COMING TO AMERICA
“America is to great for small dreams.”
- Ronald Reagan
Anita's mother, Alessia, grew up near Polermo with the view from her terrace of the northern Mediterranean Sea off a street called Contrada Carbonaro. Alessia had dark skin, dark brown curly hair and a fire in her belly. She was poor but lived on the ocean and had a good childhood playing on the beach with friends and helping her mom wash clothes and make dinner. She and her friends wore jean shorts with frayed bottoms, white shirts tied up at the waist, and red scarfs. They ran along the beach in the sunlight flying kites and looking for sea shells. When Alessia was eleven her family fell on hard times. The economy in Italy was suffering from record debt and large scale unemployment when her father lost his fishing boat to the bank. He became deeply depressed and began to drink excessively. With her father out of work Alessia's mom charged customers a little more money employing Alessia to help her clean homes and any other work the richer families would have her do. Alessia's father and mother fought violently during this period and when she wasn't working she escaped into the night and the city. On one of her many flights into the city Alessia went to a meeting in Polermo of the Autonomia Operaia a violent anti-union movement mostly populated by young angry men and women out of work. A young man, also dark haired and dark skinned was speaking about the unions and how they had broken the back of the Italian economy. He was commanding, shaking his fists condemning the injustice to the Italian workers out of work. It was 1977, Alessia was 15. After his speech, Antonio, the handsome, strong willed, intelligent boy came over to Alessia and asked her to have coffee with him. It was not long before Alessia and Antonio were a couple, and not long after that before they were staging violent protests against trade union members together. Antonio and Alessia married before she turned 17. In 1979 they fled the country to America to escape trial for their violent activities.
Life was difficult for Anita's parents in America. When they arrived neither of them spoke English. They were fortunate to run into Italians in New York who helped them with tickets and a place to stay in Bridgeport, Chicago. Antonio landed a job as a long shore man loading and unloading containers whose goods were destined for shipment all over the country. At night, Antonio and Alessia went to a community school that taught them English and prepared them for their GEDs. By 1985 Antonio had graduated from community college with a teaching degree in math. In 1986 Anita's parents had their first child, a cute Downs Syndrome baby boy, Antonio Junior. Alessia felt extreme shame when he was born and refused to let others see him. Within days of having Antonio Junior Alessia was pressuring Antonio for sex and became pregnant. Anita was born 9 calendar months later.
Anita received very little love from either her father or her mother. Alessia made it clear to Antonio that Anita's purpose in life was to take care of her brother freeing them to promote their financial future. Antonio acquiesced to save his marriage and he too became cold and ruthless towards Anita. At the age of three Anita was expected to entertain her brother and pick up after him. Any lapses of behavior by Anita brought on immediate harsh corporal punishment including beatings, starvation, and burning. Through all this, Anita was a loving child. She loved her brother dearly and protected him from her parents. Alessia made only one exception to her son going out in public. She allowed him to go to school. This was not by choice but by dictate required of her by social services. Her neighbors had seen her son through the windows and reported them. Anita walked Antonio Junior to school everyday, ate lunch with him, and walked him home. At night she changed Antonio Juniors diaper, made dinner, and cleaned the house. Anita was a servant of her family. She had no friends, no outside activities, and no life other than the one inside her heart. Inside her heart she dreamed of freedom, friends, and college. When she was seventeen Anita told her parents at the dinner table about her dream to someday attend college.
Alessia hit Anita across the face and screamed. "You selfish bitch. You would leave your brother alone and lost. You have no heart. Get out of my sight."
Later that night her father came into the room she shared with Antonio Junior. She was sitting on the floor playing blocks with him. Her father told her with dispassion, "Go ahead and take the college tests. But if you get anything less than 95% I will kill you."
That night Anita packed her bags, kissed her brother goodbye, left her house with no money, no place to stay, and never saw her parents again.
Copyright © 1993 - 2010 Philip Regenie, All Rights Reserved
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