Free The Other Brooklyn: Joey Toranetti Trilogy by Bob Ieva Page A

son’s
friend?”
    After I told him there was a long pause, then he said, “I
will handle this before he even calls me. His son had no right to bother your
brother but you should have used more control and tried to negotiate getting
your brothers books back.”
    I said, “I asked nicely, very nicely, for the books and he
said no and he just laughed at me. I said please give me back his books and he
laughed again, so I hit him.”
    The next thing I knew my father was on the phone saying to
the person on the other end, “Set up a meeting with Luke Campoella for tomorrow
morning we have something to discuss, also call Arthur and tell him.” I did not
hear what the person on the other side of the phone said but my father said,
“Tell him it is important and we will straighten this situation out, thank
you.”

The Meeting
    M y
father was up early as always. He was reading his paper and drinking his coffee
when I came into the kitchen. I said, “Good morning” and he said, “I decided
that you are coming with me to this meeting.”
    I said, “Why?”
    He said, “Because, I want Mr. Campoella to see that my son
tells me everything, good or bad. And besides, Mr. Campoella was told by
someone else to bring his son to the meeting. The meeting is in one hour so eat
and get ready.”
    The meeting was at Lucky’s Social Club about six blocks
from our home. This is where a lot of the neighborhood men hung out.
    We arrived 10 minutes early. There were about five or six
men outside and they all said hello to my father. I was never in this club so I
was a little nervous. My father said to me, “Are you nervous?”
    I said, “Yes.”
    This is when he told me, “Try not to show you are nervous,
be polite, not rude, and give a firm handshake to anyone I introduce you to,
okay?”
    I said, “Okay.”
    At this time this older man came out from a back room and
said to my father, “Hi Tony.”
    My father said, “Hi Arthur.” Arthur was probably six feet
tall and had real big arms. My father introduced me to him as Mr. Antonella.
    Mr. Antonella put out his hand and said “It is nice to
meet you Joey,” and we shook hands. He then said, “I see we have a situation
here with Luke Campoella’s son and you. I heard that you refused to tell Mr.
Campoella why you hit his son.”
    I said nervously, “I think that his son should be the one
to tell his father. I tell my father everything even if I was wrong.”
    Mr. Antonella said, “That shows a lot of respect to your
father. That is a good thing.” He then said to my father, “Shall we go into my
office? Luke and his son are in there.”
    We went through a door into the back of the club where
there was a large table and big chairs around the table. Arthur said, “Please
sit down and we will discuss the issue at hand. Let us start from the
beginning. Luke you can start.”
    Luke stood up and said to Arthur “Joey came to the school
and beat up my son Larry for no apparent reason.”
    Arthur said, “Thank you.” He then said to my father, “Tony
what do you have to say?”
    My father said, “There was a real good reason and as my
son Joey told Mr. Campoella, he should asked his son what happened. If his son
does not tell him the whole story then we are at an impasse.”
    Arthur said to Luke, “Has your son told you what
happened?”
    Luke said, “Joey just came to the school and beat him up.”
    Then my father said to Arthur, “If Luke’s son is too
afraid to tell his father what really happened then he has no respect for his
father.”
    Arthur looked at Luke’s son and said, “Larry what
happened?” Larry started to sweat and twitch. He looked at his father and saw
that his father was getting red in the face.
    Larry said very nervously, “I took his brother’s books
away from him.”
    His father said, “Why?”
    Larry said, “I thought it would be funny to see how scared
he would be.”
    Luke said, “How old was this boy?”
    “I don’t know; he looked younger