to worry. I’ll be on my best behavior, I promise.”
“That’s what I was afraid of,” Gina laughed.
Carlo laughed with his niece.
Gina joined her uncle in another espresso before going home to get ready to meet Charlie.
Charlie made a trip to the cemetery that Sunday morning. He made his way to his parents’ gravesite as he had done so often since his parents had both died. “Hello Mom, Dad. He crossed himself as he approached the pair of headstones, “I’ve got some things to tell you. The girl I’ve been dating could easily become my wife. We went out last night and we decided that we really care a lot about each other. I mean in a really serious way. I’ve never felt this way about anybody. I’m almost certain this is going to work out. I hope you can bless me and pray for me up there in Heaven. Dad, the job is going really well. Fred Perkins is his usual pain-in-the-ass self, but I’ve got him under control. The guys in the department say I drive him nuts. I know you never had much contact with Fred but I also know that you didn’t think much of him. Sometimes I feel sorry for the poor bastard, but the operational word here is not ‘poor’, it’s ‘bastard’. He really can be nasty. I remember that you once told me that when you left the company parking lot you would keep your windows shut and wave to the ‘big shots’ and say, ‘Good night’ and then whisper ‘asshole!’ I feel that way sometimes when I leave the company. I work around some nice people, but I’m not too big on the corporate scene. There are a hell of a lot of phonies looking to screw their buddies for a promotion. It can be pretty nasty sometimes. Mom, I don’t know what to do about some of the women in this town. A couple of them followed me up to Philly yesterday. It was the weirdest thing I ever experienced. I mean what the hell do they care about my life, you know? Well, there’s nothing I can do about it, I guess. I’ll just have to wear them down. Well, that’s the news for the week. I hope you and Dad are together in some place beautiful. I love you both.” Charlie said a brief prayer and went back to his car.
He drove home and took a shower and changed before heading off to Philly to see Gina. While he was toweling off after his shower Gina called. “Charlie?” her voice was excited.
“Hey, Gina. I’m getting ready to drive up there. Trattoria again?”
“Yes. Can you be here by about one-o-clock?”
“Sure,” answered Charlie.
“Charlie, I can’t wait until you get here to tell you that I have set up for you to meet my uncle. He agreed and I’m so excited. I’m sure you two will hit it off! I’ll tell you everything when you get here. Kisses! See you in a little while! Bye!” Before Charlie could say anything, Gina rang off.
Charlie laughed to himself. Gina sounded really happy and like a little kid. He was sure that her uncle’s approval would determine whether they got together or not. It was clear that he had a lot of influence, if not control, over Gina.
After dressing in jeans and a rust-colored sport shirt, and putting on a pair of sport moccasins, he walked out to his car to drive to Philly. He looked up and down his street and saw what he thought was the same car that had followed him on Saturday. He could see what looked like two women in the car. The car was parked some distance away so he decided to drive right by it. When he got fairly close, the two heads disappeared below the dashboard. He made a mental note of the license plate and without even checking what he had written down before, he was sure it was the same as the one on the car that followed him yesterday. He pretended not to look into the parked vehicle as he drove by. His peripheral vision allowed him to see into the passenger seat and he could see what he was sure was a woman hunched down. He couldn’t see her face.
Because he was going the other way and the street was practically deserted on a Sunday, the other car did not give chase. Charlie chuckled to himself. “Too bad ladies,” he said to himself, by the time you get turned around I will have lost you! Why don’t you go home and fix lunch, do the laundry, or something?”
Charlie went straight up I-95 again because he was sure he had eluded the two women who were watching him. They couldn’t get their car turned around until he had traveled down the street a good distance and by that time he had taken some evasive maneuvers and then gone down to the entrance to the bridge to Wilmington to connect to I-95.
He checked along the way just to be sure the two women had not caught up to him on the interstate. “Coast clear,” thought Charlie, ‘maybe I’d make a good spy!”
When he got to the trattoria Gina was waiting for him. She was fantastic in a pair of jeans, a cream-colored silk blouse, and a pair of cross trainers that didn’t look like she ran in them very much. “Don’t you look great!” said Charlie, “I’ve never seen you in jeans. You’re a knock out!”
“Well, aren’t you the gallant one, Mr. Mullins? I’m not always dressed to the nines you know!”
“Anyway, Wow!”
“Charlie, you know what I would like today before going to the park?”
“Your every wish is a command,” said Charlie.
“I’d love to go for a Philly cheese steak sandwich with lots of pepper and onions! Got a problem with that?”
“Not in the least! You got a favorite place?” Charlie knew that there were Philly cheese steaks and Philly cheese steaks. Philadelphians knew the really good places. The others were for tourists. The first thing you noticed about an authentic Philly cheese steak place was the Tasty-cake display. Every place that had good cheese steak sandwiches always had a generous display of the famous (and regional) Tasty-cakes. They were standard fare in Charlie’s lunch box for years. Charlie remembered the butterscotch krimpets, the chocolate cupcakes, Tandy-cakes and the pies that the Tasty Baking Company made in Philly and sold only in the Delmarva Peninsula and Philly. You couldn’t find them beyond the area for years. They were always fresh, and above all delicious.
Gina said “I sure do!” and it was the place where he and Joey Esposito had gone to talk about Gina. When they sat down Charlie laughed and said, “Gina, I’ve known this place for years and Joey Esposito and I had lunch here no more than a few weeks ago when I told him about you – and us.”
“Charlie, Joey knows and so do I. This is the only place in Philly for a cheese steak sandwich.”
Charlie ordered two sandwiches, “all the way”. “Drink, Gina?”
“Beer of course, Charlie! You can’t eat a Philly cheese steak without a beer!”
When their meal was served, Charlie watched Gina delicately, but with resolve, devour her sandwich. “Gina, I swear, you are the only woman I ever saw eat a Philly cheese steak sandwich with class. I’m truly impressed.”
“Practice, Charlie, practice!” she laughed.
“So, Gina, tell me about your uncle. He said he wanted to meet me?”
“Of course, Charlie. He’s my uncle, my father, and a friend. Why wouldn’t he want to meet you?”
“So what’s his name, Gina? I’ll have to call him something.”
“His name is Carlo – a common Italian name. I’ll tell you more before you meet him. But for now, just know him as Carlo.”
“Wow, what a mystery!” Charlie said, “Is there
