“Lilly? With one l or two?”
He smiled. “Three. You need all the l’s you can get.”
After that, she always thought of herself as Lilly.
Tony didn’t find a job at Cross County, but he did get a job at a gas station at the intersection of Central and Tuckahoe across from where Lilly babysat.
He usually called “Hi, Lilly,” when she was going to babysit. If no cars were around when she left the apartment, she would sit in the office and talk to him before going home.
Lilly didn’t have school smarts and was pegged as a troublemaker early. After the accident, she had become very quiet in school. She felt that whenever the nuns looked at her they were thinking, “Why not her instead of dear young Bridget or sweet Deidre or smart Edward?” Lilly’s best friend, Eileen, had transferred to public school leaving her even more alone, she pled to her mother to let her transfer, but was denied.
Tony was riding high. His job was more then pumping gas. The mechanic let him change oil and filters. He learned quickly, and the mechanic liked to talk. He had been to GM school when he worked at an Oldsmobile dealership. Tony loved to watch him and ask questions. He never said why he left the dealership, but Tony figured he was caught stealing. He was always slipping something in his coveralls, often from the cars he was fixing. The mechanic left more for Tony to do when he went home at five. The gas station owner, who also owned a pizza parlor and a bar in the same block of stores, watched Tony develop.
Tony came to work to find an empty car in front of the pumps. The station owner came out and had Tony push it to the edge of the station.
He said, “Some lunatic left it here. This old guy comes in, gets gas, then can’t get it started. So he says that’s it, gets out, and catches a bus. His family will probably come in for it tonight. Make sure they pay $5 rent for leaving it.”
The car was a Chevy Impala with a 283 engine. It had four doors. It was the type of family car that didn’t get hassled by the cops.
Tony waited for his boss and the mechanic to leave and then called his brother.
“Frank, come over the hill to the station. You got to watch the pumps awhile.”
While Tony waited for Frank, he hooked the car to the tow truck. Frank covered the station while Tony towed the car to Cross County shopping center and left it in one of the large parking lots. He locked it and drove back to the station.
Frank asked, “What’s going on Tony?”
Tony said, “Don’t ask and don’t tell nobody. Got it?”
Tony left a five under the register drawer.
The next evening Tony had his best friend, Mike McGrath, cover the station while he towed it back to the station. Tony worked on the car. The station closed at ten, but he worked until midnight, and then towed it back to a different parking lot. He had cleared corrosion from the battery cables, and then got to the heart of the problem, changing the oil and filter and adjusting the timing. He had taken the registration from the glove box and practiced forging the name signed there. His attempts were clumsy, and he decided forgery was not his field.
After her babysitting job, Lilly came over to talk. Even though cars came in and stopped at the pumps, he told her to wait. Lilly had bragged about how much trouble she was in school.
Tony told her of the car as wittily as possible and carefully watched her face. She was shocked, and she kept her eyes on the floor to hide her confusion.
“I thought your angelic face was just a cover. You’re not a hell raiser. You’re the one who gets caught.”
Lilly looked up, challenged. She took a pen and paper from her notebook. She studied the signature and practiced the individual letters. He walked around the desk to look over her shoulder.
She shoved an elbow in his gut and said, “I need elbow room, and I’ll let you know when I’m ready.”
She started connecting the letters then signed the signature three times. She pushed the paper across the desk to him.
“Here I’ve been doing this for years with all the tests my mother was supposed to sign. It’s a cinch. Want me to sign it now?”
“No, but this is good. I’ll bring it to you. If I need it, maybe I’ll bring you a report card sometime.”
“Sure. Are you flunking?” Lilly asked more assured.
“Hell, no. I’m going for scholarships.” He winked at her.
“I wish you wouldn’t curse in front of me.” Lilly blushed, not because he said hell, but because he had called her angel face and winked at her.
Tony said in a brotherly tone, “Sure, kid.”
Lilly backed up to the door, “I’ve got to get home to help. Bye.”
Two days later, Tony brought the registration to the O’Dwyer’s. Lilly answered the door. She led him into a foyer that had floor-to-ceiling carved oak paneling.
Mrs. O’Dwyer came out of the kitchen calling, “Ann, Colleen, Lillian…” She stopped and looked suspiciously at the Italian boy.
“Mother, this is Tony della Robbia. He works near my babysitting job.”
Mrs. O’Dwyer wasn’t satisfied.
“Mom, we’re friends. C’mon Tony.”
“Lillian, when your friend leaves, come to the kitchen.”
Ann and Colleen, who were responding to their mother’s call, stopped on the stairs and looked at Tony.
Lilly led Tony to a small room with a hardwood desk and a leather chair. The room was lined on three sides by bookcases. Lilly sat on a corner of the desk and indicated that Tony should take the chair. She took a pen and started practicing the signature again.
“You’ll have to sign the back where it indicates sale. This is beautiful. I’m gonna have a house like this.” Tony spoke quickly. The whole thing was starting to unnerve him. “I thought about it. I’m gonna get scholarships. Why doesn’t your mother like me?”
“She would if your name was Sean Maguire. Then she’d love you. She has a thing against Italians. She thinks they’re all Mafia.”
“Yeah? I’m feeling real criminal lately,” Tony said, looking at all the medical books on the shelf. “Does your mother work?”
“No, just here. Not like Mrs. Simmonds, my babysitting lady. She has two kids to raise alone and works full time. Boy, she’s something. I’m reading this book, there, The Feminine Mystique. We talk about it.”
“Hey, your mother’s got eight kids and this mansion to take care of. That’s tough.”
Lilly said, “But she doesn’t have to work, and every year my uncle from New Jersey gives her a cleaning lady two days a week as a Christmas present. Does your mother work?”
“Mainly leaning on me,” Tony answered. “And she does sewing, makes wedding gowns.”
Lilly concentrated and signed the registration. Then she said, “You don’t get along with your mother?”
“She’s not my mother. She’s my Aunt. My parents divorced when Frank and I were babies.”
“You’re father’s sister is your mother now?” Lilly was intrigued.
“No, she’s my mother’s sister. It’s called a marriage of convenience,” Tony said patiently.
Lilly repeated, “A marriage of convenience. I heard that in a movie once. I watch lots of old movies.”
Tony smiled at her.
Her mother walked in. “What are you doing in your father’s study?”
“Brian, Francine, and Kelly are in the living room,” Lilly said guiltily, jamming the registration into her sweater pocket.
“I gotta go now anyway,” Tony volunteered. They walked to the front door and out to the porch.
“Lil…” Tony started to speak.
“Shh … ” She motioned and walked around the porch to peek around the corner. “OK. You can’t see if someone’s on the other side of the porch.” She handed the registration to Tony.
“Why can’t you go to the study?”
“It’s a shrine. I’d like to have my piano moved there from my room on the third floor ’cause it used to be there and it sounded so good with the paneli
ng. Ann is always complaining about my playing.”
“You share a room?” Tony asked incredulously.
“Everyone shares, except Colleen and Brian and, of course, my mother. Don’t you share with your brother?”
“Yeah. Frankie’s ok though. You should meet him.”
Mrs. O’Dwyer came out. “I thought you had to be home Mr. della Robbia.”
“Yeah. See ya, Lilly,” Tony said, and then added, “Good bye, Mrs. O’Dwyer.”
Mrs. O’Dwyer took Lilly by the arm back to her father’s study to lecture her about what happens to nice girls who associate with hoods. Lilly thought about Tony. “Lillian, are you listening?”
“Yes, Mom. But he’s not a hood. He’s going to be a lawyer.”
“So he can keep his relatives out of jail?” Mrs. O’Dwyer wouldn’t yield.
“No, Mom. He wants to get scholarships for college. Like Dad,” Lilly said adamantly defending Tony.
Mrs. O’Dwyer repeated, “Scholarships? ‘Yeah, See ya. Gotta go.’ With his prowess with the English language, he’ll never get a scholarship. Now set the table. Then help Brian, Kelly, and Francine wash for dinner.”
Lilly followed her mother to the kitchen where Ann was making a salad and Colleen was already setting the table. Lilly turned and went back to the living room and shut off the TV.
“C’mon, monsters. Time for dinner.” She led them to the bathroom and mopped their faces. Brian’s nose started to bleed.
“Oh, geez,” she muttered. She held his nostrils, but it wouldn’t stop.
“Mom,” Lilly called. The bleeding became steadier. “MOM!”
Mrs. O’Dwyer came to the door.
“It’s Brian. His nose is bleeding again. Hard.”
“Brian did you hurt yourself?” Bridget asked gently.
“No, Mommy.”
The blood stopped a few minutes later. Dinner was cold, but the O’Dwyer’s ate enthusiastically.
Colleen asked Brian, “Where’d you get that black and blue?”
“I don’t know,” said Brian, sinking peas into his mashed potatoes.
Mrs. O’Dwyer got up from her chair at the head of the table and came to examine his arm.
Lilly, who was sitting beside Brian, whispered, “Mom, that’s where you held his arm.”
Mrs. O’Dwyer looked into Brian’s pale face, and an inner alarm went off. She placed her hand on his arm and saw that it fit the black and blue. A wave of fear went through the room, and everyone stopped eating. The older children all knew Brian was sick.
Every day after that was a furor of doctor’s appointments and consultations.
Lilly raced home from babysitting. The house had a sad, eerie quality. The twins and Brian were on the living room rug, watching TV. She went in to kiss them, as had become a new habit, and then went to the kitchen. Her mother was sitting at the kitchen table with her head in her hands. Colleen and Ann were crying. Patrick and Daniel were standing against the cupboards. Lilly thought they should be at work. The feeling of wrong was pervasive. Lilly could feel the hair standing up on her arms and shuddered.
Patrick walked over to her. “He has leukemia. A real bad type,” he whispered.
“What should we do?” Lilly asked, not comprehending.
Patrick looked puzzled, then said, “Sing to him, Lil. He likes to go up to your room to hear you play and sing.”
************
Tony had troubles of his own. Two days after he went to Lilly’s, a woman drove a Cadillac into the station. She sat in the car and watched Tony pump gas. She followed Tony to the garage area where he was tuning up a car. Tony watched the woman saunter over to him. She looked him up and down and let her eyes rest on the crotch of his coveralls.
Finally she spoke. “I’m Edith Golden. I’ve come for my father’s car.”
Tony was already sweating from the hairy eyeball. Now, she had his complete attention. “Your father’s car?” he repeated.
Edith said, “I was away for two weeks. I’m home now.”
Tony replied, “I don’t follow you.”
“You seem like a bright boy.” She sounded mockingly disappointed. She added, “My father got mad at his car and left it here. Where is it?”
Tony walked around the car pretending to look for a tool, “Oh, the Chevy. Someone picked it up on a Friday night, two weeks ago.”
“Who?”
“Don’t know. It was here Friday, but Saturday morning it was gone.”
Edith stepped back and scrutinized him. “Who opened the station Saturday?”
“I did.” Tony replied.
“I thought so. Should I talk to the guy that owns this place, or are you going to find the car?”
Tony looked up at her from the car he was repairing. Then he stood up straight.
“My, you’re tall. How tall?”
“About six one,” Tony croaked.
“And how old?”
“Sixteen,” he lied.
“Such nice muscles.” She moved her hand along his arm then his chest, moving slowly down his abdomen.”
Tony moved back tripping over a toolbox.
She stood over him. “Maybe we can work something out. When do you close?”
“Ten o’clock,” he said
“That’s twenty minutes. I’ll wait.”
Tony was not sure about this. “Ma’am, I have to get home.”
She said, “Where’s my father’s car?”
Tony said, “Someone picked it up.”
“Well I guess I call the police,” she hissed.
“Wait! I mean … ,” Tony said
“I thought you’d see it my way.”
Edith went into the station’s office and sat at the desk. Tony went through the closing process with infinite care.
Finally he told her, “I really have to be home. My father will look for me.”
She looked skeptical. “Do you work tomorrow night?”
“Yeah.”
“Be free after work.”
Tony watched her walk away.
The next morning Tony told Frankie he had to cut school. He caught a bus to Cross County and picked up the car.
He drove up and down the hilly streets to the address on the registration. It was a three-family set high on a ridge over the street, surrounded closely by other multifamily houses. The Esiasons had the bottom apartment.
An old man answered the door. “Yes?”
Tony asked him, “Mr. Esiason?”
The old man replied, “Yes.”
“You left your car at a gas station at Central Avenue and Tuckahoe Road?”
“So?” Mr. Esiason kept the doorway blocked with his body.
“I brought it back,” Tony said.
“Why? It’s a lemon, no good. I don’t want it.”
“I changed the oil and the spark plugs and cleaned the carburetor. And I timed it and…”
“Why?” Mr. Esiason interrupted.
“It’s a beautiful car. Could we talk?”
Mr. Esiason looked him over and hesitated before opening the door. Tony was surprised at the inside of the apartment. The living room was well furnished with beautiful, expensive furniture. A double picture window overlooked the Hudson River and in the distance the Palisades.
“Wow, I didn’t know you could see the river from here.” Tony crossed the room, looking at the view.
“It’s only across the street beyond a little, but down the hill. Why’d you fix the car?”
“Well, Sir…” Tony threw that in for good measure. “I heard how you left the car there … ”
Mr. Esiason interrupted again, “I hate that car. I only got it because my late wife needed it to get her back and forth to doctors and the hospital.”
“You live alone? Are you retired?” Tony asked.
“Yes.” Mr. Esiason sat on an easy chair and indicated for Tony to also sit.
“I’m a jeweler. I had my own store for thirty-four years.”
He spoke about his life,
and his daughter, who was trying to run his life. Tony admired a piece of sculpture on a bachelor’s cabinet.
“You should have seen this place ten years ago, bright and clean.”
“It’s really nice.”
“It needs to be painted I can’t do it anymore. But you came about the car. What’s it worth?”
“What’s it worth to have your apartment painted?” Tony asked hopefully.
The old man smiled and nodded, “Living room, dining room, kitchen, and two bedrooms?”
“Yeah.”
“And all the closets?”
“Yeah, OK,” Tony answered.
“That’s a deal. When will you paint?”
“I don’t work Sundays or Saturday nights. Can I come then?”
“It will take months,” Mr. Esiason said.
“We’ll leave the car here, but I’ll keep the registration until I’m finished.”
“All right but it’s got to be a neat job. No messes,” Mr. Esaison said.
Tony was rising to leave when Edith Golden walked into the apartment.
“Father. You!” She said loudly.
“I have to go. You get the paint, and I’ll start a week from Saturday.”
“What’s going on?” Edith demanded.
“What are you, the six o’clock news?” Mr. Esiason said. “The young man and I have a deal.”
Tony walked to the door, then called over his shoulder, “A deal to end all deals.”
Tony was waiting for Tito when he came home from work. Tony told him most of the story of the car. He excluded minor details such as Edith Golden, the forged registration, and his original plan to steal it.
Tito laughed. “Tony, you aren’t even old enough to drive.”
“I will be by then. I have enough money to register it, and almost enough to insure it.”
“We’ll see. First you got to paint the apartment.”
A few weeks passed. Tony was sitting at the desk in the station watching the rain. The puddles were moving rainbows over the oil spills on the pavement. He saw Lilly coming. He hadn’t seen her since she had signed the registration. He thought he had frightened her, but she had a determined march to her step.
“Tony, I did you a favor. Now you have to do one for me,” Lilly said quickly.
A Yonkers Kinda Girl Page 3
