2. jimmy
Jimmy was my dad’s best friend. They grew up on the same street in The Bronx. I had heard about him hundreds of times, The Blues Brothers, the late night games of pool, that one summer in Wildwood. But the only time I met him was at my grandmother’s funeral. He spent the entire day with us. It was my 20th birthday and he even stayed for cake on rose’s back porch.
My dad couldn’t make it to New York for his funeral so we went to our local church the following Sunday and lit a candle for him, next to the candle we lit for Sammy. I hadn’t been to mass in years and I had forgotten many of the harmonies. But I stood there in the audience and I saw the glowing diversity of humans in attendance and felt proud to be from here.
I prayed hard that day. I sat in the pew with my hands at my head and envisioned a future of mine I’d like to get to see. I sang the songs from the book and I looked my neighbors in the eye and wished that “peace be with you” as I shook their hand.
After church my parents and I went to a local brunch spot. I had the steak + eggs with a bloody mary and my parents got bottomless mimosas, the avocado toast and the crabcake benedict. It was a restaurant on a golf course and Wimbledon was playing on tv. We sat at the bar and sparked conversation with a fellow barmate, Monroe. A black man, 60s, who’d just played a round of golf. The bartenders knew his name and we got to know him as he sipped his beers.
When we told him we were italian, he said his children were italian. His first wife was italian. Sadly, she left him early, she passed away when she was 36. His second wife is greek. She’s brilliant, way smarter than him, he said. She wrote a book, something about science. As soon as they had their first grandchild, she made them move from California to Maryland to be near the children. He said when you’ve got someone you can still giggle with at 5 in the morning, you’ve got to hold onto that.
After brunch, my mother took a nap before showing a client a few houses. My father ran errands and I went to the pool to swim laps.
The next time we went to church I went to the gift shop and purchased a turquise rosary, st anthony healing oil and an angel pin. The pastor said 7 was the perfect number. That John was only given 5 barley loaves and 2 fish to feed the people and that was all he needed for god to miraculously multiply his offerings.