Love Tunes

One

"Mama I'm home," Leonardo says, walking through the front door. He is covered in sweat and his muscles are starting to ache. He is exhausted and very hungry, and the sound of sizzling coming from the kitchen isn't helping with his empty stomach.

"Leo my baby!" His mother shouts, "I'm in the kitchen!"

Leonardo slowly makes his way through the creaky hallway to the kitchen. He is practicing pulling himself along.

"Leo hi!" His mother says, giving him a big hug.
"Look at you, you look exhausted. Big job today?"

"Very big job today Mama," Leonardo says, yawning.

"Did you get no breaks today?" His mother asks, rubbing his shoulders.

"No. The customer wanted the job done today," Leonardo says.

"Did your father say when he's coming home?"

"Papa said around 8:30pm, as he has to finalize some things with Geronimo," Leonardo says. He looks at the time on the clock. It reads 5:15pm.

Leonardo's mother sighs.

"What's wrong mama?" Leonardo asks.

"Papas never home now, and he's probably going to miss dinner again," She says, looking back at the chicken schnitzel she is cooking.

"Mama, everything will be ok. We need the money,"

"I know, but, now since you're old enough to work, you're no longer home, and I'm just alone. I never wanted you to be pulled into this, I just wanted you to go to school," His mother says, looking at the ground.

"It's ok Mama. I don't mind. Like I said before, we need the money," Leonardo says, with his tummy making a loud growl.

"Have you eaten anything today?" Asks his mother. Leonardo shakes his head. She frowns.

"Ok, go have a shower and once you're done dinner should be ready. I don't want to share the table with a stinky boy," she says laughing. Leonardo rolls his eyes and walks out of the kitchen.

He makes his way up the stairs to the bedroom. He just wants to crawl into a ball and fall asleep. It's tough for Leonardo to work all day, most days of the week. Sometimes if he works well and when they don't have many customers he gets a few days off.

The only official day they get off is Sunday's, where they go to church.

Leonardo works for his fathers friend, Geronimo Puddu's, tile company. Both him and father work for him. Geronimo doesn't have many employees, therefore meaning himself and his father are doing most of the work, and it can be tiring for Leonardo, as he is only 17. Leonardo would go to school, but he can't, because his parents don't have enough money to pay for school fees. Leonardo doesn't mind working though, he just wants to help his family wherever he can.

His mother works as a part time housewife. She doesn't earn much, and doesn't get many shifts, but it's enough to get by. When she gets a shift, she works from early in the morning to late at night.

The Rossi's don't have a big house.  Once you walk into their house, in the corner of the wall on the left there is a coat hanger, and on the right there is their lounge room, which has two small couches and one wooden coffee table, where old newspapers and magazines are stored. There is also one standing lamp placed neatly in the corner of the room. Pot plants are also decorated accordingly around the room.
They cannot afford to have a TV, unlike some other families in town. They don't really care though, as they wouldn't have enough time to watch it anyway. The only source of information they need from it is the news, where they get that from their radio and newspapers anyway.