Team Meeting Part Three Una Breve Parentesi (A Short Interlude)   by Andrea Lena DiMaggio Copyright © 2010 Andrea Lena DiMaggio All Rights Reserved.   Some things are just more important than football...

A knock came at the door, and Vito Compagna rose from the sofa. He walked over and opened the door. Rita Clemente stood on the porch. She was dressed only in a 'Nova sweatshirt and jeans despite the frost on the ground.

"Mr. C...is...Sammi at home?" She looked away and bit her lip, fighting back the tears. She had cried almost the entire walk from her house two blocks down. She and her brother Julio had an argument, leaving her to storm out of the house without her coat.

"Rita...hi...come on in...Sammi's over at the store with Dan today. Honey, you must be terribly cold, sweetheart."

Vito pulled the girl into a warm embrace, which was entirely appropriate in his grandfatherly way and entirely awkward for Rita. She would have welcomed a hug from Sammi's dad at any other time, but her feelings of guilt caused her to tense up.

"What's wrong, Rita," Vito said, immediately picking up Rita's uncomfortable vibe.

"Mr. C. I....can I ask you a question?" She used her overlong sleeve to wipe her face, including the drip from her nose.

"Of course...anything." Vito had a way of disarming any awkward situation. He and Carmella had gotten married late in life, and after raising both children to adolescence, he was more like a kindly old grandfather to the neighborhood kids.

"Is it okay to be scared sometimes?" She looked down at her sneakers, wanting so much for an answer that would take away the bad feelings she had inside.

"What do you mean, honey? Like scared of being hurt? Scared of a big test?" Vito knew exactly where this was leading. Rita and Sammi had been close as kids, and apart from a brief drifting apart this year, he knew she still had feelings for Sammi, no matter what had happened last week.

"I'm scared of....I'm scared of me, Mr. C....Scared of what I've become....Scared of how I treated Sammi." She started to cry again and buried her face in his soft cardigan.

"Vito, is that Rita I hear?" Carmella came into the living room. She had a tray on her lap, and had just maneuvered her wheel chair into the room. The tray had a pot of tea and some cookies on a plate. "Oh, sweetie, I'm so glad to see you. Come give Momma Carmella a hug, okay."

Rita walked gingerly over to Carmella and leaned over and hugged her. The waterworks started back up immediately and Rita fell to her feet and sobbed into Carmella's sleeve.

"I'm so sorry...you must hate me...I've been such a fuck up." Rita realized what she had just said, and began sobbing all over again. Carmella just stroked her hair and said softly,

"Mi flglia, lo vi amo, sara bene (my daughter, I love you, it's okay)." Unlike Vito, who had grown up in Staten Island, Carmella had come to the US from Palermo when after she buried her first husband at twenty-seven. She and Vito met at the hospital where he volunteered after she was brought in after a truck had lost control and rammed the side of her car. In the months that followed, he assisted the physical therapy staff help her recover and cope with her injuries. A short courtship and engagement followed, and they were married the following year. With much help and prayer, their two miracles, Dan and Sammi were born, and they counted their blessings every day.

"I hurt Sammi so much." Rita said between sobs. First I told her I hated her....then I got together with that bastard Lucas." At the word bastard, she blushed again. Then I get back with Sammi and....I love her, Momma C….Oh....I'm so sorry." She began to weep. Vito walked over and kissed Rita on the top of her head. He turned his attention to Carmella and said,

"I think maybe I'll go down to the store for a little while and leave you two girls alone, okay?" He kissed Carmella on the bridge of her nose and then softly on the lips.

"Love you, my sweet wife...mi dolce amore della mia vita. (love of my life)." he said as he walked out the door.

"Now, mi bella figlia (my beautiful daughter), let us have some tea, Si?"

That evening, the Compagna's sat down to dinner. Mrs. C. had cooked a nice pork tenderloin with garlic and escarole and potatoes, and everyone was quiet for a few minutes; first after the blessing and then as they savored the fine meal. After a few minutes Carmella spoke.

"You know Rita was by today, Sammi?" She smiled at her son. Sammi had stopped dressing after the attack by Lucas and Marty.

"You do know she is sorry for what she said, Don't you?" Carmella knew that Sammi knew, but wanted him to acknowledge that.

"Yes, Momma, I know." Sammi's eyes began to mist.

"I don't want to talk about her, is that okay?" Sammi said this politely, as a request.

"You don't have to say a word, mi bello, but I will talk, Si?" She smiled at Vito, who nodded in agreement. Dan just looked away, trying not to laugh. When Momma said listen, they listened. Not out of fear or compulsion, but Carmella always had something wise and helpful to say when she said, “You don't have to say a word."

"She wanted us to know how sorry she was for what she said. She was hurt and angry, and didn't understand."

"But," Sammi tried to interrupt, but Carmella said.

"Sammi...listen, Si?"

"Yes, momma." At sixteen, Sammi had lived long enough to understand what Dan had learned so much earlier. There's a time to listen.

"She thought you were rejecting her...she misunderstood...your intentions." She frowned at Sammi before continuing.

"It is good that you found out what Poppa and I have been telling you....love first...then marriage...then the bed, Si?"

"Yes, Momma." Sammi put his head down on the table and began to cry out of embarrassment. Carmella reached over and stroked his hair.

"We will talk no more of this...you know how we feel, Si? And you already have told Rita you are sorry, Si?" She smiled at him as she cupped his chin in her hand, raising his head to face her.

“Give her a kiss from Momma when you see her again, okay? And you kiss her for Poppa, Si?” Carmella smiled once again and added. “You can kiss her for you, but nothing else, Si?”

“Yes, Momma.” Sammi looked into his mother’s eyes and saw nothing but love.

"Sammi...we love you...all of you..." Vito said quietly. We have loved you since before you were born. And we love you now, yes?" Vito tried to keep up with his Italian, but even after all these years, he lapsed into "New Yawk."

"You don't hafta change for us, do you understand?" Vito looked up and down at Sammi, as if he were indicating something.

"Momma and I talked about it." He smiled at his son. "We think maybe you should see a doctor...like soon."

Sammi looked at his father and feared the worst. He had seen the school guidance counselor after the incident in front of the school weeks ago. She had called the parents, more out of concern for Sammi's well-being than just physical safety.

"Does that mean you want me to go to the doctor that Mrs. Cortese told you about?" Sammi figured this was it...a shrink to help him forget all about his other "side."

"Si, mi bello." Carmella patted Sammi lightly on the cheek. "She's a good doctor....works with boys like you...helps them get things...Vito...what am I trying to say?" Carmella struggled occasionally with English the way Vito wrestled with Italian.

"Sorted out, my dear." Vito patted Sammi on the arm. "Dr. Kelly is a doctor who works with boys who...." Now Vito was at a loss for words.

"They mean that the doctor you are gonna go to helps boys who maybe want to be girls." Dan interjected as he laughed.

"She helps them figure out what's going on and what they want to do about it."

"What they want?" Sammi couldn't believe his ears.

"Yes, mi bambina, what you want." Carmella said. Sammi wasn't too keen on Italian, but he picked up on the word his mother just used.

"Bambina?" He thought to himself. "She called me bambina, not bambino." A subtle change in a vowel that immediately meant the world to the boy who had moments before been crying in despair.

"Sammi," Vito said, "Your Momma and I talked it over, and we know how hard this has been for you." Vito's eyes started to mist up. Even Dan couldn't help the tears he was shedding now for his baby brother.

"You go see the doctor on Monday after school. Mrs. Cortese says she knows her stuff, and she'll help you figure this out, okay?" Vito smiled and reached under his chair.

"Momma and I talked it over, and we decided to give you this today...an early birthday present” Vito smiled, as Sammi looked in wonder at his parents. It wasn't his birthday for another four months.

"Go ahead, open it, mi figlia." Carmella said, tears streaming down her cheeks. Sammi looked at her and couldn't believe his ears.

"Mi figlia? My daughter?" He tore off the paper and looked at the package. It was a cosmetics case...Bobbi Brown Basic Collection. He couldn't believe his eyes

"Momma, uh...you said figlia...daughter." Sammi looked at his mother, hoping he remembered the little Italian he knew.

"Si, mi bambina, mi bella figlia." Carmella wheeled herself over to Sammi and kissed her on the cheek, weeping even as she kissed her new daughter again and again."

"Scuse," Dan said with a smile. "I have one important question before we go any further," he said as he got up, looking for all the world very serious and concerned...

"What?" Sammi said, almost in a panic, fearing the worst from her brother."

"Just this...Who wants cake and coffee?" Dan broke into a smile and walked past Sammi on the way to the kitchen. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek and said with as much care and thoughtfulness as any brother could ever have,

"Lo vi amo, mia cara sorella (I love you, my dear sister.)"

based in part on the Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 5:8, Matthew 7:7-10
(references added post-publication)