Carmella Commands
“Then Mike’s got a good customer, I bet,” laughed Carmella. “They say he has money to throw away.”
“Yeh, only he don’t throw it. Mike says he’s as tight as a new tire. But Mike says he won’t have anything but the real goods—as real as there is. And he’ll pay a fair price when he’s sure.”
“You bet he will,” said Carmella, thinking of Greendale real estate.
“What’s that, kid?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking.”
“Say, kid! You’re getting kind of funny. Flossy autos bringing you home, and having women like her for friends, and you ain’t acting so terrible chummy with me, either. What is it, kid?”
For answer Carmella snatched the cigarette from his lips, threw it on the ground, leaned over and kissed him, and dashed into her house.
“That kid’s getting too deep for me,” Nicolo mused to himself. “I gotta make some money. I absolutely have.”
He sauntered back across the street, lighting a fresh cigarette.
As casually as she could, Carmella announced to her mother that Mrs. Barrington was to send a machine for her on Saturday. Maria was excited. Much as she hated the head of the sewing class, she could not resist the thrilling sense of importance when her daughter was asked as a guest to the home of one so mighty.
[64]
