Box of Crackers - 13. Chapter 13

Jimmy and I discussed what happened that night, “Pete, I think we should go home. I don’t like the way you and the kids are being treated. I was very disappointed with your mom and dad.”

“I was thinking the same thing. I’ll tell Evie and hope she understands.”

At breakfast that morning, “Evie, Jimmy and I discussed what happened yesterday. We think it’s best if we plan on leaving tomorrow morning. I just want you to know, you had nothing to do with this decision. We’ll plan on coming back, but just to see you and your family.”

“Pete, I’m so sorry, had I known they would act like that, I would’ve never invited them.”

“Uncle Pete, Bobby said you would be leaving tomorrow. Can I come with you?”

“Alex, we’d love to have you come with us but you’ll need your dad’s permission. You know how he feels about me so I doubt he’ll let you go.”

“You better be prepared for a guest. Paul doesn’t care what happens to him. They fight all of the time.”

Sure enough Alex came over in the evening with a suitcase, his laptop and a duffle bag. I looked at Jimmy, he just smiled. Evie had that ‘I told you so look’.

“Are you going somewhere Alex?” He had a big smile on his face and handed me a piece of paper. Paul had relinquished all rights and essentially said he didn’t care what happened to him as long as he didn’t come back. I read that paper several times and still couldn’t believe that Paul would do that. I looked at Alex, he had a smile but there were tears in his eyes. He was now one of my boys.

“Alex, take the clothes you’ll need, tomorrow, after breakfast we’ll leave. Bobby, show Alex where he can stow his bags.”

When you tell Bobby to do something Butch is right there to help. It’s the same when we tell Butch to do something, there’s Bobby helping.

I looked at Jimmy and he had a smile on his face. Jimmy comes from a big family, so for him, the more the merrier. Evie was smiling, but her eyes were sad. “Evie, we’ll be back and we want you and your family to visit us. I’ll be looking for a bigger place now that my family is growing.”

“Pete, I’m really ashamed of Paul, Mom and Dad. If I could get Don to change jobs, we’d move from here as well.”

Looking into Evie’s face I could see the hurt. I took her in my arms and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Evie, I know this isn’t your fault. We’d stay longer, but we need a break from here to get over this. I promise to stay in contact and at the first chance we have, we’ll be back. Hopefully by then, we’ll have a bigger place and you can come and visit.”

That night after dinner, Jimmy and I discussed how we were going to fit Alex into our home. “I’ll get Fred on this so we can adopt Alex. I guess for the time being, I can get a cot for him to sleep in the office. We're definitely going to need a bigger place.” “

Didn’t you say that they were going to convert the apartments to condos?”

“Yes, but I don’t know when. It might be a better idea to look for a house or something with the capability to expand. I’d like a bigger kitchen so we can eat in there and use the dining room for special meals. When I get home, I’ll contact some realtors and see what they have.”

“We are so close to everything now, your office, my work and the kids school. If anything, we should stay in the same area. I’ll ask Dad and see if he knows of any place.”

Early the next morning, with the car packed, saying goodbye to Evie, Don and Donnie, we headed home. The boys slept the first few hours and when they woke they wanted to know when we were going to stop to eat. Now after making the trip to Evie's, going home seemed faster, or maybe I just wanted to put some space between me and my family. We stopped at a fast food restaurant and got food to go. I really didn’t care if the kids got the car dirty, I could always have that cleaned. Between Jimmy and I, we drove straight home, no overnight stopping. Jimmy would sleep while I drove and I’d sleep while he drove.

Driving into my parking spot, I felt a sense of relief. We were home and it felt good to be home. After several trips, we got all the luggage upstairs. “Alex, for tonight I’ll make a bed for you on the couch. Tomorrow, I’ll get a comfortable cot for you and set it up in my office.”

Bobby offered his bed and said he would bunk with Butch. “ Okay, I'll let you can sort that out. I’m going to bed.”

The next morning I called Fred and made a luncheon appointment with him. When we met I didn’t have to tell him much, just showed him Paul’s letter.

“This is your brother?”

“Yes”

“And this is his son?”

“Yes”

“Is your whole family screwed up?”

“Yes”

“I’d like to talk with Alex.”

“Dinner at six, my place.”

I wasn’t feeling good, I told Mrs. Marlow that I was going home and if anything came up that needed my attention to call me.

Walking home, I let a few tears roll down my cheeks and hope no one saw me. The experience with my parents and Paul resurfaced and the hurt I had when they first turned on me.

Walking into the apartment, Alex saw me and came and hugged me. “I’m sorry Uncle Pete. I know it hurts because I have been hurting for a while.”

I looked into Alex’s eyes, I could see the pain there that he tried to keep out. I just grabbed him and pulled him into my arms. “Alex, you're home now.”

He started to cry, Bobby and Butch heard him and came to see what was wrong. They saw Alex crying in my arms, tears in my eyes and soon they had tears in their eyes as well.

“Look guys were men, we don’t cry.”

Bobby looked at me, “Maybe we don't cry, but we still hurt.”

“Have you guys had lunch?”

“No, can we go to Luigi’s?”

“Yes, let’s wash our faces, dry our tears and we can see what Jimmy can fix for us.”

Jimmy was surprised to see me. He looked at me as if to be asking what happened. “I was still a little tired from all that driving. After having lunch with Fred, I decided to come home. Three boys said there was no food in the apartment and we had to come to Luigi’s, as they were starving.”

The boys looked at me and seeing me smiling, “Yes, Uncle Jimmy, Bobby and Butch said you should have fixed lunch for us and left it in the refrigerator. We looked and there was nothing there.”

I thought that this was going to be ok. Alex will fit right in, and I knew his dad lost out again. What a fool that man is. Jimmy just went and got us something to drink, “Pete, did you eat lunch with Fred?”

“Yes, Babe, just bring some food for these guys and a little extra on the salad and buns.”

I saw Luigi leave the kitchen and as soon as he saw me he headed to our table. “Pete, Jimmy said you expand your family.”

“Yes, Luigi, this is my nephew Alex. He’ll be staying with us. Which means we’ ll be looking for a bigger apartment or house.”

“Jimmy asked me if I knew of anyplace close by that would be suitable. There’s a house close to mine, but I think that would be a little out of the way for the kids to walk to school ,and you would have to drive to work. There is one other option, but it would require some investment. As you know I own this building. There are two floors above me that are empty. If you were willing to invest, you could build your apartment there. Jimmy will inherit the restaurant anyway, so it’ll be convenient for him and you.” I saw Jimmy standing in back of his dad shaking his head yes.

“Luigi, if Jimmy agrees then I’ll take you up on your offer.”