11

PARTY TIME

 

“YOUR dad is always doing something fun,” Maria Beppina says to Isidora.

The two cousins are sweeping up the downstairs, which is empty. All the furniture has been moved out into the street to make way for the dancing.

Uncle Mimì has hired a band of musicians to come play at the house tonight. Everyone is excited. (Well, everyone except Aunt Zufia.) Nonna Jovanna in particular loves a party and has been singing old songs all day.

“Girls, come and help me with the food!” she happily calls Isidora and Maria Beppina.

As they cut vegetables for the soup, Maria Beppina’s dad comes in.

“Is it true?” he says. “Is there really a band of musicians from Naples coming here tonight?”

Daddy loves music, but he loves Naples even more. He always talks about moving back there, and whenever anyone from Naples comes to Benevento he corners them and talks their ear off.

While the adults speak, Isidora takes a rest from chopping, and moves some limp hair out from in front of her eyes. Her face is pale. She hasn’t seemed well for days—since the hail storm, basically.

“Are you okay, Isidora?” Maria Beppina asks.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay,” she says, like she got caught doing something she didn’t want anyone to see. She quickly goes back to chopping. “How about you?” Isidora looks sideways at Maria Beppina. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” Maria Beppina says, surprised by the question. “Why?”

“Well, after your terrifying escape from the Clopper, I’d expect you to be exhausted!” Isidora says with a big smile on her face.

Embarrassed and afraid of getting caught in her lies, Maria Beppina stares down at the carrot she’s chopping and doesn’t say anything.

Isidora looks like she feels bad for what she said. She moves closer to Maria Beppina.

“All the witches aren’t as harmless as the Clopper, you know,” Isidora says quietly. “Be careful.”

How does Isidora know the Clopper is harmless? Maria Beppina wonders. But she isn’t going to ask—Maria Beppina just wants the conversation to end. She is too afraid of her lie being found out, because then what would the other kids think of her? What would Primo think of her?

It has been an all-new Primo the last few days. He actually seems happy to have Maria Beppina living upstairs. For the first time, she feels like a part of the family.

The band starts to play, and Primo’s poppa pulls his momma into the center to dance, and even Aunt Zufia can’t help but enjoy herself. Maria Beppina likes watching everyone do the tarantella, but she definitely doesn’t want to try it herself. She has no choice, however, when Uncle Mimì pulls her into the middle.

She dances with Emilio, doing the best she can to copy what she’s seen, and then Primo grabs her and he starts doing the tarantella with her.

Now it’s just the two of them dancing, with everyone else clapping and stomping along. Primo smiles. He leans into her

ear and yells, “You’re the brave one, cousin, not me!”

Maria Beppina feels herself blush. Tears well up.

“I’m not the brave one!” she wants to tell him. “I’m a liar! And you could have been dragged down to the Underworld because of me!”

Maria Beppina opens her mouth, about to tell him all of this—and more!—when Uncle Mimì cuts between them and grabs Maria Beppina’s hands.

“My turn, niece!” he says, pushing Primo out of the way.

As soon as she can get away, Maria Beppina heads outside, where she finds the others. With the Janara mischiefs finally over at their farm, the Twins are in a mood to celebrate. Sergio, on the other hand, is not.

“My problems are NEVER over,” he says, pointing up to his ghost’s apartment. Then, to what looks like an empty window, Sergio shouts, “I know, I know, but what am I supposed to do about it?”

Sergio turns to the others. “He’s complaining about the party,” he says, meaning the ghost. He puts his hands over his ears. “I hate it when Bis-Bis yells at me like this.”

No one else, however, can hear a thing.

Sergio trudges up the stairs to talk to his ghost, and everyone says good night.

“What did you want to tell me back there?” Primo asks Maria Beppina as she climbs the stairs to her apartment.

“Oh, I forget,” she says, and slips inside.

Maria Beppina goes to bed, but sleep is impossible. The party is still going on downstairs, with music and loud laughing and stomping feet. And then there’s all the noise in her head.

Should she have told Primo the truth? Or is it okay to lie when you are keeping a secret?

There are other things to wonder about too. Like: What made it hail? How is it that Primo didn’t get snatched by a Manalonga there on the bridge? Could he be right about the ring? What if it was the reason the Clopper and her demons were nice to her? The experience with them seems so strange now, Maria Beppina starts to wonder if it really happened at all.

The curiosity gets Maria Beppina up out of bed. She puts on her dress and goes down the stairs. Nearing the Theater, she happens upon Amerigo Pegleg. With his eyes closed, the old soldier dances to the distant music, spinning himself around on his wooden leg like a top.

Now, Maria Beppina stands at the edge of the open arena. She grew up with Daddy telling her how the Romans used to feed prisoners to the lions, and how the people in the audience cheered. When she came here, she always felt like one of those prisoners. Not anymore.

She starts walking. Not running, but walking. Slowly. Her heart thumps, but there is no other sound, no clopping.

Maria Beppina arrives at the short rickety door that leads down to the Clopper’s.

Should she knock?

Yes. Because beyond fear, beyond curiosity, there is something more important. She wants to see the Clopper and the three demons again because they are her friends, and she wants to tell them all that’s happened. They’ll think it’s funny, won’t they?

She knocks.

TOC TOC

“Is that you, dearie?” Maria Beppina hears a muffled old lady voice from somewhere deep inside, as well as hooting and chattering. “Oh, let me open that for you! I can make you some chamomile tea. . . .”

Life goes on, but our book is done!