Tony Partly Cloudy Read Free Page A

that he might be able to get me some, you know, family work, on account of me being big and all. And I’m okay with that. But... jeez, how do I say this? My old man, your old man, all the grownups we know – they all got decent jobs, and they all do okay. But I don’t think any of them have any, you know, passion for their jobs.”
    Vinnie nearly choked, managing to turn his head to keep from spraying Tony with a mixture of Coke and half-chewed pizza. “Passion?” he asked when he’d recovered. “What the hell you talkin’ about? Your old man works with a bunch of freakin’ palookas – guys that lift pianos and shit. You want he should feel passion for those guys?” He dangled his wrist limply as he emphasized the word.
    Tony gripped the table, to quell his desire to slap Vinnie. “No, man – come on, you know what I mean. I’m talking about having a job you really care about. You know, like being an artist, or a ball player or something.” Tony paused, his thoughts clarifying. “Or a priest.”
    At this Vinnie fell silent. His older brother Johnny had heard the call, and was currently in his second year in seminary school. His decision had made him the pride of the neighborhood. Despite the fact that Johnny’s sharp mind and physical strength would have made him an asset to the family business, nobody criticized a choice like that.
    Tony realized he had scored – Vinnie was looking at him with a new level of understanding. But then Vinnie’s face turned skeptical.
    “Tony,” he said, “there’s a big freakin’ difference between being a priest and being a meteorwhaddayacallit. My brother Johnny, he’s like a freakin’ saint. He’s got a... a calling !” Vinnie had become animated, looking skyward as if expecting God to strike Tony down for his presumptuousness.
    “I know, I know,” Tony hastened to say. “Johnny’s the greatest – absolutely. No question about it.” He saw Vinnie begin to relax, and continued. “I’m just saying that some people got a calling, or a passion, or whatever the hell you want to call it. The bottom line is they got something they really care about, something they really want to do, or at least try to do. Some people got that, and some people don’t. A guy like my old man, I don’t see that in him. Somebody like your brother Johnny,” Tony looked upward for dramatic effect, “they got that kind of passion, bigtime.”
    Vinnie nodded, understanding. The skyward glance had been a good move, Tony decided. He went on.
    “So what I’m saying is that I got a thing I feel that way about. You know me – I been interested in the weather since I was a kid. My Nona Maria, she says I even got a gift .”
    Vinnie was with him now, Tony could see it. Like most of the neighborhood kids, Vinnie held Tony’s grandmother in a combination of fear and awe, although she had never treated any of them unkindly. There was an ominous tone to her heavily accented pronouncements, and nobody doubted that she could curse you or turn you into a frog if it suited her. Tony knew Nona Maria’s softer side, but also knew his grandmother delighted in maintaining her exotic façade, so he did nothing to dispel his friends’ perceptions.
    “No shit – she said that?” Vinnie asked.
    “Swear to God,” Tony said. “She’s been saying that since I was little.”
    Vinnie nodded approvingly, as if his respect for Tony had just gone up a notch. “So when you gonna talk to your old man about this?” His question brought Tony back to reality.
    Tony shrugged. “Soon. I got no choice. This paperwork needs to be sent in, you know...”
    “Chop-chop?”
    Tony laughed. Every now and then Vinnie surprised him with a brief glimmer of wit. “Yeah,” said Tony. “Chop-chop.”
    ♠ ♥ ♣ ♦
    Bolstered by what he considered a reasonably successful dress rehearsal for pitching his college idea, Tony resolved to talk to his father that night. He planted himself on the living room couch shortly