A Promessa

Cosa da Grandi

There's a reason children shouldn't engage in adult stuff.

—*—

Vito didn't like Giulia. She always followed them around like a duckling, sticking to Pietro like a tick. She often slowed them down when playing with the other kids, who made fun of them for having to babysit 'the mute dolphin.' Pietro always got into fights to defend his little sister's 'honor,' which got them into trouble when the grown-ups appeared to break them up.

But perhaps what he hated about Giulia the most was the different—sometimes even preferential—treatment she received from the grown-ups. She was never yelled at or punished like he, Pietro, and the other children.

One such occasion happened over a month ago. One of the older kids came up with some beers and cigars to give them a try. Giulia, who'd seen the Pinnochio movie with her cousin a few nights ago, tried to stop them.

"Come on, Giulia. We're not going to turn into–EHAAW!" Vito brayed loudly, which scared Giulia away.

"That wasn't very nice!" Pietro had protested.

"Big deal. She'll probably hide under a bed or something."

And so, they went back to their tasting session. The beer was very sour, and Vito didn't like it. They were about to light up one of the cigars when the door slammed open, and Jawns came in.

"What in Leviathan's name do you think you're doing?!" he yelled.

He'd caught Giulia trying to stuff beer cans and cigars into the toilet. When he asked her why, she said that she didn't want Pietro and Vito to become donkeys and be taken by the evil coachman. Jawns realized what she meant by that and caught them in the act. Needless to say, Vito, Pietro, and the other boys involved were severely scolded. They were all grounded without TV, video games, or new toys for a whole month.

Vito tearfully glared at Giulia while the little snitch hid behind Alessio. How come no one called her out for clogging the toilet?

The perfect opportunity for payback arrived sometime later during a barbecue at his home. As usual, Mom took a while to get her makeup done. Once she finally went down, Vito casually saw Giulia enter his parents' room. She was painting her face with mom's expensive makeup, which is supposed to be adult stuff, too. Vito sneered internally as he ran downstairs to fetch his mother.

"Mamma, Giulia is playing with your makeup!"

He followed Mom upstairs, eager to see the little snitch getting scolded for doing grown-up stuff. But as Mom entered the room and caught Giulia in the act, her reaction was not what he expected.

"Aww, Giulia. You're too young to be trying on makeup, sweetie." she giggled and picked Giulia up to place her on her lap. "Here, let me give you a hand."

Mom fixed Giulia's disastrous attempt at painting her face. When they returned to the party, Giulia had a bit of blush, lipstick, and eye shadow. None of the adults seemed mad. Instead, they laughed and said she looked cute.

Vito sourly joined Pietro at the table outside. Sharing the table with them was a green, odd-looking—and very short—shark hybrid of sorts. Vito recognized him as Finnegan, or 'Frankie' as most people called him, one of the 'Irish brothers.' Lately, Vito hadn't seen his twin brother. Dad mentioned he'd died, but he didn't tell them how. Only that Finnegan was still coping with the loss.

The Irish shark didn't acknowledge the two boys. He slumped on the table, holding a beer bottle in one hand.

"It's not fair," he complained.