I SAW THE ZOO, AND THE MAFIA TOO!
I Saw The Zoo and The Mafia Too!
by Bill Knell
My family and I moved to Florida from New York in 1971. We did so for my dad's health, but it turned out to be a good decision for many reasons. However, we left all of our relatives behind.
In that same year my grandparents, on my mom's side, became seriously ill. That necessitated my mom to return to New York and stay for a short while to help out her folks.
It was summer and I kinda missed the city area, so I went with her. I was fourteen. My grandparents lived in a nice apartment in the Bronx, one of the five boroughs of New York City. People used to joke, ”The Bronx? No thonks!”
While some parts of the Bronx resembled a bombed out war zone due to urban decay, others were nice. One of the gems of that borough is the Bronx Zoo. It's a huge area and a very popular destination for tourists and New Yorkers alike.
My grandparents lived across the street from the Zoo. While my mom saw to the needs of her parents, getting daily health aid service set up for them and other things, I went to the Zoo. It was a ton of fun.
The gorilla exhibit was really impressive and you could just hang and watch their antics for hours. While I was there, two males got into a show of power displays and it was cool to watch.
In other parts of the Zoo I got to see and even handle some snakes and reptiles. The thing I liked the most was that the Bronx Zoo was far ahead of other animal exhibitors in that they provided ample space and open areas for many of the animals. There were even pony rides for the younger kids.
I helped my mom the best I could, but I still had a lot of free time. One day during our stay my cousin Erik came over. He was kind of snobby and we rarely got along. When we were younger, he and my cousin Ingrid came to visit us at our home on Long Island.
They lived in the Bronx. My aunt was a social worker for the City, so to keep the job they had to live within city limits. She and my cousins were jealous that we got to live in a nicer area.
Erik tended to be sometimes abusive towards Ingrid. She and I were very close. When he threw a heavy toy at her causing a bruise, I took a shovel and hit him over the head with it. That got me in big trouble, but gave me immense satisfaction.
Erik was being unusually nice to me in front of my mom and grandparents. He asked if I wanted to go see a movie with him across town? I agreed to go and we headed to the nearby city bus stop. It seemed like a long ride to the theater, but was probably just twenty minutes.
We enjoyed the movie and he was on his best behavior. Then, after it ended, we walked out of the theater and I assumed he was going to join me for the ride back to my grandparents place. That was not the case.
Instead, that creep said he had to go because of some thing he had to do with a friend. He smiled when he told me knowing that he was leaving me stranded in a place I was unfamiliar with. I wanted to punch him, but I just smiled back.
Erik forgot that I had been going into other parts of the city for years and knew how to figure things out and get around. I retraced our steps, found the bus route I needed to take to get back and was on my way.
I enjoyed walking around my grandparent's neighborhood. We were Scandinavian, but the neighborhood had been mostly Italian for years. It was hard to ignore the wonderful odors of delicious food being prepared in the local restaurants and delicatessens. I often had lunch in several.
Seeing the huge, long rolls of cheeses and meats hanging in the deli windows was a sight to behold and a very Italian tradition. While walking through the streets, I found a movie theater I didn't know was there. I walked closer to see what was playing.
When I reached the front of the theater, I saw two guys dressed in nice suits and expensive shoes, with lots of bling on their hands. One of them looked at me and said, “Hey kid, what's up?” I told him I wanted to see what movie was playing. He replied, “Look, kid, da place is closed for awhile. Our boss, ah, our friend is inside for a private showing.”
I politely thanked him for telling me and complimented him and his buddy on their nice suits. I mentioned that so many people dressed like slobs in those days. He appreciated my comments and said, “You're a respectable (I think he meant ‘respective’) kid. I'm Joe and tis is my buddy Paul.” I told him I was Billy.
We talked a bit more and I told him that I was visiting my grandparents to help out. He liked that and said, “Yeah, family, dats what keeps us all on da straight and narrow.”
I was about to say goodbye and get on with my walk of discovery when Joe said, “Hey, look kid, why don't you come by our club up the street later? (he pointed to the location)
We're gonna have a get together with good food, some girls your age and music. I dink da boss would like to meet you.” I said OK and he told me the time that the festivities would start.
Having been born in New York City and lived in and around it for all my life up to that point, I knew these guys were mobbed up. That didn't bother me because they seemed nice enough to me and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to meet a real “boss”, even if he was just a local one.
I went back to my grandparents house and told my mom all about my journey of discovery. The food hanging in the windows, the elder ladies dressed all in black mourning clothes and, oh yeah, the mob guys. She said, “You know not to hang around guys like that! They are nothing but trouble. You could end up hanging in the deli window with the meats and cheese.”
After explaining that my meeting with the obviously Mafia soldiers was low key and mutually satisfying, she agreed to let me go to the thing they were having. But she insisted that my cousin Roy, who was older and had stopped over to say hello, go with me. Unlike Erik, Roy was a really nice guy and got excited to meet some real mob guys.
We arrived at the guy's social club at five. Joe greeted us and I introduced Roy. They were happy to have both of us there. The first thing Joe did was introduce us to Carlo, the neighborhood boss. He was a powerful looking guy in his forties and seemed genuinely happy to meet us. He said we should go and have a good time.
There were about twenty guys there. They all brought their teenage daughters to help celebrate Carlo's teenage daughter's birthday. Then it became obvious why I received the invitation. There were eight girls and only three guys at the party, not counting us.
After eating all kinds of amazing food, a small live band got going and dancing started. Luckily, I had learned to dance a few years back. My sister was a teen model and there were always teen models around us. Models love to dance, so I kinda had to learn how. Once I did, I really enjoyed dancing and partying with the models.
As the music began, Carlo whispered something to Joe. He came over to me and asked me to dance with Carla, Carlo's daughter. I did and it was a lot of fun. We hit it off immediately and, when if came time for a slow dance, we talked and got to know each other better.
Joe pushed me to spend the remainder of the party with Carla and I was happy to do so. She was fifteen and beautiful with long black hair and a sweet face. They had some pinball games in the club, so Carla and I took turns playing each other. Everytime I looked at Carlo he was looking at us and smiling.
Carla told me she wanted to date, but all of the guys she knew were afraid to ask her out because of her dad's position in the community. Carlo knew this and felt guilty about it because his daughter missed several school activities because she didn't have an escort or a date.
After awhile, Carla asked me to come outside to see her dad's cool car. It was a brand new Cadillac that was meticulously clean and shined in the daylight. After getting a quick tour of the car, Carla asked me to come to the back of the club where there was a nice sitting area and barbecue.
As soon as we got there, she kissed me on the cheek. I responded in kind not knowing what else to do. I could tell by her stare that she wanted more, so I asked her if she wanted to ‘make out'? She said, “Here goes nothing” and kissed me on the lips. It turned out that was her first real kiss with a boy. She admitted being inexperienced, so I schooled her on making out. We both enjoyed those lessons and the result.
After making out for a good twenty minutes, we went back inside and rejoined the party. Joe gave me an approving wink and Carlo smiled. As things wound down and it was time to leave, Joe suggested I give my name, address and phone number to Carla for future use and I did.
As my mom and I returned to New York, it was hard to forget all the fun I had during that trip. Especially when it came to Carla. I needn't have felt bad though, because about a month later I received a phone call from Joe. He asked me to attend a party Carla was having at her house and said they would provide the roundtrip plane ticket. I would stay overnight at Carla's house. I agree to it and got my parent's begrudging approval.
That party featured some of the same teen girls that came to her birthday celebration. It was lots of fun. Carla was beautiful and so was her house. I wasn't sorry that Carlo was away on ‘business’. In some ways he creeped me out.
Carla and I made out a lot. She was anything but shy and seemed starved for affection. We never took things to far I guess. I don't like to kiss and tell, so you can guess the rest. I saw Carla three more times, then she and her family moved and that was the last I heard. It was all an amazing experience.
Kailey Fields offers readers fresh and very human fiction stories that are unique, yet relatable.
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