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BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG –
Daddy and Mommy both jerk.
Red sprays all over the white airbags.
Drops of something hot and wet spray on my face –
And then the motorcycle man points his gun at me.
I can see the little black circle at the end. Smoke is drifting out of it.
I wait for him to kill me –
But I guess he changes his mind because he lowers the gun and drives off.
There is the sound of another car roaring up next to ours. Men shout, car doors slam shut, and the car drives away.
I’m alone in the backseat of the car.
The horn is still honking loud.
Mommy and Daddy are slumped forward in their seats…
And I scream, and scream, and scream.
It feels like I scream forever.
* * *
Now I’m sitting by myself on a wooden bench in a hallway.
I don’t remember how I got here. It was all a big blur.
I wonder where I am – and then I realize I have to be back in Venice because Nona walks into the hallway. Nona never leaves Venice.
She’s wearing a black dress like she always does…
And when she sees me, she starts to cry.
That scares me, because Nona never cries.
She walks over to the bench, sits down next to me, and takes me in her arms.
And as she rocks me back and forth, she whispers in my ear, I’m so sorry, my sweet girl… I’m so sorry…
58
Massimo
“…and… and that’s when I went to live with her,” Lucia sobbed.
Her body trembled as I held her in my arms.
She had cried non-stop for ten minutes. After that, she was barely able to get out the details of what had happened when she was six years old.
And as she told me…
My heart broke for her.
