St. Valentine Part 2

 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.

“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!

St. Valentine

So I wrote this story in Middle School I think.  I remember it distinctly because it's really long.  I'm only going to post the first part of it right now. I haven't actually finished it the way I want it.  I procrastinated hugely when I was writing it for school, so I don't have it all fleshed out in the later bits. I need to finish it.  It will be done! but for now enjoy St. Valentine Part One....

            Sleeping is the thing Gino mostly did on the train ride to Chicago.  That and dream.  Dream about what Chicago was going to be like.  He dreamed of large mansions and huge homes.  He dreamed that there would be no limit as to what his family and he could or couldn’t do and that everything was going to be bright and joyful. Let’s say he was greatly disappointed.   Stepping off the train into the crisp and cooled February air he looked up to see the dark gloomy sky.  He grabbed a newspaper up from off the ground. He looked at the headlines: “Economists Predict Depression”  “Al Capone Suspected of Illegal Alcohol Trafficking”.  He was completely oblivious as to what was happening as he read and what would happen later.  He realized, while reading, that he and his family had no place to live.  Almost walking off without his kids and wife, he immediately whipped around and sprinted to the location of his family. 

“Where did you go?” his wife, Lillian, asked him, feeling relieved.

“Just looking at the paper.  There’s nothing to worry about,” Gino replied.

“Where do we go from here?”

“We try and find a home.  It’s only about 7 o’clock.  Let’s look until 10.”

“Gino, what if we can’t find a home?”

“I don’t know.  We’ll just have to get by for the night.”

After that Gino, Lillian, and the twins, Ricky and Maria, looked around the city of Chicago attempting to discover a place which they could call home.  “No” was the answer they usually received after looking for a place at every hotel, apartment building, and shelter.  After looking for a few hours they, being on the brink of giving up, came across an old abandoned office building.  It had a nice large office big enough for sleeping places for all four of the Gregorio family.

“Looks good.”  Gino spoke as if a large burden was being lifted.  He immediately dropped his luggage and further explored the room.  After Gino and his wife both agreed to stay there they pulled out their blankets and pillows and went to bed.

At about 7 AM, Gino woke up to the sound of his stomach.  Thinking of when he had eaten last, he came to the conclusion that he hadn’t eaten anything in 18 hours.  He reached for his bag and sleepily fumbled around for the pocket which held his food.  He finally found it when he discovered that it had already been opened and the contents were taken out.  Dazedly he rubbed his eyes and turned towards his bag to see little Ricky chewing with his mouth wide open and crumbs all down the front of his shirt.  He looked over to Lillian’s bag and saw Maria doing the same as her brother.  A fire started to burn inside him at that exact moment.  Gino, for the first time in his children’s lives, was angry at them.  About to get up and yell at them, he swallowed his anger and blamed it on childhood ignorance and cluelessness.  He scavenged about on the floor of the office building for food or anything remotely edible. 

After looking in the last room on that floor and since the stairs didn’t look very trustworthy he stopped looking.  He sat down on the floor and he cried.  He cried about the lack of food.  He cried about the fact that his family must resort to living in an abandoned office building.  He cried about his anger toward his children.  But most of all he cried about his lack of a job or any type of income.

Gino got up off the floor and went back into the sleeping room.  He looked in his bag again and found a piece of bread and an apple.  Surprised, he looked over at Ricky and Maria’s blankets and saw them bundled up right next to each other.  He reached into his bag and found train ticket stubs, some extra clothes, and a few diapers for Ricky and Maria.  At the bottom he saw something shine and sparkle.

“What is that?”  Gino asked himself, partially expecting an answer.  Slowly he extended his hand and grabbed the shiny unknown thing at the bottom of his bag.  Picking it up and examining it he discovered it was a policeman’s badge belonging to a “G. Gregorio”.

“I’m a cop?” he asked, not realizing at first how good that was.  He ran over to Lillian’s place as giddy as a school girl.

“Lili!  Lili!” he yelled as he shook her awake.  “Lili!  Lili!”

Groggy and still half asleep she mumbled, “What is it?”

“I’m a cop.  I’m a cop.”

“Yes, you are.  You have been for the past two years.”

“But, honey, we just moved here yesterday.”

“No, we didn’t.  How could we have?  I’m eight and a half months pregnant.”

“What?  Do the kids know?”

“Kids?  It’s not twins.  It’s just one baby being born.”

“I’m talking about Ricky and Maria.”

“Who?”

“Ricky and Maria, our children.”

“We can’t name one kid two things.”

Gino looked over at where the kids were sleeping and saw that they were not there.  Even after looking harder, there were absolutely no remnants of either child.

            Confused, he stumbled out of the building into the streets. Still dazed he looked around and everyone knew his name and his standing in society.  He turned around in front of the building he just left and on that location stood a mannerly estate with the letters “GG” on the gate.  It was bright and sunny and the grass was green, unlike the rest of the city which was dark and foggy.  He looked around and saw that a group of people had stopped and had started to stare at him.

            “What are you staring at!?!”  Gino screamed at them in rage.  His shouting and anger had gathered quite a group including policemen and a short man in a very expensive looking suit surrounded by very large men in matching suits.  Gino having started to stare at the man looked away for a moment and when he looked back the man was gone.

            “Calm down, Gregorio.  You sound like you have gone crazy,” the officers said.

            “Why? I’m not doing anything wrong.  I’m just a law abiding resident,” Gino replied somewhat paranoid.

            “Be quiet, turn around and put your hands behind your back,” the officer commanded.

            “But why officer?  On what grounds are you giving me this order?”  Gino questioned of him almost screaming.

            “Just do as I say and no one will get hurt.”

            “Are you showing fear? Because it’s in your eyes,” as he said that he swung and a shot rang out.

AND there it is.  A nice and (hopefully) suspenseful ending to part one of my story.  If you are reading this and feel like it should go a certain way leave me a comment. I will see if anything interesting comes out of this. Especially after I finish it.  

Good bye everyone,

Tuna