Carmella Commands
“You did it yourself, kid, and you know you did. Tell him that three days’ notice is what I’ve bargained for. And if you get gay with me, I’ll call another interpreter and tell your dad and you’ll get spanked.”
Carmella interpreted the business part of this statement to her father, and stuck out her tongue at Dixon.
It was in this fashion that many of their interviews were carried on, until one night Dixon asked:
“Why don’t you teach me Italian, kid?”
Carmella hesitated. These verbal games were fun. But she knew they could not go on. And after all her great desire was to see the firm prosper.
“I’ll teach you,” she said, and turning to her father:
“Mr. Dixon wishes to learn Italian. I will teach him. And, caro padre, I will teach you American.”
Tommaso thought as he smoked for some minutes.
“That would be good,” he finally said.
So the lessons began. To be teaching Dixon was a positive thrill.
There was a thrill, too, in being on her father’s various jobs the vacation after her graduation from grammar school. Dixon was downtown more than he was on the jobs. He was the financial man. And often he visited foundation jobs on which other contractors were at work. He was learning. Once he let Carmella go with him.
They stood watching the excavations for a new trust company building.
[264]
