It's been a while since I've updated this, I know, but I've been working on a couple of other projects and I've just been really busy. Here's another part the story. Please enjoy it! Here it is:
Slowly he opened his eyes and he was in the room he had fallen asleep in. Feeling an unexplainable tightness in his chest, he looked around and saw his wife standing in the doorway of the room. His face damp and tired from crying, he stood up and hugged Lili.
“I was so scared but it was just a dream,” Gino said crying on the shoulder of his wife.
“What happened? Are you okay now?” Lili asked looking worried.
“The dream it was so real. I actually felt the pain.” Gino then told Lili about the dream and what it consisted of.
“I’m not sure if it’s going to happen or not.” Gino worried.
“Lets just go back to bed” Lili replied. Lili and Gino went back into the sleeping room, put Ricky and Maria back to sleep and went to bed themselves.
The next morning, Gino talked to his wife about what needed to get done that day. “I need to find a job and you need to use the meager funds we have and go to the market.” Gino said.
“Where’s the money?” she asked. Gino reached into one of his pockets and found nothing.
“Where is that money?” He questioned reaching into another one of his pockets. He checked all of his other pockets and when he found nothing he looked in his bag.
“Something wrong?” Lili asked worryingly.
“I can’t find the money,” he said as he frantically searched every imaginable place. Unable to find where it was he thought about what could have happened to it.
“Lili, when I was reading the paper was there a man behind me?” Gino asked.
“Yes, I believe so. Why do you ask?” Lili replied.
“I think he stole the money right out of my pocket.” He sighed. Gino grabbed his bag, reached in and pulled out a hand full of money.
“This is what I found on the train. I grabbed it just in case this sort of thing happened,” Gino said, trying to tell his family that he found it even though he really didn’t find it at all. He stole it out of unattended bags. He was trying not to look like a thief.
“Gino, how did you get that money?” Lili asked suspicious of her husband.
“I found it on the train,” he said somewhat nervous that he would be found out.
“Gino how you got that money?” she asked again. Gino contemplated if he should or should not tell his wife about him stealing the money.
“Money is money. She won’t mind, its helping us survive which makes it good,” he thought to himself.
“I stole the money out of an unwatched bag. It’s helping us survive so what’s it matter?”
“What’s it matter?! It was stolen that’s what matters! That money was that person’s hard-earned wages! His family could be in the same situation as we are!”
“He could’ve stolen the money that I stole so I would be doing a bad thing to a bad person.”
“That doesn’t make it better.”
“Use this money, go to the store, and buy food. It will help us live. If you refuse then I will do it. Either way this money will be used.” He held out the money to her. At first she just stared at it.
“Fine I’ll use it just don’t ever steal again.” She grabbed the money out of his hand and sat down to wait for the kids to wake up so she could go to the store. Gino put on his jacket and stepped out of the building. He walked down the street for a while and came to a little store.
“I would like a job,” Gino said as he strolled through the door.
“Sorry, we can’t give you a job. We’re all full right now,” said the clerk at the counter.
“Sir, I really, really need this job. My family is living in poverty and the only money I had was stolen.”
“What a sob story. Boo hoo.” The clerk said mockingly. “I still cannot offer you a job here.”
“You pill,” Gino said under his breath disappointedly as he walked out the door.
As Gino walked further and further through Chicago store after store he could not find a job. Disappointed and dejected he returned to the building he was staying in. Immediately he went into the sleeping room where he saw the short man from his dream and two very large men standing beside him.
“Hello, Gino,” the man said. “It’s pretty nice place you got here, dark and secluded.
“Who are you and why are you here and how do you know my name?”
“All very good questions and I will answer them one at a time. I am Al Capone. I am here to offer you a job. I know your name because I have been following you. When you first got off that train I had one of my boys steal your money to test you on your survival skills. When you couldn’t find a place to stay you found this office building that was previously owned by me. As you can see I have been following you, testing you, seeing if you were worthy.”
“Mr. Capone, level with me. Are you actually here to offer me a job?”
“Yes, Mr. Gregorio. I would like you to be one of my bodyguards. Your very large structure makes you perfect for the job. From the reports my men have brought me I can see you have an aptitude for survival in the big city. Chicago may be different from Hudson, New York but you obviously survive in either situation. So, Mr. Gregorio, would you like the job or not?”
“Why of course, Mr. Capone. I would be honored.” Gino said as he extended his hand as if he were hoping it would be shaken. Capone surprised at first, shook Gino’s hand.
“You are going to be a very wealthy and honored man, Mr. Gregorio” Capone said while shaking Gino’s hand. “I went ahead and bought a suit for you. Show up tomorrow morning at this address.” Capone handed Gino a piece of paper with an address on it and the words “Joe sent me”.
Excited for his new job he sat down and waited for his family to return from the store so he could tell them the good news. He tried on the suit and it fit perfectly.
Excited for his new job he sat down and waited for his family to return from the store so he could tell them the good news. He tried on the suit and it fit perfectly.
“This is the real McCoy,” he said, amazed with the suit. He took it off and laid it out on a chair. “I’m not good enough to wear this suit,” He thought to himself.
Okay there's the second part. Thanks for reading!
