Road to Respect ~ Sopranos

Chapter 25

Bruno

"Our undergrad student body at Brown only numbers around six thousand people." Bruno yawned and looked over to his mother who gave him a 'pay attention' look. He looked back to his brother who was asleep on the desk, and his father who was barely awake. "That's from every state in this country, and from over sixty countries in the world. Admission is extremely selective. So, again, get all of your academic and extracurricular ducks in a row. Leave nothing to chance."

Bruno then suddenly got up and looked to his mother. "I gotta piss." He whispered to her. He walked out of the room and walked down the hall to the bathroom where he saw Tony walk back inside from outside. "Hey uncle Tony." Bruno said with a smile.

"Hey, Bru?" Tony said, a little confused. "What the hell are you doin' here?"

"Ma wants me to look at this shit with Alex. Just in case I change my mind." Bruno walked into the bathroom and held the door open for Tony. "I'm not of course, but college does sound a little interesting."

"Yeah well, education is important." Tony shrugged, not really paying attention.

Soon another man walked in while Tony was at the urinal. "Hey buddy." The man said to Tony while Bruno was washing his hands.

"Davey!" Tony said, looking back at him slightly. "Saw your wife out there alone. I figured you for the trotters."

The man hummed and shook his head. "Not tonight. I had a customer I couldn't shake. Guy spends half an hour deciding between a twenty-dollar soccer ball and a twenty-two-dollar soccer ball." Bruno snorted, gaining the man's attention. "Do I know you?"

"Bruno LaRocca, Tony here is my... sort of uncle." Bruno explained.

The man nodded. "I'm David. I knew Tony way back when." He then turned to Tony. "So who do you like?"

"I don't know. The guy from Bowdoin seems to make some sense, I guess." Tony said. "What about you Bruno?"

"The guy from the police academy made some good points." Bruno jokes making Tony chuckle. "Maybe trade school for me though. Carpentry, welding, all that sort of shit, ya know."

"No shit." Tiny sounded a little surprised.

"Yeah, I mean everyone is going to need a carpenter at some point, right?" Bruno shrugged. "I don't know."

"That's all very interesting fellas, but I mean the game tonight." David chuckled.

Bruno knew David was speaking about gambling on the football game happening that night. For the most part they all stay out of gambling unless it's just for a little fun, but Joseph has been looking at expanding into some of the local teams, starting their own racket and somehow fix the games. Bruno didn't know how they were going to do that, but it was Jimmy Jr.'s idea and Joey was thinking about it.

The door then swung open and Artie walked in. "Ho, ho, ho!" The man said excitedly. He walked up to the middle urinal and looked between Tony and David. "You guys want to be alone?" The other guys chuckled, and Artie looked at Bruno. "Your ma is out there looking for you."

"Why do you think I'm staying in here." Bruno let out a light laugh. He liked Artie, he was a little much sometimes but Bruno chose to find it charming rather than annoying. "Your daughter is looking at colleges, too?"

"Yeah, wants to be a damn doctor." Artie said with a proud smile. "Don't know how the hell I'm going to afford that shit. But us Bucco's are hard workers, we'll make our way."

"If you want, I could talk to Joey about giving her a job." Bruno offered. "It would look good on applications if she worked at a drugstore."

"Yeah, that would be great." Artie said with a smile. "Chiara always likes Joey."