Smoke gets in your Eyes

Go to sleep my lonely heart

Let memories rest or do depart

No greater pain can life endure

It prays on us all the rich and poor

~ Gemini Joe ~

y brothers Victor and Dominic were twins. Everyone in the neighborhood knew them as “the twinnies” and no one dared to mess with them. They were tough. Nobody would start with them because they had to deal with both of them. “Don’t mess with any of the Finnos’,” they’d say.

They made me do things for them like sneak cookies from the kitchen or pennies from our mother’s purse. Sometimes my brothers just used me for their amusement. I remember that they were very curious. They wanted to know if tears were salty. They kept telling me to cry, but I didn’t want to, so they twisted my arms and I figured I’d better start crying. They asked if they were salty and you know something? They were.

My dad used to take us all to parks and beaches, and he would get my brothers and sister to watch me. “Take care of little Joey,” he said.

Sometimes we came home late at night. Everybody went into the house and mom turned to my brothers and sister.

“Where’s little Joey?”

“We don’t know,” they said. “We thought you had him.”

Anyway, they went out looking for me. Finally, my dad said “let me take the car and ride around to find him. When he got in the car, he found me in the back seat sleeping.

One time I got lost on the beach. I was making sand castles and walking all around. I didn’t know where my family was and began to cry.

Then a woman said, “I think you’re lost.” She took me to the children’s lost and found. I didn’t want to go because I worried that my family wouldn’t find me.

When I went in, all the children were crying and screaming. I noticed that whoever was crying loud, their mom or dad would come to pick them up. So, I started crying hoping that if my family loved me enough they would come to get me. It worked. Mom came through the door, along with my sister and brothers and I ran to them.

“Don’t ever go off by yourself again,” my mother scolded.

My brothers laughed. Maybe they were trying to lose me. I just couldn’t get lost so easy.

Dom and Vic were poking the rotting carcass of a dead cat in the alley. I felt bad for the cat, but I was very curious at how stiff it was. We heard our mother call us for dinner. It was spaghetti night. Victor dropped the stick and pushed me out of the way to get to the kitchen first. For some reason, I was always last. I could smell the tomato sauce before I sat down and I was very hungry, but when I looked down at my dish, it was only spaghetti.

“Where’s my meatball?” I cried.

Victor glared at me from across the table and then shoved my meatball into his mouth.

“Do we have any parmesan cheese?” Dad asked.

My mother jumped up to get the cheese. While she was gone, Victor grabbed some of my spaghetti. I pushed the remaining spaghetti around in my dish and waited for her to return.

“What about the red pepper?” Dad asked.

She put her fork down again to retrieve the pepper. My Poor Mom. By the time she got to eat, her food was cold, but she never complained.

Finally, Mom settled herself and picked up her fork. By then, Victor had taken the rest of my spaghetti.

She looked at my plate. “Good boy!” She praised. “You ate all your dinner.”

Sensing my brother staring at me, I decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to tattle. The penalty would have been more painful than my empty stomach.

Dom and Vic got a kick out of bullying me. Maybe they were just trying to toughen me up, but I had to be on guard all the time.

One day, I heard them whispering in their room and put my ear to the door trying to hear what they were saying. I cracked open the door very gently. Smoke got in my eyes and I quickly closed the door, but before I could get away, Victor caught me.

He said, “You were spying on us, you little runt!”

“No, I wasn’t,” I whimpered.

“What do we do with him?” Dom asked. “He’s gonna snitch.”

“I know what to do with him,” Victor said. He opened the bedroom window and before I knew it, I was hanging upside down from the second-story, looking down at the concrete patio.

“Promise not to tell,” Victor yelled.

I said, “I won’t tell, I promise.”

Victor pulled me back inside. “If you tell anyone, next time I’ll drop you.”

I ran out of the room as fast as I could, but I never told anyone.

Victor was mean, but I still loved him.