The Benevolence of New Ideas by Carmela Cattuti

Author:Carmela Cattuti [Cattuti, Carmela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Three Towers Press
Published: 2021-10-30T14:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6: New Year’s Eve, 1969, Emerging

The world was on the threshold of a new decade, and Angela prepared for New Year’s dinner. Snow was lightly falling, blanketing the ground, and winter was taking hold. The Vietnam War still raged, but it affected her family less since Robert was home and Frank was still in college. She sensed that this would be a new decade of immense change. When she thought of her unseen friends, they confirmed her suspicions.

She thought about the choices she had made over the years and how she had made them in partnership with her unseen friends. They were never far from her mind, and lately she felt there was less of a delineation between herself and these energies. Angela thought about the night ahead, celebrating the coming year and all that it would bring. Angela looked up at the lion statue on the mantle and smiled. You will be protecting my family, thought Angela, and I am grateful.

Angela and Felicia put the green lentils, pork, tortellini, and thick crust pizza in serving dishes. Frank, Andrea, Marie, and Robert sat at the table. As they were placing the dishes on the white tablecloth, Angela paused and looked at everyone gathered around her and smiled.

“Good wishes for the New Year,” she said. She lifted a bottle of Martini & Rossi Asti Spumante and poured everyone a glass.

“Great—alcohol,” said Andrea.

“Yeah, we’d like to see you drunk,” said Robert.

“No one gets drunk here,” said Angela. “No one makes a brutta figura at the dinner table.”

The family toasted to a happy and fruitful new year. They were a new American family, immigrant and first- and second-generation Americans all together. It was not an easy journey for Angela to create the family she wanted, but she felt it finally happened. Her legacy would live on long after she passed into spirit.

Angela thought that she had Franco to thank for her good fortune. Without him, the family she saw in front of her would not exist, and because of this she missed him. It was challenging for her to keep up with the new generation, and it required a great deal of energy. Some of her friends from the old days had died, and she missed the familiarity of easy conversation.

“Let’s eat,” said Andrea. “I want some pizza.”

Frank and Robert each lit cigarettes.

“Put those out,” said Felicia. “We haven’t started eating yet. How can you eat and smoke?”

“Easy,” said Frank.

“I have made pork sausage with green lentils. In Italy it is considered good luck for the New Year, and the lentils are in the shape of coins—so it brings prosperity. It will melt in your mouth.”

Large round patties of pork sat on top of green lentils.

“What about the pizza?” asked Andrea.

“The pizza is just my regular pizza,” said Angela.

“It’s yummy,” said Marie.

Both boys snuffed out their cigarettes and filled their plates.

“I got a card from Uncle Joe today from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, wishing us a Happy New Year,” said Angela. “He will be back soon and will visit us next weekend.

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