Signorina
?”

The nurse at the desk looks up.

“Can you help me find a phone number?”

“
Che nome ha
?” What's the name?

“
Le Sorelle di Francescano di Siena
.”
The Franciscan Sisters of Siena.

The nurse looks through the phone book and dials a number, then hands the phone to me.

“
La reveranda madre, per favore
.” The reverend mother, please.

I hear the reverend mother's voice. “Angelina?”

“My brother … Benji …” I start bawling my head off. I tell her he fell. “Please pray … tell the sisters to pray, tell Sister Aggie to pray … he's at the hospital … St. Augustine's … he won't wake up.…”

“Angelina,
Benji sarà giusto
,”
she says quietly. Benji will be okay. “We'll all pray. It's going to be okay.”

“
Grazie, Madre … grazie
,” I sob. That's what I needed to hear. I hand the phone back to the nurse.

Time ticks by, rain pounds against the windows, the gray sky turns darker. The doctor comes back and says they're putting Benji on ice to help keep his swelling and temperature down. They're going to keep him under sedation, like inducing a coma so his body has a better chance to recover. He also suggests we go home for the night to get some rest and come back in the morning. Mama tells him he's crazy. She says she's not going anywhere as long as her son is here. She starts to sob about Benji being cold, and wants to go warm him up.

By midnight Mama tells the nurse that if they don't let her see her son she will break the door down. Mamas and their babies … just like what Benji and I were talking about that day with Ci-ci and her puppy.

The doctor finally agrees to take Mama back to Benji, but she has to promise not to touch him. Daddy goes with her to make sure she keeps her promise. The rest of us fall asleep on the waiting room couches.

In the middle of the night I'm awakened by the sound of the emergency entrance doors. A chain of angels come filing through. I wonder if I'm in a dream. Then I recognize Sister Aggie. The nuns have come. I hustle across the room and am enveloped into Sister Aggie's black robe. “
Siamo venuti per pregare
,”
she whispers. We've come to pray.

Throughout the night I'm in and out of sleep. It's hard to get comfortable on these old couches. Each time I awake, I hear the hushed prayers of the nuns, and drift back asleep. At the crack of dawn Adriana appears. She drove hours through the storm to get here. Mama and Daddy are still back with Benji. Adriana curls up on the couch beside me and falls asleep.

A loud buzzer goes off, jolting me awake. Nurses rush back through the double doors with a sense of urgency about them. My eyes try to adjust to all the commotion. Mama and Daddy suddenly appear, looking scared and bewildered. People are racing around, phone calls are being made. Daddy asks Adriana to take us kids home. Something has gone wrong and no one is saying what. I look to the nuns for assurance. Sister Aggie nods at me, telling me with her eyes
, It's going to be okay.
But it doesn't feel like it.

“C'mon, let's go home,” Adriana says to me, “get your brothers.”

“No … I don't want to leave … I know something's wrong. I want to know what's wrong.”

Daddy hurries past me and I grab his jacket sleeve. “Daddy, what is it … what's wrong with Benji?”

Daddy stops for a brief moment, long enough for me to catch the grief in his eyes. “… You need to wait at home … Mama and I need to deal with Benji … we'll call.”

I drag myself up to my tower, and fall on my bed sobbing. I feel like my snow globe just fell to the ground and shattered all over. The pieces go everywhere. I'm washed away in the flood, but none of it matters anymore. Nothing matters but my little brother.
God, I'm scared … I'm so scared. Help me.

Adriana comes in my room and sits on the bed beside me. She starts to rub my back. I roll over to face her. “Is Benji going to … die?” I can barely even whisper the word.

“I don't know.” She sighs. “I don't know …” A tear falls from her cheek. “This reminds me so much of when you …”

“When I almost drowned?”

“Yeah.”

“Ruby did drown.”

Adriana nods. “I know. I've always blamed myself for that.”

“It was an accident … I only wish Ruby didn't have to die.” My tears come again. “I'm still waiting for God to show me the good in that. I don't see how anything good could come from having my hamster die.”

“A. J.,” Adriana says, “the good has already come.”

I sit up and wipe my eyes to make sure I'm hearing her right.

“Remember what I was like with boys before that happened?”

“You mean … how you let them kiss you and break your heart?”

“Exactly. If I was still going down that road when we moved here … I've seen girls in modeling who act just like I did then. It's not pretty when girls my age act that way. They end up getting used and hurt in this business. When you lost Ruby and nearly drowned, it was a real wake-up call for me. It changed me, A. J.”

Come to think of it, I haven't seen Adriana date anyone since we moved here. She went dancing, but that's about it.

Adriana gives me a hug. “I'll always be sorry about your hamster, A. J., but know that Ruby didn't die in vain. God used her to help me. He's going to help Benji, too.”

And yea, the Hooves of Heaven

Come to me in the night