Carmella Commands
“What th’ hell!” said Tommaso, speaking the phrase in English. “Here in America. I do what I damn like when I damn like.”
“Carmella, she bothers you?” asked Maria, coming to him in her night robe.
“No!” he shouted, above the music
Maria sat in his lap.
“You wish Carmella to grow up a fine girl?” she asked.
“Yes!”
“You wish her to mind me?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what I wish. Go to bed!”
Tommaso’s voice showed the strain of his thoughts. Maria slipped from his knees and went back to bed. Only when the song was ended and the needle had screeched over half an inch of disc did he shut off the machine.
Then Tommaso emptied his pipe and went to bed. Through the night Maria heard him mutter in his sleep.
[131]
