Giuseppe’s Story

It had been four days since Mama had locked him away. His stomach was gowling madly and he could swear there was a plate of ravioli in front of him. When he reached for it, though, it vanished into thin air. He could swear sometimes that his Mama was trying to kill him. That may or may not be so, but at this point, he knew not which it was.

Suddenly, the doorknob rattled, and a head of wavy black tresses poked out from behind it. Dante, his eldest brother, came into the room and put a plate in front of him. On it was a pile of spaghetti – close enough to the ravioli he had falsely seen moments prior. Both dishes were native to their country, and both were delicious.

Dante might have been the oldest, but be was, by far, the most disconnected from their Mama. Celestina Castro had ways of driving people away from her, and hurting Giuseppe was enough to do just that, when it came to Dante. The young man sidled up to his brother and embraced him, whispering “It’ll be fine, Gus. We can run away, start a new life.” Giuseppe simply looked at his brother and said “What about Mama? Wouldn't that hurt her feelings?”

Dante thought for a moment, and then sighed. “Gus, you were just locked up and starved for four days... And you know as well as I, that this isn't the first time she’s done that. Ever since before Allegra and Gisella were born, she’s done it. She favors those girls over you, I can tell she does. You may think it’s some kind of PMS thing or whatever, but it’s not. When you were born, she did the same thing to Luca. When he was born, it happened to Giovanni, and when Gio was born, it happened to me. I just hope that our sisters don’t suffer the same fate if Mama has another child.”

As if on cue, Allegra came into the room, her beautiful mocha locks in a ponytail. She turned to look at her brothers and asked “Did I hear my name?” Dante looked at her and smirked. “We were talking about you, Allie, calm down.”

((WIP))