ARROW - 100. Chapter 100

Colin had a meeting with his lawyer, I suggested he invite him over for lunch and they could meet in his office. He made the call, his lawyer wanted to know if he could bring his wife and son. He heard a lot about the club and would like them to see it. That meant the boys and I would play host. Ivan stayed over, I got the feeling this would happen often. He was a nice kid, the boys liked him.

I told Carmella about our company coming, she headed to the kitchen. There must be something about Italian women. They are more at home in the kitchen than any other room in the house.

Marcel took the week-end off. This would be James’s solo flight, but Carmella would be there with a life raft if he needed it. I didn’t think he would. The club was closed Friday, but would open Saturday and Sunday. Although I didn’t expect many club members on Saturday nor people for lunch on Sunday. An excellent time for James to wing it alone.

The lawyer and his family arrived, his son was older than our boys. I introduced myself as Colin’s partner. Her name was Ruth and the son’s name was Claude, after his father, she said. I introduced the boys, then they played host to Claude. I watched and quickly realized Richie was leading the group. He offered Ruth a coffee and Claude a Jimmy drink. I chuckled to myself, I wonder what Jimmy would say if he heard Richie. James came out with the coffee and a plate of cookies. I introduced him as our chef, he smiled. Richie asked him if he could prepare a drink for them. Smiling he went and entered the bar through the green room. He looked at Richie, pick up a bottle of strawberry juice, a tub of ice cream, and several bottles of carbonated water. From where we were sitting, I watched. James add the carbonated water to their glasses, then added the strawberry juice followed by a scoop of ice cream. He topped it off with whipped cream and a strawberry. One thing I knew, that strawberry was washed several times. The boys watched Claude taste it. He smiled, then the boys sat at a table and dug in. Now they were discussing what to call the drink.

I spent a nice afternoon with Ruth. She wanted to know if all the boys were adopted, I told her three are but the fourth is their friend and stays over often. “He is an only child who lives with his grandfather. They all go to school together and have become close friends.”

Since there was no way of avoiding the mural, she asked about it. I have always found it difficult to talk about my paintings. “The mural represents a trip through Southern Europe.”

“Who was the artist? It’s a beautiful mural.”

“An artist who goes by the name of Arrow.”

“Really, my club raves about his paintings and now I see why.”

“If you would like to see more of his paintings, I heard he has a gallery across from Yale.”

“I’m going to tell them and maybe we can stop there.”

We continued to chat, the boys were having fun.

After an hour, Colin came into the club escorting the lawyer. We shook hands, I knew him from the adoptions. Richie got up from his table and headed to the kitchen. He came out followed by James with a coffee pot and more cookies.

We sat and chatted for a few minutes. They thanked us for the coffee and cookies. Colin escorted them to the door. He came back laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

“Ruth was telling him about the mural and that it was painted by this new artist, Arrow. She said when the girls hear this they will be envious. Evidently you are the talk of the local girls clubs.They have been trying to see some of your work. She said you were quite knowledgeable about that mural. He told her you should be, you painted it. Then in a loud voice she said 'I had coffee with Arrow'. I think you are getting a reputation.”

“Tell me about your discussions concerning the orphanage.”

“We are going to make the letter public. Then we will file for a delay and argue that the City Council does not have the right to take the property with out providing a place equal to or better than the current place.”

“What do you think will happen?”

“We are hoping that the people will write letters supporting us and we are going to try to have the case heard by our favorite judge.”

I was hoping for more but a lawyer I am not. I trust Colin to find a solution.

I was correct about Saturday night. Members came, stayed for an hour or two, then left. By 10 the club was empty.

Sunday, the menu was restricted. I’m sure no one wanted to have anything to do with Thanksgiving left overs. So Carmella took over the kitchen. James learned about Italian cooking and our guests benefitted.

It was such a hit, we decided that once a month we would have a special lunch honoring other countries. I wonder what Marcel will say when he returns. I do know, James got an Italian cooking lesson.

Carmella showed Maria the photos. Maria couldn’t get over how the farm looked. “Tony, look. This is how it looked before the men rebuilt it. This is how it looks now. Tony, Carmella wants us to go and see it. I think we have stayed away long enough. It is our home, the village wants us to come back, read these letters.”

“I’ll think about it. Maybe as a vacation, Bobby has school to finish, he has friends here and strangers there. We have a business here. We worked hard for it to be successful.”

“Can we go for Christmas?”

“Okay, we go for Christmas and New Years. Then we decide.”

I was standing by the bar watching the conversation. By the smiles on Maria’s and Carmella’s face, I knew Tony agreed to go.

Our parents headed for the kitchen table, James had a bowl of spaghetti for them along with a fresh green salad. I walked in, and laughed. James literally set a large bowl of pasta and a large bowl of a salad on the table. It was help yourself. He did the same with the coffee.

Dad made a comment about why didn’t he set a large platter of cookies as well. James rubbed his belly, “If you clean your plate, I’ll give you all the cookies you can eat.” Now I knew James had something planned. I watched, he filled Dad’s salad bowl until he couldn’t add anymore. He did the same with the pasta. I knew if Dad ate all of that, he wouldn’t want any cookies. Dad smiled, tackled the salad and then he tackled the pasta. He managed to finish everything James had put on his plates.

“Where are my cookies.” James set a small plate of cookies in front of him. Dad laughed. He offered the cookies to my dad, who took them all.

We sat there drinking coffee and chatting. The boys came into the kitchen, they were hungry.

We moved so the boys could sit on one end of the table. No that wasn’t going to work. Tommy wanted to sit between my Mom and Colin’s Mom. Ronnie wanted to sit next to Colin, Richie wanted to sit next to me leaving Ivan alone. Nope that wasn’t going to happen either. Colin’s Dad went and made room for him to sit between him and my Dad. Carmella got up to get them plates of food. Then we heard, Grazie, Nonna. I expected Ivan to say thank you in English but he also said, Grazie, Nonna. I looked at him he smiled, the boys gave him a thumbs up.

When the boys finished eating, James had a cookie for them and a glass of milk. I saw Colin’s dad slip his cookies to Ivan. He whispered something in his ear which resulted in a smile and a hug from Ivan.

Our folks left, giving all the boys a hug. James and the two boys who worked in the kitchen, cleaned the kitchen knowing that Marcel was returning soon.

That night, Colin and I tucked the boys in for the night, then we headed to the roof for a quiet moment alone.

“Colin, I have a funny feeling that the orphanage is going to lose. Maybe we should buy a large ship, we can moor it up the coast, outside of the city. The boys would love it, they could fish every day.”

“I’ll look into it. Now let’s go to bed. I have a lot of work to do tomorrow or Dad will fire me.”

I knew that would never happen.

In the morning the boys had to get ready for school, vacation time over. James came to get them, I gave them a hug as they left. I went back to my painting when I realized I had a frame to make.

I spent all morning making the frame, I was startled when James came to tell me it was time to make the lunch run. Looking over my shoulder at the frame, he gasped. I turned and looked at him. “What’s wrong?”

“Brother, look at your frame.”

I did it was then when I saw the angels in the corners and across the top was Michelangelo’s hand reaching into a cloud. I couldn’t say anything neither did James. It was Colin who came home for lunch that startled us back to reality, “What are you looking at?”

We moved out of the way so he could see. He knew which painting the frame was for as soon as he saw it. “This frame and the painting needs to belong in a museum.” Saying that while hugging me. “Come and we’ll have lunch. James you better deliver those lunches.”

“You go and fix a lunch for us, this needs another coat of lacquer. I’ll be in after I do that.”

Sitting down at the club’s kitchen table, Colin had warmed up left over spaghetti and placed it on the table when Carmella entered. I asked her to join us, she made salad for us and set down.

“Carmella, you should see the frame Armand made for that painting of the girl and her baby.” Carmella knew which painting he meant. She had dragged me away from it several times.

Early the next morning before anyone was awake, I framed the painting, put it into my car and drove to the gallery. I turned off the alarm system, took the painting and hung it in my area of the gallery. Then I activated the alarm system and drove home.

Walking into the apartment, Colin was up. “Where were you? I looked all over for you?”

“I took the painting to the gallery. I didn’t want it here. I need to get it out of my mind.”

“Come and sit down here.” Here was his lap. He held me, now I’m about 2 inches taller than Colin and when I sit on his lap, for some unknown reason, I’m a head taller.

Nothing was said until we heard the boys getting up. Carmella walked into the kitchen with a coffee pot. Morning and time to get back to normal. James arrived with rolls, the boys started to head to the kitchen for breakfast. As if this morning was a dream, life is back to normal.