March 2013

 

Dedication

For my wonderful, courageous, lovely Dad, who battled with lung cancer for five and a half years. Geoff – 1960-2012. And many thanks to my wonderful cuz Ruth, who designed my fabulous first front cover.

 

The Great Fragola Brothers 2013

Published by Emu Ink Ltd
www.emuink.ie

© Joe Prendergast (C/O Ita Mac Conville)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic or mechanical, including printing, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems – without prior written permission of the author.

Cover Design by Ruth Mac Conville

ISBN: 978 - 1 - 909684 - 02 - 7

CHAPTER 1

The Great Fragola Brothers

The Great Fragola Brothers were preparing for their flight to LaGuardia Airport, from their native Venice. The airport was busy but they kept to themselves in the thronged building.

Paolo and Giuseppe Fragola were a magician act, which were very popular in their own part of the world but were travelling to New York to start their career abroad.

The two brothers, who didn’t look at all alike, were similar in only one way and that was in their protectiveness of each other. Giuseppe was an undetermined amount of years older, as he would never reveal his age to anyone, and was known to be lazy and grubby. He wore a long coat with circles on it to cover up his unfashionable clothes and a cap to hide his scruffy hair while Paolo a vain yet kind 29-year-old wore smart outfits, put gel in his hair and couldn’t resist a mirror – be he loved his brother more than anything.

Both men were eating cream doughnuts in a coffee shop called CUPPA in the airport and were deep in thought about what the next year would bring.

Though Paolo and Giuseppe lived in Italy, and had all their lives, they grew up learning English. Their mother was from Ireland and made sure they could speak English so, as a result, instead of Italian they tended to speak English most of the time.

The waitress gave Giuseppe a coffee, which he had been expecting for five minutes.

“Thank you,” he said to the black-haired woman, then turning to his brother asked: “Paolo ever wondered what life is going to be like in New York?”

“Yes. I think it’s going to be fun. I think people will like us,” he said slouching in his chair, brown hair set perfectly and teeth whiter than white.

“I agree,” said Giuseppe.

“I know you do. You agree with everything I say.”

“Touché.”

Both men laughed and relaxed in their seats.

“Do you think the children will like us?” Giuseppe pondered further.

“I think that they will love us. We are the most popular magician act in Venice and the most talked-about too, so everyone is following our every step.

Paulo paused: Will we like New York though?” he asked.

“We will enjoy it for the time being I suppose. It will get tedious after about a year I guess but then we will move somewhere else after that. Does that sound good?”

“Yes.”

Giuseppe kept a close eye on the Departure Screen. It read; “LaGuardia New York. 17:00. Go to Gate.”

It then repeated the title in Italian.

“Best be getting going.”

“OK, Giuseppe.”

So the two brothers made their way to Departure Gate 5 where there were 51 seats, and Giuseppe and Paolo took the last two.

Thirteen minutes later a booming voice came over the intercom. “Flight 1235579 to New York airport, LaGuardia, boarding.”

The two men were twenty-third in the queue. Paolo liked to keep count of where they were in lines – or anywhere, really.

A woman with blonde curls reaching her shoulders and juicy-red lips took their passports, smiled ear to ear and said, “Welcome aboard!”

She ripped off part of their boarding cards and gave them back to Paolo and Giuseppe with a; “Enjoy your flight.” Paolo noticed her name badge, which read Alice.

Quite taken he looked again at her after they had left. She did the same with every customer. ‘Oh’ he thought, a little disappointed and followed Giuseppe down the aisle to where they took their seats.

Paolo was skinny and had lightly tanned skin. He often wore a t-shirt which had the words; “IT’S MAGIC!” on it and he happened to be wearing it that day. He liked to advertise the fact that they were magicians.

He and his brother had started having an interest in showbiz about 15 years previous and had started off their act as street-performers in Venice four years ago, after which they became increasingly popular, until, eventually, people were paying large amounts of money to see them.

One day, a German landlord name Josl Blieke – known for his amount of money –sat in the front row, paid much more than was needed for his seat and left with a quiet but snappy “Keep the change!”

The brothers were shell-shocked at the sight of all the money but they were also delighted as they were able to buy a building to use for the magic shows. They used this as their home as well.

Fashion magazines are overrated, Paolo thought to himself as he eyed the one in the pouch in front of him. Giuseppe was asleep.

There was no one to talk to and nothing good to read so he decided to try and sleep. And he did and when he woke up, or rather Giuseppe woke him up, the intercom’s voice ended with the word descent.

“We’re beginning our descent?” he asked groggily of his older brother.

“Yes. We will be there in five minutes. Got that?”

“Yeah, sure. How long did I sleep for?”

“A few hours.”

“Wow. How long did you sleep for?”

“Less.”

“Oh. Are you tired?”

“No, very energetic. You?”

“I’m okay. Looking forward to our beds though.”

Paulo laughed, a sleep on a plane was never the same; “Yeah. But I’ll be cool tomorrow.”

“Brilliant.”

All of a sudden they were touching down on the runway and it was sickening – the pilot was a newbie they guessed.

Paolo looked out of the window at the dazzling lights of New York.

“Oh, Giuseppe it’s beautiful,” he said, mesmerised.

“I know.”

“How do you know?”

“Just I do. OK!”

“OK! Calm down!”

Paolo looked further out at the many skyscrapers that were truly scraping the sky and smiled. He felt a jolt of happiness as the plane became slower and slower on the runway, until it eventually came to a halt.

Snow covered the place. It was nearly Christmas, and LaGuardia airport was busy.

A large shuttle bus was outside, bustling with people. Paolo and Giuseppe took their seats on the top of the bus and Paolo almost fell asleep only for the fact that theirs was the first stop.

“Hello,” said Giuseppe to the receptionist.

“Hi,” he answered. “Hey, do you want the key for your room?”

“Yes, I believe we’re number 311.”

“Yeah, I have the key here.”

He searched quickly for the key and about a minute later he produced a golden one with the words “THE NEW YORKER HOTEL, Room 311.”

“Thank you.”

“Hey, anytime!”

The brothers walked along the lobby to a large lift, which they guessed would fit about seven people. Giuseppe and Paolo, Paolo first, stepped into the lift and pressed Floor 3 – Bedrooms and the lift bolted off.

Seconds later there was a loud beep and the doors opened. In the doorway were three women, each with trunks full of things. They were checking out.

“This is it!” cried Giuseppe when they stepped into the fancy room. “This is Room 311! Yahoo!”

“I know, Giuseppe. This is where it all begins. Our proper career!”

“Let’s get some sleep.”

“Yeah.”

So the two brothers found their pyjamas in the rucksacks that they had brought through the plane ride as hand luggage. They popped them on and found a bed each. They were in the beds about five minutes later, reading.

“Goodnight, Paolo.”

“Goodnight, Giuseppe.”