The Home - 20. Chapter 20

During the first week of the break, I spent time in the garden, with the horses and gathering eggs. I think I missed a clutch, and I noticed the day before the boys were due back, a few peeps in the yard.

Mom and Dad came over on the weekend, and I spent Easter with them at their place. We made our usual Easter visit to our relatives. This seemed to be part of our holiday tradition. Mom had an Easter cake for everyone that we visited; that was a lot of cakes. I asked Mom if she wanted to deliver them in the carriage. I think she was going to say yes, but Dad said it would better in the car. I did drive the Olds.

When we arrived at Uncle Angelo’s, the boys checked out the Olds. I had a bottle of my wine for Uncle, and knowing my cousins, I had two extra bottles. My Uncle Angelo was the oldest of Nonna and Pa’s children. So he was like the head of our family. I looked up to him, and he always treated me well.

One thing happened when we were sitting around his fire pit waiting for the food to be cooked, “Tony, you need to have a girlfriend.” He looked at Mom, and I knew something was up. I certainly was old enough, between school and attending to the house; I hadn’t much time to think seriously about marriage, let alone a girlfriend. I thought my life was full. I had a good job, which I loved doing. I had the house with the gardens, horses, and chickens. There was still work to do there—some of the land needed to be cleared, the old orchard needed to be addressed. According to the records, there was a well-planned orchard by the stream.

When we returned to Mom and Dad’s place, “Tony, your Uncle Angelo mentioned a young lady in Italy who he thinks you may like.”

“Mom, I’m not opposed to getting married, but there is still a lot of work to do at the house.”

“What work? The garden is in shape, the horses are doing well, you have enough chickens to sell eggs.”

“Don’t forget the wine, salami, and sausage that you made. You have done a lot of work. With the boys helping, you don’t have to get involved as much as you would if you didn’t have help.”

“Dad, who’s side are you on?”

Mom and Dad laughed. But I knew them well, they would have a house guest or someone will be planning a trip to Italy.

Laying in bed that night, I thought maybe it wouldn’t be so bad having a girlfriend, and I was sure I wasn’t ready for marriage.

The boys returned from their camping trip. I could hear them before I saw them. Laughing, they barged into the kitchen with a gift. They had caught a pheasant. “Tony, what do you think? Should we raise these or eat this one?”

“You can’t raise them. Where would you put it? You can’t put it with the chickens. It would fly away.”

“We could build a cage for it.”

“Yea, we could build it big enough so it can walk around. All we will need is some posts and chicken wire.”

I just looked at them. They were smiling, “Okay, you do all of the work. How was your week?”

“It was great. That camping equipment worked out great. Sleeping under the stars, fresh air, the smell of the woods, unbelievable.”

“We’ll have to do that more often. Next time you need to come with us.”

“Yea, sure, breakfast in 20 minutes.”

While cleaning up the breakfast dishes, “You need to check the chickens. I think we have some more peeps. I must have missed some eggs.”

“We’ll have to enlarge that pen again.”

“Maybe we can build the cage for Suzi here.”

“Suzi?”

“Yep, we name her Suzi.”

“How do you know it’s a female and not a male?”

“Notice the color of her feathers. If it were a male, the feathers would be a bright color. This is a female, and she probably will be laying her eggs soon.”

“And you know this how?”

“We ate her partner.”

I didn’t say anymore. The boys left to check out the garden and the barn. For the rest of Spring Break, the boys enlarged the chicken pens and added a pen for Suzi. Sunday, when Mom and Dad came over, the boys showed Dad what they had done.

When they came back, Dad was laughing. “So you are going to raise pheasants?”

“I hadn’t planned on it, but farm boys decided to expand the bird business.”

“What’s next, rabbits?”

When Dad said that, I looked at the boys, unbelievable they were smiling. I bet that Dad and the boys already discussed that. “What’s next, cows?” That is when I realized I should have kept my mouth shut. I just looked at Mom, and she shook her head as if to say, ‘you are all crazy’. Only I knew to expect a cow soon. There was still one stall in the barn that was empty.

School resumed, and life returned to normal. Over the next few weeks, the boys told stories of their camping trip. The conclusion, it beat going to the beaches. They received letters from Charlie telling them about what was happening back home. I could tell when the letters came, the boys’ mood changed. They were still hurting from their parent’s rejection.

That was something I couldn’t understand. There were nice guys, so they were in love with each other. They did nothing to hurt anyone. They did everything to show me their appreciation of being accepted by me. Living in the apartment, I think this will be home for them from now on.

The next project the boys took on was resurrecting the orchard. I only saw the boys at the kitchen table with school work, tending to the horses, chickens, pheasant, and the gardens. They were quite busy. We continue taking the carriage out on Sunday afternoon. Those horses were hams, and they showed off with their prancing, heads held high. Every Sunday, they thought they were in a parade, a parade of one.

By the time school was out for the summer, we had a cow, the orchard was finished with several new trees, and the grapevines were extended to utilize the new shoots. I thought that they had forgotten about the rabbits, but I was wrong. They went on a camping trip over a long weekend and returned with several young rabbits. I didn’t say anything. They looked at me, and I pointed to the barn. The next time I went to the barn, they had built a place for the rabbits. I now had horses, a cow, chickens, pheasants, and rabbits. I told them if those rabbits got into my garden, we would have rabbit stew.

I enjoyed having the boys around. They not only took care of the animals, gardens and provided company. I think Mom and Dad have adopted them.

As it has been our family custom, July 4th celebration was held at Uncle Angelo’s place. Before Nonna and Pa’s death, it was held here. This year, there was a surprise. A young lady was present, a visitor from Italy, so I was told. The daughter of an old friend, but I knew better. Mom has been hinting that I needed to find a young woman and get married. This was the first, and I expected more in the near future

The boys and Uncle Angelo’s sons were making plans for the fall, slaughtering and making sausages and salami. I told Mom that there were becoming a vital part of my household.