you like the opera.”
“I had some talent myself,” Anna began.
“Why don’t you sing in church?” Enza asks.
“I’m better than that!” Anna hissed. “I can’t waste my talent in a church choir. So I don’t bother to sing at all.” She was as petulant as a spoiled girl.
Enza rose from the sofa, returning to the kitchen to finish her chores. She promised herself that she would never run a household like this one. Anna’s daughters-in-law took their meals upstairs at different times, and their respect for their mother-in-law was nonexistent.
Enza thought longingly of her home and how close she had been to her brothers and sisters. They had shared everything, meals, chores, and conversation. Even the mountain itself, with its majestic cliffs, rolling green fields, and well-worn trails, seemed to belong to them. The Ravanellis were truly a family; they didn’t simply share an address like the Buffas.
Enza’s eyes filled with tears whenever she thought of Schilpario. Her talks with her mother would go long into the night, and it surprised her to realize that Anna’s family never sought her out for company or conversation. Anna Buffa doesn’t know what she is missing, Enza thought. Or maybe she did. Perhaps that’s why she drank whiskey and played opera music so loudly. Anna Buffa wanted to forget.
Carla cleared the dishes from the garden table. She had served a feast of rigatoni in pork sauce, hunks of fresh buttered bread, a salad of fresh greens, and glasses of Remo’s homemade red wine under the old tree to Ciro and Luigi, who put in long ten-hour days without a break.
Remo roasted chestnuts on the grill. As they popped in the heat, bursting their glassy shells, he looked over at Ciro and Luigi, telling stories and making each other laugh. Ciro had seemed so much happier since Luigi arrived, as though his old friend breathed new life into him. Remo could see that Ciro hungered for the kind of friendship Luigi provided, one based upon shared memories and goals. Remo didn’t want to lose Ciro in the shop, and he figured the best way to keep his apprentice was to hire his friend.
“You know, Ciro, when you were looking at the leather samples, it got me to thinking.” Remo sat down. “We don’t necessarily need to go into women’s shoes just yet. It’s a good idea, but I see it further down the line,”
“I understand,” Ciro said, but there was no mistaking the quick flash of disappointment across his face.
“But we do need to expand our business, especially if I have to pay another salary.” Remo looked at Luigi.
Ciro beamed. “I’m listening,” he said.
“We need to take the Zanetti Shoe Shop to the job sites. Imagine if we had a cart near the Hell’s Gate bridge operation. You could make repairs on-site as well as take orders for new boots. With another pair of hands, we could get a real assembly line going here, delivering shipments of new goods right back to the job site.”
“We’d get the Greeks from Astoria, the Russians from Gravesend, the Irish from Brooklyn,” Ciro began. “They would all wear Zanetti boots. And then we’d move the cart around the city to the construction sites for more new customers. It’s a great idea.”
“Luigi can be in the shop with me while he trains, and you can be out in the field expanding the business. Eventually, you two can take over,” Remo continued. “The master steps aside, and the journeymen run the shop.”
“This is a great opportunity,” Luigi said. “What do you think, Ciro?”
“I like it,” Ciro said.
“What are you boys cooking up out here?” Carla asked.
“We’re about to put the Zanetti Shoe Shop on the move,” Ciro explained.
“Was anyone going to check with me?”
“Say hello to the new apprentice,” Ciro said. “You might want to ask the bank for an extra green bag, because this man is going to help you fill it.”
Carla beamed at the thought.
Enza finished the last of the dinner dishes, drying them carefully and placing them on the shelf. She went from room to room, collecting the soup bowls and breadbaskets set outside their doors by Anna’s daughters-in-law. When Enza returned from the night shift at dawn, the sink would be full of empty baby bottles, dirty plates, and glasses. After a long shift in the factory, Enza would have to boil the baby bottles, wash the dishes, and clean the kitchen all over again.
Enza packed a hard roll, a hunk of cheese, and an apple in