Volcano

A meeting between a mafia boss and a young man takes place in Sicily. The outcome is unexpected!

Volcano

 

Volcanoes can be extinct, or they can be dormant with deeply hidden and unpredictable processes culminating in eruption. Finally, they can be active with continual eruptions occurring, but of unpredictable variety and power.

 

In the same way, with humans, unpredictable and immeasurable pressures and tensions needling away deep within can lead to cataclysmic eruption.

 

Now, let’s make it more personal. We’ll take a closer look at some particular events, affecting some particular people, in a particular place.

 

Imagine we are out in space peering down with Google earth. Zoom right into that small island about to be kicked by the boot of Italy - Sicily. Zoom further in to the great mountain called Etna with its cap of snow.

 

Search for the old village of Mascali then click on street view. Head east out of the village past the ruins of the old church destroyed in the 1928 eruption. Stop at the second house past Signora Bianco’s little shop on the left and tell your driver to park and wait. Try not to look at the security cameras as you walk up the short path to the front door. Don’t let your anxiety show for you have every reason to feel anxious. Knock, assertively, but not too forcefully, if you can manage that! You’re out of street view now, you’re on your own, you’re about to enter the brutal world of Signor Rossi. You’ll have to wait because Signora Rossi’s arthritis is playing up. She will invite you in. She has never been known to smile.

  

‘Please come in Signor Messana, Signor Rossi is expecting you.’

In the traditional front room; tiled floor, heavy wooden furniture, I found Signor Rossi sitting opposite with an impenetrable look on his brown and deeply lined face. Known as a man of few words, but for a man such as Signor Rossi few words are needed.

‘Signor Messana, sit.’

‘Please call me Robert, Senor.’ I immediately knew I had made a faux pas. Did I imagine in a thousand years that Signor Rossi would exchange christian names with me.

‘This is business, Signor Messana. How was your flight from New York?’

‘Tedious, Don Rossi!’ Signor Rossi’s face registered scorn.  My heart sunk again. ‘You address me as Signor, Don is an American foolishness, these Yankees learn about us from these damn Godfather films.  You will take a glass of our local red wine, Etna Rosso, Signor Messana.’ Signora Rossi went to the cabinet to pour two glasses.

 

As I waited for her to bring the glass I could see Signor Rossi’s attention drawn by something he could see through the window. I followed his gaze and could see the cone of Mount Etna which towered above the village with a dark cloud rising from the summit.

‘Is it erupting?’ I couldn’t help asking, but immediately feeling a bit foolish.

Signor Rossi chuckled. ‘Don’t worry - eruptions always come with plenty of warnings!’

Signora Rossi brought my glass across and laid it on the side table.

‘Is this your first visit to Sicily, Signor Messana?’ Signor Rossi asked.

‘Yes, eh, well no, it’s the first visit I can remember but I was actually born in Sicily. I spent my first ten months in the Santa Rita orphanage in Messina. I was adopted by an American couple who had originally emigrated from Messina and taken back to New York. Unfortunately my stepmother passed away two years away.’

‘Ah, you have the blood Senor. You are family!’ Signor Rossi shrugged, gestured with his two hands and gave a mirthless laugh. ‘Your stepfather’s name wasn’t Antonio was it?’

‘Yes - actually it is!’

‘Antonio and I were young men together surviving on the streets of Messina. We were what you Yankees call foot soldiers. Antonio and I learned a lot together. I tell you, no-one crossed Antonio. But then he just disappeared - I later found that he had gone to America. I never knew why!’

 

My mouth was dry but I willed myself to speak.

‘It is time for business now Signor Rossi! I will be direct with you. My organisation in New York did some business with you recently. You delivered six large consignments of what we will call ‘medical supplies’. We discovered that the goods had been adulterated. We are prepared to be generous to avoid any bad feeling. I have one of the packages here with me unopened so that you can confirm what has happened.

‘You are prepared to be generous!’ He repeated, with sarcasm drooling from every word. I could see Signor Rossi’s hands gripping the chair as he tried to rein in his legendary temper. His mouth tightened to a slit. His eyes narrowed.

‘You are not suggesting that I had anything to do with this?’

‘No, no, we know you are a man of honour. It must be one of your men taking a cut.’  I could see that Signor Rossi was nearing a tipping point.

‘One of my men?’ He spat out in my direction. ‘One of my men did try to take a cut once but the only cut he got was when I sliced off his manhood and sent it to his family.’

I blanched and found it hard to breathe. What has my boss got me into?

‘Signor, I am only an accountant. I have been sent to sort this problem out and return the honour between our two organisations.

‘Si Signor - bring your package through to the dining room. We will open it and get to the truth.’

I laid the package on the table. Signor Rossi took a knife from his pocket. When he pressed the button a four inch dagger blade sprang into place.

The shining blade mesmerised me and when I managed to pull my gaze away Signor Rossi’s was looking at me like a Sicilian peasant about to wring a chicken’s neck

‘Go on you piece of American s**t. Show me how stupid we are here in Sicily.’ I could see that he had lost all vestiges of control now. He used the knife to slice the plastic package open and allow the white powder to spill out. Signor Rossi then licked his finger and transferred some to his tongue. As he pondered the taste he looked at me with a pitiless look. I was the rabbit in his headlights. A chilling smile broke his rictus.

‘Go on, you can try some yourself, Signor.’ I did as asked. For a split second there was a blur of motion and I looked down to see my hand impaled to the table by the dagger.

‘Wha ..wha … I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t speak. I felt faint. But there was no pain. Stupidly I thought - this hasn’t happened! This is not in my world!

 

‘Come through Signora Rossi,’ he shouted to the kitchen. She came through and stood by the table. It was obvious she had seen this kind of thing many times before. Then she looked down at my hand. I turned to look at her and saw an expression of shock cloud her face. She looked again at my hand and then took a long searching look at me.  Signor Rossi hadn’t noticed this exchange. ‘Bring through the filleting knife. You know the one I like for these ‘messy' jobs.’ I had to work hard to stop my legs buckling and my bladder emptying.

She went back to the kitchen. The pain now came in excruciating waves and I shrieked. I kept on shrieking.

‘Stop that f*****g noise.’  I stopped the noise and then whimpered.

 

A few moments later Signora Rossi appeared at the end of the table but she was holding a hand gun with both arms outstretched. It was aimed at Signor Rossi. He looked up with a look of utter confusion. Stupidly he said, ‘I asked for the knife you stupid f*****g b***h!’

An ear splitting shot rang out and Signor Rossi slumped back in the chair. He looked down in disbelief and saw dark blood seeping from below his shoulder.  Each breath sputtered life blood from his thin lips.

‘What have you done?’ Each word dribbled blood from his mouth.

 

Signora Rossi took a minute to remove the knife and gently wrap up my hand with a cloth.

 

Then she spoke to me quietly.

‘What I’m going to say will shock you Roberto. I got a surprise when you spoke about being adopted from the orphanage in Messina. But when I looked at your hand a minute ago and saw the birthmark I felt I could hardly breathe and I thought how can this be possible?’

‘What are you talking about?’

 

‘The story started when I had been married for a year. The excitement of marriage to a Mafia boss was wearing off and my husband was showing his true nature - brutality. I was nothing better than a servant.

Then - I know it was madness  but I fell in love with one of my husband’s friends and I became pregnant. Of course Giovanni found out and I thought he was going to kill me. Only the priest saved my life. Giovanni beat me black and blue to get the fathers name but I never told him.  He told me that he could not lose face and I was to live with my mother until the baby was born. Then I was to take the baby out to the scrub country where there are still wolves and leave it there. Of course when the time came I could not kill my baby so I left him on the steps of the Santa Rita orphanage. 

 

That’s the last I saw of him. I did go back once to see him but I discovered he had been adopted. I gave the nuns a letter to send to his new parents but I returned to Giovanni and told him I’d left the baby out for the wolves. From that day to this my heart has been broken but I have been kept here to slave for him. I have even had to share my house with these w****s that were brought here every week. Apart from a weekly visit to the church to celebrate mass I have not been allowed to step out of the house for thirty years.’

 

‘I’m not sure I have understood this - surely you are not saying that you are my.. my…’  the idea seemed so preposterous I found it hard to even say the word.

‘Yes, there is no doubt, Roberto. You are the baby I left on the orphanage step.’ She looked across to the Signor with loathing. ‘You can see I had no choice.’

Almost at the point of slipping into unconsciousness a look of realisation suddenly appeared on Signor Rossi’s face.

‘The baby’s father was Antonio.’ He managed to rasp out faintly one word at a time.

‘Yes - and a better man than you have ever been!’

My mother stepped across to him, put the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger. Blood and brains spattered the wall.

 

Suddenly the significance of what had just been said dawned on me. ‘Antonio is really my father!’ I felt in a daze. In the course of a minute or two I had found my mother and father.

‘Of course, Antonio had just married my stepmother in America. He couldn’t tell her that he had a son so they came back to the orphanage and adopted me. My mother never knew!’

‘You must always remember, Roberto, that your father did not abandon you.’

Our first, long overdue, tear stained and emotional hug was interrupted when the furniture started to shake and the glass cabinet fell over. A woman screamed outside. I looked up at Etna. A great black cloud rose from the summit. Booming explosions rent the air and bursts of red hot lava appeared from the summit.

 

It struck me that I didn’t even know my mothers name!

‘Concetta.’

She laughed and smiled. ‘You know I’m like that volcano. I’ve held it all in for years. Today he went too far and the dam of anger building inside me burst.’

‘We’ll go to the car and get away from this place.’

At the car I suddenly realised that the cataclysmic events of the past few minutes had made me forget about my driver. I opened the door and said to my mother. ‘Concetta, this is Antonio!’ She looked, looked again and then let out a squeal of surprise and pleasure.

‘I’ll drive, you two sit in the back. I think that we have an eruption " or two - to escape from!’

Reviews

[Kathy Van Kurin]

'Volcano,
alangraham,
You must of had a 'blast' writing this one. I see that the focus is on the surprises that life can offer. We never know until after the fact how close catastrophe of shock can be. Sometimes during my own life it has been interesting to note the chain of events around culture, society, politics and It seems that a blessing came out of something which seemed bad. Great story. I was hooked!
Blessings,
kathy

[alanwgraham]

You did well to find this old story Kathy and thanks for your nice words. I did have fun writing this but it was hard making it all fit. There is so much to write about just now - it feels like everything has been tossed up and no -one knows how they'll land.
Take care
Alan

[Kathy Van Kurin]

I did enjoy your piece Alan. As far as 'just now' it is just part of our present time. Life is full of challenges and we all must try our best. Blessings to you as always.
Kathy

[bookishmuggle]

I did not expect that plot twist at all! I liked the way you related the volcano to the mother. It couldn't have been a coincidence that the volcano started to erupt immediately after she lost her temper.
You told me that there were "some problems still", but I didn't think I would find any. The only thing that might be considered a problem is all the people the mafia boss murdered. Did no one hear the screams coming from the house? Is no one suspicious about all the people that just happened to disappear after they walked inside?
Great job, Alan
-B

[alanwgraham]

Thanks for reading and suggestion. A soundproof room would cover that. making the plot complicated does increase the problems. Feedback and constructive crit' is the way to go.
Cheers
alan

[sayohBeloved]

I liked this one very much, I enjoyed the parallels between nature and the nature of man, I feel strange offering criticism since my own writing is far from decent, but It would have been great to see subtle warning signs from the wife/mother slowly building before the eruption, I felt like all the signs were from the boss, and than the eruption happens from another, than again it does add that element of surprise, very good stuff.

[alanwgraham]

Thanks so much for your very thoughtful comments. This is one story where i know i have to have a good look at it and reconsider aspects of the characters and plot. It' is great to get some constructive reviews.
Alan

[Aventicus]

You did well at keeping the reader's interest and I definitely appreciated your wording, but I have some critiques to offer. I felt that at some points your transitions were to sudden. Such as from the event of the business meeting to the event of the confrontation seemed to arrive out of nowhere with hardly any explanation. And then there was the point where the main character's mother came out and shot Giovanni. It wasn't exactly as confusing as the aforementioned event, but it did still leave me with some questions. There were some other points in your plot that could have stood for a smoother flow. And finally, you have a few sentence structure errors, but those are mistakes we all make. Other than that, nicely written and very interesting.

[G. Coleman]

You have a very impressive vocabulary and a very solid story line. Your descriptions are very well constructed and interesting. It feels like the main character could be established a bit more before the narrative picks up so much steam, but that's just my opinion. Keep at it Alan!

[alanwgraham]

Thanks very much G. I appreciate your comment and have a think about it - I believe that i could build his character a bit more earlier. Since the story hinges round the later revelations about Robert's origins I had to be careful not to say too much.
I loog forward to looking at your work.
Thanks again,
Alan

[Nisreen]

you definitely have a way with drawing in your reader
and this story
seems to have many hidden events