The lord has blessed with the gift of life
With true faith, endure pain and strife
Great the reward, to follow the lords wish
He has shown with faith by the feeding of bread and fish
He is your master… accept no other
Follow his command to love sister and brother
Your body and mind is his to command
For in him only, you will find a true friend
~ Gemini Joe ~
T
he next Monday, I got dressed in my finest suit, and drove to Angelo’s office. The receptionist smiled and led me to a small paneled room with picture windows that overlooked a fountain.
“Mr. Barattini will be with you shortly,” she said. “Is there anything I can get for you while you wait?”
“No thank you, I’m fine.” I stared at the pictures on the office wall. Many were photos of Angelo shaking hands with key political leaders, even one with Richard Nixon. This is an important man, I thought. Barattini came out from his office and motioned me to come in.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. Between my duties here and the club activities, they keep me hopping.”
“I understand, Mister Barattini,”
“Call me Angelo,” he said. “There are no formalities here. Have a seat, Joe. I have the perfect job for you. It suits you well, since you have a knack for making voters happy.”
“Anything to support the cause,” I said.
“One of their major complaints is the deterioration of our beaches. You’ll be in charge of beautification and given the available resources to make it happen.”
Angelo showed me a map of the beach and told me what needed to be done. “Hire a couple of moolies to do the heavy labor, and send me the bills. Your first project will be Florence Beach.”
Florence Beach! I couldn’t believe my luck! My mother’s name was Florence. I just knew she was looking down at me from heaven. I wanted to make her proud.
He shook my hand, and I left with my first assignment.
First, I had the trash dredged out of the ocean and rented machines to filter the sand. I got additional money to add a grassy area with picnic tables and a playground for the children and transformed the small, polluted beach into a popular weekend getaway.
Everyone at the Sons of Italy started calling me, Gemini Joe, and I had to go to all the political events and dinners. Your mom loved it, but it always upset me when other men were flirting with her.
“Keep an eye on your wife,” Al teased. “You may lose her to Johnny over there.”
Sometimes we would fight about it on the way home. I might have been drinking too much and the green-eyed monster took me.
After a while, your mom didn’t want to go out anymore. I guess I couldn’t blame her for that, but I had to keep going of course. They were counting on me to pull in big money for the club. I kept the fundraising money I collected in a brown leather bag in the glove compartment of my car until the next club meeting. I worried that someone might steal it, so I hid it in the house.
Right before the meeting, I went to get it, but it wasn’t there.
“Did you see a leather bag with money in my dresser drawer,” I asked your mom.
“No,” she said. “Maybe you I moved it.”
If I did, I couldn’t remember. I searched high and low, but I couldn’t find the leather bag. I didn’t know what to do.
Financial meetings always put everyone in a good mood, because the money flowed, but I was scared. I sat at the club bar and ordered a scotch for fortification.
The meeting room was crowded. I sat next to my friend, Al.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, reading the fear in my eyes.
Before I could tell him, Angelo came in and then took a seat at the head of the table. Everyone applauded as he called the meeting to order.
“Good evening fellow members. I’m glad to see such good attendance tonight. Before we start, let’s get an update from our Treasurer, Vincent Castellano.”
Castellano stood up and smiled. “We’re very close to our projected goal. As of now, we have almost forty thousand dollars in the till. In addition, I’ve collected another three thousand tonight from our fundraising members, but I’m still waiting for Gemini’s money.”
“I hear you’re going to put us over the top tonight, Joe,” Vinny said.
Everyone looked at me and there was no avoiding it. I had to tell the truth. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I, I don’t have it.”
“What do you mean?” Angelo said.
“Something happened. I don’t have the money.”
“Did you get robbed?”
For a second, I thought that might be a good solution to my problem.
“No, I didn’t get robbed. I misplaced it—I, I don’t remember.”
“Were you drunk?” Vinny asked.
“I’m sure I’ll find it. I just need some time.”
“We don’t have time. We need that money now.”
“I’ll get it,” I promised.
“Joe, I don’t care how you do it, but you get that money back.”
After searching the house again, and coming up empty, I had to ask my sister for some of the inheritance money I had given her. I don’t know what ever happened to the fundraiser money. I suspected that your mother stumbled upon into it and kept it, but I couldn’t accuse her. If she did, it was probably because I never made enough money. Anyway, that was that.
Angelo never lost faith in me. He even promoted me as a county supervisor position and gave me a company vehicle. I could come and go as I pleased and hired seasonal workers and cleanup crews for the beaches. Most of them were the teenage children of party leaders and county workers.
The Democrats protested the reckless county spending, but nothing could stop the Republicans who outnumbered them and the GOP on Long Island divided the liberal vote.
Angelo was happy with my work. Even the local newspaper did an article and ran my picture.