The world was on the threshold of a new decade, and Angela prepared for New Year’s dinner. Snow was lightly falling, blanketing the ground, and winter was taking hold. The Vietnam War still raged, but it affected her family less since Robert was home and Frank was still in college. She sensed that this would be a new decade of immense change. When she thought of her unseen friends, they confirmed her suspicions.
She thought about the choices she had made over the years and how she had made them in partnership with her unseen friends. They were never far from her mind, and lately she felt there was less of a delineation between herself and these energies. Angela thought about the night ahead, celebrating the coming year and all that it would bring. Angela looked up at the lion statue on the mantle and smiled. You will be protecting my family, thought Angela, and I am grateful.
Angela and Felicia put the green lentils, pork, tortellini, and thick crust pizza in serving dishes. Frank, Andrea, Marie, and Robert sat at the table. As they were placing the dishes on the white tablecloth, Angela paused and looked at everyone gathered around her and smiled.
“Good wishes for the New Year,” she said. She lifted a bottle of Martini & Rossi Asti Spumante and poured everyone a glass.
“Great—alcohol,” said Andrea.
“Yeah, we’d like to see you drunk,” said Robert.
“No one gets drunk here,” said Angela. “No one makes a brutta figura at the dinner table.”
The family toasted to a happy and fruitful new year. They were a new American family, immigrant and first- and second-generation Americans all together. It was not an easy journey for Angela to create the family she wanted, but she felt it finally happened. Her legacy would live on long after she passed into spirit.
Angela thought that she had Franco to thank for her good fortune. Without him, the family she saw in front of her would not exist, and because of this she missed him. It was challenging for her to keep up with the new generation, and it required a great deal of energy. Some of her friends from the old days had died, and she missed the familiarity of easy conversation.
“Let’s eat,” said Andrea. “I want some pizza.”
Frank and Robert each lit cigarettes.
“Put those out,” said Felicia. “We haven’t started eating yet. How can you eat and smoke?”
“Easy,” said Frank.
“I have made pork sausage with green lentils. In Italy it is considered good luck for the New Year, and the lentils are in the shape of coins—so it brings prosperity. It will melt in your mouth.”
Large round patties of pork sat on top of green lentils.
“What about the pizza?” asked Andrea.
“The pizza is just my regular pizza,” said Angela.
“It’s yummy,” said Marie.
Both boys snuffed out their cigarettes and filled their plates.
“I got a card from Uncle Joe today from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, wishing us a Happy New Year,” said Angela. “He will be back soon and will visit us next weekend.”
“Great,” said Marie. “It’s always fun to see him. I’m hoping he can stay overnight.”
“I will suggest it. Sadie and Lizzy are coming by for dessert tonight,” Angela told them.
The family ate and talked about the possibilities presented by the new year ahead.
“I think fashion merchandising is a good way for me to go and have my own boutique someday,” said Andrea.
“That is an achievable goal,” said Felicia.
“I think it’s possible that I could start my own tile design business this year,” said Robert. “I’ve learned a lot.”
“That is certainly good to hear,” said Felicia, as she turned her attention toward Marie. “What about you, Marie?” asked Felicia. “You should take your cues from your brother and study something practical in college.”
“I think studying history is practical. This way you don’t make the same mistake twice. Anyway, I will have a lot of choices once I get to college.”
“Technology is beginning to take off, and it will change how we communicate,” said Frank. “I think it’s possible for me to get a job in New York designing computer systems in the future and be part of that transformation. I still have my 2-S deferment, but I might have to go into the Reserves once I graduate.”
“What about you, Aunt Angela?” Marie asked. “What do you hope for in the new year?
“What I have right here,” said Angela. “All of you doing well and happy.”
“I can’t argue with that,” said Felicia. “I hope for the same thing.”
In all, the conversation was positive in laying the groundwork for the time ahead. Once the table was cleared, Angela made coffee.
“Here we are,” said Lizzy, letting a burst of cold air in. “Hope we’re not late.”
“Come in. “We’re just putting out the dessert,” said Felicia as she placed tiramisu and zeppole on the table.
“Coffee?” offered Angela.
“Hi, Angie,” said Sadie. “It’s cold out there.” She took off her coat and gloves and rubbed her hands together.
“Hi all,” said Lizzy. “Happy New Year.” She handed Angela a bottle of prosecco.
“Thank you, Lizzy,” said Angela.
“That’s from both of us,” said Sadie. “Happy New Year, everyone. Let’s open it.”
“This bottle is for our hostess—not just for you,” said Lizzy.
“That’s right,” said Sadie. She reached into her bag and pulled out another bottle of prosecco and placed it in front of her. “This one is for me.”
Everyone laughed.
“How are you, Sadie, Lizzy?” asked Frank.
“We’re both fine,” said Sadie.
“Speak for yourself,” said Lizzy. “My doctor wants me to lose weight because my heart is skipping beats. Doctors—what do they know?”
Angela felt herself to be wealthy with good friends and family. For the first time in her life, she felt completely safe. She did not feel compelled to measure her speech or chastise herself for her thoughts. When Franco was alive, it was about his conversation and how he wanted to express himself. She never thought she could do the same.
Experiencing this new generation was profoundly enlightening. They were birthing a new perspective into the world. New ideas did not flourish when Angela was young, especially if those ideas came from a woman. This generation emerging into adulthood would change the world for the better. Like a crab that has outgrown its shell, the next generation was expanding their boundaries. She felt she had done her job well in supporting that growth. “We already had our toast to the new year, but we can have another before we have dessert,” said Angela.
“Open the prosecco,” said Sadie.
“I’m with you, Sadie,” said Marie. “I love the bubbles.”
Felicia poured the prosecco, and everyone raised their glasses.
“Here’s to Peace on Earth,” said Angela. Angela was eager to experience the next decade and all the changes waiting in the wings.
“So, Marie,” Sadie said. “You’ll be graduating high school in June, and I hear you’ll be going to college in New York City.”
“I can’t wait,” Marie said as she sipped her prosecco. “I am so happy I’ll be living in New York. The possibilities are endless. I’ll be staying at the YWCA until I find a roommate and get an apartment.”
“They’re endless if you have money,” said Felicia. “You will have to focus.”
“Felicia, way to take wind out of someone’s sails,” said Sadie.
“I’m just being practical, and I don’t want her to make the mistake of getting an education without the possibility of employment.”
“She should do what interests her,” said Angela.
“Sure, as long as it is practical. Where would I be if I did not have a business background? Keep that in mind.”
“Robert gets handsomer every day,” Lizzy said, diffusing the tension. “He’s got that curly black hair and a Roman nose.”
“He’s such a pothead,” said Andrea. “He’ll end up in jail someday.”
“Don’t say that,” said Angela nonchalantly. “Nobody is going to jail. He has a job, and I’m sure he’ll have his own business someday. I know people who work in construction; I could give them a call.” Over the years Angela and Franco had helped many people, and they owed her favors she would not be shy about collecting.
“Well, I have a date,” said Frank.
“Oh,” said Sadie. “Who is the lucky girl?”
“Is she local?” asked Lizzy. “We might know her.”
“Frank is dating Judge Lowenstein’s daughter,” said Robert. “Lucky for me if I run into trouble with my business. I’ll take my dessert and go upstairs and relax,” said Robert.
“You mean you’re going to smoke a joint,” said Andrea.
“Mind your business,” said Robert. “I’ll take some dessert with me.”
“A judge’s daughter. That is a fine match,” said Sadie.
“Oh yes, very fine,” said Lizzy.
“Frank, what is your date’s name?” asked Sadie.
“Sarah, but it’s not serious,” Frank said. “We’re casually dating.”
“You’re young and should play the field. What do you think, Felicia?” asked Lizzy.
“I think he should do what he wants,” said Felicia.
“By any standard, it is a good match,” said Sadie.
“You old ladies should stop trying to set people up,” said Angela. “Why are you so interested in people dating? Why don’t you two get new husbands?”
“I don’t want a husband,” said Sadie. “I’m playing the field like Frank, only with old men who don’t know what day it is.”
Felicia was sipping her wine and tried to stifle a laugh, but the wine sprayed everywhere. Everyone laughed at the thought of Sadie serially dating old men.
“What? You don’t believe me? Love them and leave them—that’s what I say. Marie, look for men with one foot in the grave. That way you get everything.”
The laughter resounded throughout the dining room.
“You are a rascal, Sadie,” said Angela. “Your poor dead husbands. How did they live with you?”
“Very well, Angela. I took care of them, and they were grateful. Let us raise a glass to my deceased husbands; may they rest in peace.”
“I never knew your husbands,” said Marie, “but I’m sure I would have liked them.”
“Two were pretty likable but the last one wasn’t,” said Sadie. “He was a cheap bastard.”
Marie had noticed that within the Italian-American immigrant community, when the husband died the wives then lived fuller lives. She did not notice heart-wrenching grief, just an acceptance of the inevitability of death. The women never railed against death, and in some cases they thanked death for releasing them from a marriage that had been on life support for years.
“What about you, Lizzy?” asked Marie. “Do you miss your husband?”
“Sure, I miss him, honey,” said Lizzy. “He was reliable like a comfortable chair and he always brought home a paycheck. My mother was right; it was a good match.”
“Wow,” said Robert as he put his dessert on a plate. “He was like an old chair. Lucky you didn’t put him out with the trash.”
“There were times I wanted to,” laughed Lizzy.
“Let’s toast to Lizzy’s husband,” said Marie.
“This is the last toast,” said Angela. “I’m going to make coffee.”
Everyone raised their glasses.
“To Lizzy’s husband, who is with God,” said Angela, “and to the New Year, not far away. May we all prosper and receive blessings for the next decade.”
They all drank as Frank said his goodbyes and went off to meet the judge’s daughter. Sadie and Lizzy declined the coffee and put on their coats while Felicia cleared the table. Angela felt it was an auspicious beginning to the new year and that the days ahead would hold many unexpected events—some good, some challenging, but all of it an opportunity to express herself and be victorious.
Angela walked her guests to the front door.
“What’s this?” asked Lizzy. She noticed the brochure on the Notre Dame gargoyles on the hall table.
“I got that from the Mother Superior at St. Mary’s School,” said Angela. She did not want to elaborate on her experience at the school.
“Ooh, some of them are so ugly,” said Lizzy.
“Let me see,” said Sadie. She perused the brochure. “One of them looks like my last husband.”
“Maybe he’s a relation,” said Lizzy.
“Okay, le signore, have a safe walk home,” said Angela.
“Why the rush?” asked Lizzy. “Do you have a date?”
The guests laughed as they exited the house. Angela waved to them from the window as they descended the porch stairs. In her preparation for tonight’s dinner, Angela had questioned her unseen friends about whether she should just have the family at the table or invite guests. They made it clear that she needed to have other influences at her New Year’s Eve dinner. She was told that the beginning of a decade was an important event that should be shared with others, so Angela had invited the least formal of her friends.
“Are you making coffee, Aunt Angela?” asked Marie.
“I think it is too late for coffee,” said Angela.
“I want to stay up until midnight.”
“I will make a small amount for just you and me. I think your mother is tired.”
The aroma of the espresso brewing on the stove permeated the kitchen. Marie had smelled the strong coffee brewing in the morning ever since she could remember. It suggested the beginning of a day with all its possibilities. Now it suggested the new year and a myriad of potential realities.
“I like Sadie and Lizzy,” said Marie. “They are funny ladies.” Angela washed the dishes as Marie dried.
“You only see one side of them,” Angela said. “They had a hard time growing up, and yet they have kept their sense of humor through it all.”
“What happened to them growing up?”
“They were poor, and their fathers were mean people. There was no one to protect them. They married men with a little money, and now they are both comfortable widows. You never know what people have been through.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. They’re such good ladies.”
“You should not be sorry. Now they are strong and independent and live their lives the way they want. If they did not have those experiences, they would not be who they are. Like me.”
“What do you mean?”
“If I had not experienced the earthquake, I would not be here—and that would be a tragedy.”
“Maybe you were fated to be here with us.”
“Maybe, but remember, the face people show you is only a portion of who they really are.”
The dishes put away, Marie and Angela sat in stillness as the dining room clock chimed midnight.
“It is 1970. Happy New Year, Aunt Angela.”
Angela was eager to experience the next decade and all the changes waiting in the wings.