re: #175 researchok

That reminds me of the time I spent a holiday weekend (not Christmas) at the home of a college roommate. I was looking forward to the food (he was Italian) and overall good times.

I was a bit shocked at how spirited and boisterous the family gathering was. My family was quite staid and mild by comparison. I mentioned this to my roommate.

He nonchalantly mentioned that a family gathering without death threats just wouldn’t seem right.

Cultural diversity, you know?

My Dad’s brother, my uncle, had a Sicilian wife… they lived in the Bronx, he had a heart condition, couldn’t work, so to speak, so, he did “odd jobs” for the mob, I’m not making this up, really, “bag man,” drove the “boys” from one place to another in a cab, nothing physical or violent, but jobs none the less…

Holiday visits at his apartment revealed a whole cast of interesting characters and chatter. I used some of his “friends” as a model for the two “goofy” gangsters in my play “Poof!”