Uncle Al Capone by Deirdre Marie Capone

Author:Deirdre Marie Capone [Capone, Deirdre Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Crime
ISBN: 9780982845103
Google: 6V90JsI4d-gC
Amazon: 0982845103
Goodreads: 9636620
Publisher: CreateSpace
Published: 2013-02-16T16:00:00+00:00

Uncle Al had a soft, soothing singing voice. He never sang formally, but I think he must have been a tenor. He repeated the words of the song to me one line at a time, and asked me to repeat them back to him until I had them memorized. Then he handed me the mandolin, showing me where to place my fingers to strum the simple tune.

From a young age, Uncle Al told me, he loved music, beginning with the Italian operas Grandmacita would play on her Victrola record player. Later, as a young man in Brooklyn, he would tune to the opera broadcast on the radio, often humming along with his favorite arias.

I never wanted to leave that house that night, and they knew it. I think I sensed the discord between my parents. The Prairie Avenue home was a safe haven, a place where I could forget the tension and unease that had become all-too-familiar in my young life.

As she walked me to the large front door, Grandmacita handed me a bag of sesame cookies and rubbed my back where I’d fallen. I munched those cookies all the way home, nestled in my father’s arms.

I looked up at him and whispered, “Daddy, I was really, really scared today. I couldn’t breathe.”

“Yes, I know,” he said. “But Uncle Al took care of you. You’re OK now, aren’t you?” I gripped his hand more tightly.

“Yes, I am,” I answered proudly. “I’m OK.”

Before I ever picked dandelions again, my mother left my father.

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