ich beyond experience with her ten-dollar bill, Carmella was folding her written excuse for absence and preparing to hurry to the afternoon session of school when a whistle sounded outside. It was the code that she and Nicolo Pieri had arranged, and she jumped to the door. Nicolo stood in her gateway, lighting a cigarette.
“Hello, kid!” he said gruffly. “Dated up with any of your flossy friends for this afternoon?”
“Got to go to school,” she said. “I was out this morning, interpreting for dad.”
“School!” said Nicolo contemptuously. “That’s for when you ain’t got any other place to go. Listen, kid! I got two dollars to spend. Let’s do the movies, and a dance place and a coupla sodas. How about it?”
A few hours ago two dollars for an afternoon’s spending would have dazzled Carmella. But with ten dollars of her own in her tiny purse, to do with as she wished, the effect that Nicolo had expected was not quite achieved. She did not mention the ten dollars, however.
[111]
