Sally Boy Read Online Free PDF Page A

your age
to play with, the schools will teach you English, and you’ll have
many opportunities. Many more than you would have here with us.
Trust your Mama and Papa? You’ll see.”
    Salvatore’s lower lip quivered and he
labored to speak. “You don’t love me anymore? What did I do? I’m
sorry, Mama! I’ll be good! I promise.”
    Mama gasped loudly. “Oh no, my love! Of
course, we love you, with all of our hearts. We’ll always love you.
You’ve done nothing wrong.”
    “Then why are you sending me away? Why do
you want me to go?”
    One tear, then another, gently fell from
Mama’s eyes and ran down her cheeks. “We don’t want you to go. We
never want you to leave us. We want you to stay here and live with
us forever.”
    “Then why do I have to go?”
    “It’s that father of yours!” Mama said
disgustedly. “He’s making us send you to America to live with
him.”
    “Please, don’t make me go. I want to stay
here with you and Papa,” the boy pleaded as he wiped his tears.
    “Please understand, my prince. We have no
choice.” Mama lovingly stroked his hair.
    With the agility of a cat, the boy leaped
out of the chair and raced out of the room screaming, “You can’t
make me go!”
    Collapsing into a chair next to her husband,
Mama removed a handkerchief from under her sleeve. After wiping her
tears, Mama gently blew her nose. “How can he go to America, Papa?
He’s only nine-years-old. He doesn’t even speak English. His
father, that no good bum, he’s with the Black Hand. All he cares
about is chasing women and gambling. He doesn’t care about the boy.
Now, after all this time, he wants to be a father. He’s only doing
this to spite us.”
    “I knew the day that snake slithered into
our lives to pick up our precious Marie for their first date that
he was no good. He didn’t bring her any flowers or candy. He just
wanted to go. No talking, no sitting, nothing. I should have ended
it then! The night she came home and told us that they wanted to
get married, I should have sent her away to live with my brother in
Piazza. That rotten bum didn’t even have enough respect to come to
me and ask for my permission to marry my only daughter. I let Marie
marry him against my better judgment because I wanted her to be
happy. And this is what I get for trying to be an understanding
father.”
    “We could never have prevented Marie from
marrying him.” Mama gazed adoringly into her husband’s eyes. “She
was deeply in love and nothing was going to keep her from being
with him. I remember her wedding day like it was yesterday, Papa.
Marie was so beautiful. She couldn’t have stopped smiling even if
she wanted to. Don’t blame yourself, Papa. If Marie had never
married, we wouldn’t have Salvatore.”
    “I know, Mama. But after Marie died, I
didn’t think I could go on. I didn’t want to live. No father should
outlive his only child. But having Salvatore here was...was like a
part of Marie lived on in him. And now that bastard wants to take
him, too.” Bursting into tears, Cogassi placed his hands over his
face.
    “Please don’t cry, Papa.” Rising to her
feet, Mama gently pulled her husband’s hands away from his face.
“We must try to think of some way to keep Salvatore here.”
    “We have done all we can, Mama. The rest is
in God’s hands. If we do not send Salvatore to America, Scalise
said he will come here himself and get him. You read the letter. He
said if he has to come here he will make us pay dearly for his
inconvenience. I believe him!”
    “Why did you take the letter, Papa? You
should have refused it. Sent it back to wherever it came from.”
    “That sneaky bastard sent it certified mail,
in an envelope from a lawyer’s office in New York. If I had thought
it was from him, I never would have signed for it.”
    “Maybe we can just ignore the letter, Papa.
Pretend we never got it. What could he do to us that would be worse
than taking our only grandson, our little