Round Here

Chapter Twenty Six

March '85

Vinny turned fourteen, and has grown since January. I remember when he was my little man. I wish they'd stop growing up so fast. March has been odd. It's not been too cold, but then we got days where it'd feel like it was winter again. Rafi's poor little hand had recovered. He ended up needing surgery. They found that out when the bone was still broken. It turned out they cast it wrong. So my poor son had to deal with the pain again. I hated seeing any of them like that. He did enjoy the few days off of school. I enjoyed spending the extra time with him. Sonny seemed to enjoy it too. 

Today it was raining. Sonny and I were inside with the puppies. All six of them. Pongo and Perdy were hiding somewhere. I could see why. They were such little shits. They were almost ready to go to our family. Michael, Fredo, Dad and Vito were all getting one. Thank God. I mean it left us with two more, but Freddie insisted we kept one. So we were keeping Lucky. Sonny and I were in the kitchen baking. He wanted cookies. So I told him I'd make him some. Tom had been napping upstairs when we got home from the grocery store so we left him be. Freddie was out with Dominick. Their relationship confused me a bit. They were together one week and by the next week they were broken up. I didn't bother with it since it was none of my business. So I just left it be. 

I was startled by the phone. "Sonny you wanna answer it?" He didn't want to by the look of his face, but did anyways. "Hello, Santino speaking." He rolled his eyes as he looked over to me. He covered the mouth piece. "Santina it sounds like they're killing our child over there." "What's going on?" He shrugged before going back to the conversation. "I understand that Mrs. McKinnon but I don't get why he's screaming like a banshee." "Give me the phone." I said as I came over to him. He shushed me. "No we're not busy right now, but I'd prefer if we didn't have to get him if there's nothing wrong." He sighed as I went over and shut the oven off. "Alright we're on our way." He said as he hung up. He gave me this look. "So which son is it?" "Marlon. He's in the office screaming like a fucking banshee. Like holy fuck. She said there was something wrong with him. Or so he said anyways. So we should go." I just shook my head as I put the cookie tray on the stove. "Let's go see what's wrong with our son. Doesn't he have a car?" "No I dropped them off this morning." I ha forgotten that. 

We arrived at the school shortly after noon. We heard him screaming from the hall. "Ah, Mrs. Corleone you're finally here. Follow the screaming."  We followed her in. We walked into her office and saw Marlon on the floor with Little Sonny holding his hand. I saw my son's tears. She was a little bit frightened too. "Marble what's going on my son?" Sonny said as he got down to his level. "Mrs. McKinnon do you have any idea what happened?" I asked as Sonny worked on Marlon. She sighed. "They were watching a movie for English and then he freaked out. Sonny here brought him in since she didn't know what to do." I seemed a bit confused. "What movie were they watching?" "Last Tango In Paris, I believe." I sighed. I now knew exactly why he was freaking out the way he was. Sonny was getting him calm. I was glad. "I don't see why they were watching that movie." I said back to her. "Neither do I. Please just take him home. He's not doing any work here. So I think it's best that in his state he goes home." "We'll take him home don't worry. Might as well take them both." I said as I saw them get up. Marlon held onto his father's hand as he picked up his bag. "We'll see you tomorrow Marlon." She said. He nodded in agreement as we left. We got back into the car. They sat up front with us. Marlon was attached to his father so I had to drive. "Marly what got to you?" He sniffled a bit. "You know that scene where he does that thing to her?" I knew that scene. "Yeah I do. What made you so upset about it?" He held onto Sonny. "It made me think of Uncle Carlo, and what he did to me." I sighed as I rubbed his shoulder. "I'm sorry baby." I pulled back into our home. "I made cookies. Did you want some Marly?" He nodded. We then got back inside. I mean I didn't want to get wet so we were quick.