from The Carrying Place, a novel in progress
Alfie had never seen anything like the Rex. Up Rome he’d only been to one reception, and that was at the firehouse when he was almost too little to remember. This place looked bigger than Grand Central Station, and had the same kind of ceiling with stars painted on. The curved gold walls were topped with massive oak molding. And against that background was a sea of dark suits, light dresses, and flowered hats. The waiters who circled the edges of the crowd wore tuxedos almost as fancy as the groom’s. Up front was a small stage and big dance floor. On the side was a long table for the wedding party. If Adeline were a little older, she would be up there with Anna Maria’s sisters and some other cousins, and Alfie would be out of luck. Luck was with him, though, because here she was, right at the next table, just a couple of chairs down.
His mother straightened Frankie’s collar.
“You boys look very handsome. Like movie stars.”
His father, mouth full of food from the hors d’oeuvres table, looked up at his sons, nodded his head, and gave them a close-mouthed smile.
After the bandleader’s announcement, the band started to play something quiet. Alfie’s mother spoke to them again.
“Now when the time comes for dancing, don’t be shy. Ask your cousins to show you how.”
Alfie had been trying to practice his Lindy, but something slower would be better.
“Oh, look, here’s your cousin now. Look at those beautiful shoes, Adeline.”
“Thank you, Aunt Penny. I got them at Miles.”
“You're a lucky girl.”
Adeline stood with her head down now, so that Alfie could take her all the way in, as his mother went on.
“I was just telling the boys not to be shy about dancing.”
“Sure,” said Adeline, standing between Alfie’s chair and his mother’s. “I just wanted to tell Alfie if he wants to, he can dance with me.”
“Isn’t that nice? Your hear that, Alfie? You have a partner.”
Alfie’s heart was pounding, as he tried not to face Adeline, whose chest was at eye level.
“Thank you, Adeline. That’s very sweet. Thank Adeline, son.”
“Thank you,” he said, trying not to turn red, and suddenly a little angry at his mother.
When Adeline went back to her seat, he turned to her.
“C’mon, Mom.”
“C’mon, Mom, what? You should learn how to dance. Girls like a fella who knows how.”
Alfie was glad, but this was supposed to be between him and Adeline. The last thing he wanted was his mother watching them. She did this a lot, his mother, setting things up for him before he had the chance to do it himself. Sometimes he thought she was a witch. And his father took it the way he took everything else when it came to him and Frankie. Shrugged his shoulders and laughed a little. Still, he was so happy Adeline had come over, that his parents could both go hang.
The first song after dessert was one he didn’t know.
“Benny Goodman, Matty. Let’s get up.”
And there his parents went. All the old folks, in fact, like they were dogs that heard a whistle. Frankie fidgeted in his seat.
“You want my cake? I don’t like the middle.”
“There’s rum in it, that’s why. Maybe you’ll like it when you’re older.”
“I don’t think so. Why couldn’t they have something good, like sfugliadells?”
Alfie smiled.
“That would be good. Tell you what. If you leave me alone the rest of the night, I’ll go down to Savarese tomorrow and get you a couple. Whaddya say?”
“Sounds all right to me.”
“Good. It’s a deal.”
“What’s a deal?”
Adeline had a strong voice, and Alfie was seeing that she wasn’t afraid to use it. He didn’t mind. It made him feel like he could talk to her.
“Just my kid brother.”
“Oh. Maybe he can go sit next to Cousin Sammy. I think he brought some baseball cards. Said he has a lot of the Dodgers.”
Frankie came to life.
“Which ones? Campanella? Furillo? Where is he?”
Adeline pointed across the immense ballroom.
“Go now, before the other boys get ‘em all.”
She watched Frankie dodge waiters and scoot around tables, to reach the promised land. Alfie watched her watching, how she craned her neck and giggled, thinking she was some kind of miracle.
“He loves ball. Any time we come to visit Grandma Pace, I see him out there.”
Alfie felt suddenly easy as a breeze.
“Are you gonna show me how to dance now?”
She eyed him for a minute.
“If you want. But I just told them that so I wouldn’t have to dance with the older boys. Whenever there’s a wedding or a party, they throw me around like a rag doll.”
Alfie's neck was getting warm.
“What do you want to do, then?”
“Well, why don’t we just talk? You’re my cousin, but before you came here, I hardly saw you. I still hardly know you.”
Alfie looked into her dark eyes.
“I could just tell that we should be close friends.”
No girl ever wanted to be his friend before. Why did Adeline have to be the first? He dropped his eyes. Truth was that happy as he’d been to get away from upstate, he didn’t have so many friends in Brooklyn. For one thing he liked to practice and didn’t go out as much as the other kids. For another they told him he talked funny, like someone was holding his mouth open for him. There was Johnny Paone, who he knew from school, but who worked with his father most of the time; and there was Snooky, his best pal here, except lately he’d got himself a girl, some dish from Bath Beach, who never left him alone.
“So you wanna talk?”
She nodded.
“I think there’s a hallway on the side. Probably quiet.”
She led him there while their whole family and the Polack’s family were all on the dance floor, and the young kids were playing games over by the other wall. Alfie held open one of the double doors leading out and took a deep whiff of Adeline’s perfume as she walked through. If she just wanted to be his friend, she didn’t have to smile at him so much.
“There’s a bench right down here by the telephone booth.”
“O. K.”
Through the wall Alfie could hear the band crucifying Duke Ellington.
Adeline sat him down first, then sat as close as she could, facing him, but not touching.
“That’s better. Now, ask me a question. Any question you want.”