- Chapter 38 – As the class settled into their seats, Anthony collapsed into the reading corner and buried himself with the large assortment of pillows. Still crying loudly, the other children looked on in amusement as Ms Jenkins went over to comfort him. “It’s ok Anthony, it’s perfectly normal to feel upset on your first day of school. Why don’t you come and sit next to your cousin at his table.” As she removed the pillows from Anthony’s face, he began to escalate his crying, screaming for his mother. Antonio looked on; he knew the fight that Ms Jenkins was going to have on her hands. He had witnessed this same scene every week at Kindergarten the year before. After 15 minutes of calming techniques and various distractions, Ms Jenkins was able to reduce the crying to subtle blubbering. As she finally convinced Anthony to take his seat, she caught the glance of Sebastiana who was watching through the window above the door. Before she could react, Anthony too caught a glimpse of his mother and returned to a full screaming tantrum. Ms Jenkins, exasperated, left Anthony on the pillows as she went to deal with the hovering parent. “Mrs Mangiapane, it really is best if you leave, Anthony won’t be able to settle if you’re watching him.” “I’ll leave when I know my baby prince is settled. Maybe you should stop trying to get rid of me and calm my boy down!” Sebastiana retaliated. Sebastiana pushed past Ms Jenkins and plumped herself down onto the pillows with Anthony who quickly buried his head into her breasts. Looking up at the time, Ms Jenkins decided to address the now restless class. Ms Jenkins asked her students to draw pictures of their family members. As she inspected each child’s work, she noticed Antonio was drawing a picture of an older woman. “Is that your grandmother?” asked Ms Jenkins. “No, that’s my Nonna,” Antonio replied. Ms Jenkins tried to make out what Antonio was attempting to draw. “What is she doing?” she asked, pointing at an object coming from the woman’s hand. “She’s throwing a wooden spoon at my dad.” Antonio replied, still extremely focused on his drawing. Ms Jenkins giggled. “Does she do that often?” “H’only when yu far-da nid it.” Antonio responded, mimicking Mamma Testadura’s voice. “And what is your Nonna doing in this picture?” Ms Jenkins asked. “Is this a plate she’s holding?” “She’s passing my dad because Zia Rosa gave him the malocchio after she complimented him on shaving his moustache. It was a bad one, so she had to call Comare Parlipiano to help.” “What was bad?” Ms Jenkins asked, becoming more confused by this strange narrative. “The malocchio.” “Is this the malocchio is in the plate?” “No the oil is in the plate. The malocchio is in my dad’s head.” Ms Jenkins smiled at Antonio, surprised at how creative his storytelling was, not realising he was merely retelling the events of the previous weekend. After noticing her Anthony was the only boy not drawing pictures, Sebastiana decided it was time to get her boy to the table. She guided her still blubbering son to his seat, continuously adding to the list of demands he imposed for his reward for staying at school. “Come on Anthony, you show your teacher how good you are at drawing. Mamma’s gotta go and get her principo a new bike!” She kissed Anthony on the forehead, hiked up her dress and turned to Ms Jenkins. “Seems you should be giving me part of your pay for doing your job,” she snarled, half jokingly. That night at the Testadura house, the dinner table was filled with questions for Antonio. Mamma Testadura had been cooking all day to prepare Antonio’s favourite foods, as Francesca baked his favourite deserts. Lucia sat next Antonio, unimpressed by all the attention he was stealing from her. “So Antonio, tell us, did you meet any new friends today?” asked Francesca. “The boy sitting with me at my desk is really funny. His name is Stu,” Antonio replied, stuffing a meatball into his mouth. “Stu?” Mamma Testadura replied. “Ent what ‘is second name, cazzo?” Pasquale giggled as Francesca glared at both Mamma and Pasquale. “Stu’s got lots of video games Mamma. He said I can play them if you take me to his house. He even said I can sleep over. Can I sleep over his house Mamma?” “No,” Mamma Testadura quickly intervened. “Yu no slip at stranger houses. Yu get malatia if yu slip in anotha-one’s bed.” “She’s right you know,” Pasquale added. “Your Papa never got any kind of bed malatia as a kid because your Nonna never let me sleep over my friends houses.” “That’s absurd,” Francesca replied, clearly frustrated that the conversation was hijacked from her. “Of course you can sleep over and he’s more than welcome to sleep over our house too.” “E chi simmu ca? Nu burdellu?” Mamma grumbled. Francesca began clearing the first course plates as the doorbell rang. Mamma knew all too well who was at the door. Only Barry and Blanche would dare visit during dinner time. “Where’s my handsome little school boy?” Blanche squealed. “We’re not interrupting dinner are we?” “Of course not,” Barry added. “You know the dragon always cooks enough to feed a riot.” Barry sat next to Pasquale and immediately began helping himself to some cotalette. “Did you make any new friends today Antonio?” Blanche asked. “Stu Cazzo,” Lucia replied, unaware of her curse. Pasquale burst out laughing, spitting chinotto through his nose. Blanche and Barry fake laughed, not fully understanding what she had said, as the rest of the table joined in laughing. Lucia enjoyed being the centre of attention again. “Stu Cazzo, Stu Cazzo, Stu Cazzo,” she repeated as Francesca returned from the kitchen to find her four year old daughter swearing like sailor. Francesca produced a Mamma style fungia as Mamma Testadura laughed along with Lucia. “So Antonio, do you like school? Are you looking forward to tomorrow?” “Yeah, it’s fun.” Antonio replied, digging into a cutlet. Antonio definitely had Pasquale’s appetite. “You know your com-par-ray Barry didn’t do good at school. He dropped out after fail’n Year 10 twice. Make sure you study hard and listen to your teachers.” “She’s right mate,” Barry added. “I should’a listened more at school. I might’a had the brains to be Prime Minister if I wasn’t too busy being chased by girls.” “Girls chasing you? Ha Barry! You wish!” Blanche snorted. “The only girl to every chase you was the scrag Molly Mortimer, and she was a few tinnies short of a six pack if you ask me.” “Fair go Blanche, Molly wasn’t all that bad. She had a mad mullet for those days.” Barry replied, defending his honour. “I think Antonio would make an excellent Prime Minister,” Francesca replied, smiling at Antonio. “Prime Minister Testadura ... I like the sound of that!” Pasquale responded, slopping a thick blanket of pippi rustuti on a chunk of ciabbatta bread. The remainder of the school term continued in the same way as the first day of school. The class had become accustomed to Sebastiana sitting in the reading corner with Anthony for half an hour each morning. Countless attempts to ask her to leave fell on deaf ears and eventually the school accepted the extraordinary arrangement. Towards the end of term two, Sebastiana had started to ween her son off her morning stays by allowing him to take multiple photographs of her and setting them up on his desk. In early term three, the first parent/teacher interview night was underway. Pasquale and Francesca waited patiently outside Antonio’s room, admiring the work the class had done. Mamma Testadura had insisted on coming along and smiled at all the pictures Antonio had drawn of her. “Nice to see you again Mr and Mrs Testadura,” Ms Jenkins smiled as she invited them to have a seat. “And you must be Nonna, very nice to meet you.” “Piacere,” Mamma replied. “Antonio certainly has a soft spot for you Mrs Testadura. You feature in all of his drawings and stories.” Mamma loved what she was hearing. She had grown quite close to Antonio over the past few years and held a very special spot in her heart for him. Hearing that Antonio felt the same way about her brought a tear to her eye. “Antonio is a very talented young boy,” Ms Jenkins continued. “He is a model student in every way. It really is a pleasure having him in the classroom.” The interview continued with praise for Antonio’s various accomplishments at school. As the interview came to an end, Anthony came crashing into the room, quickly followed by Sebastiana and Giovanni. “I’m sorry Mr and Mrs Mangiapane, I’m not quite finished with this interview, would you mind waiting outside for just a couple of minutes,” Ms Jenkins asked politely. “Relax Jenkins, Anthony just wanted to get his favourite toy to play with in the corridor. It wouldn’t kill you guys to set up some things for the kids to do outside while they wait.” Sebastiana replied. “Come on principo,” she called to Anthony as he knocked several toys onto the floor searching for his favourite transformer. “It’s ok, we’ve got no more questions. We are very happy with how Antonio is going,” Francesca replied. “Thank you Ms Jenkins, it was great to seeing you again.” As the Testaduras made their way out the door, Sebastiana and Giovanni walk over to the desk. Sebastiana looked down at the tiny grade prep sized chair she had to sit on and hiked up her skirt. She sat down, enveloping the seat in her dress and bulging derriere. “Anthony,” Ms Jenkins called. “Do you want to come and sit with us? There is a seat here for you.” Anthony ignored her, noisily playing amongst the mess of toys he had tipped onto the floor. “He’s ok where he is, just let him play,” Sebastiana snarled trying desperately to stay balanced on the now wobbly chair. “Mrs Mangiapane,” Ms Jenkins began. “Mezzatesta-Mangiapane,” Sebastiana corrected, rolling her eyes. “I’m sorry, Mrs Mezzatesta-Mangiapane, as you can probably gather from his first semester report, Anthony has had a hard time adjusting to school this year.” “I read your report, briefly,” Sebastiana lied. “Then you know that Anthony is behind in his literacy and numeracy skills.” Ms Jenkins continued opening Anthony’s report card which had yet to be signed by Sebastiana. “He’s just a late bloomer. I didn’t get my period until I was 17, I still became a woman.” Sebastiana was now in full defensive mode as Giovanni lowered his head, trying not to make eye contact with Ms Jenkins. “I’m afraid it’s a little more than just his development. Anthony’s behaviour is very disruptive in class.” Ms Jenkins pulled out her teacher’s chronicle and turned to the student notes page. Next to Anthony’s name were dozens of dot-points reporting a wide range of behavioural issues. Hiding students work; sabotaging classroom decorations; speaking out of turn; pulling girls’ hair; the list went on and on. “Mrs Mezzatesta-Mangiapane, Anthony needs to understand boundaries. What concerns me the most is that he doesn’t seem to get on with any of the other students except for his cousin, Antonio.” “He doesn’t need friends, he’s got his family,” Sebastiana retaliated. “What your little list here shows me is that you’re not doing your job right. It’s your job to control your class, not ours.” Ms Jenkins sighed. “Mrs Mezzatesta-Mangiapane, I’m not the enemy here. I only have what’s best for Anthony in mind. I’d like to work with you to help him adjust to school life.” “So what do you want me to do then?” Sebastiana barked, digging a ball of wax out of her ear with her pinkie and rolling it between her thumb and index finger. “To start, if he can read his readers at home, that will help with his literacy.” “Ooooooooh...” Sebastiana said sarcastically raising her voice. “You want ME to do YOUR job at home for YOU.” Ms Jenkins face dropped as she sighed again. “Listen Ms Jenkins. I’m paying good money to send my boy to this class. I was going to send my son to St Ignatius in the city but decided at the last minute to send him here after they wanted him to sit some entrance test. Maybe I was too hasty with my decision!” Sebastiana was becoming increasingly agitated. “I’m sorry Mrs Mezzatesta-Mangiapane, I really didn’t mean to ...” “I think maybe I should speak to your principal.” Sebastiana interrupted, “Or maybe I’ll go all the way up to the Vatican and ask the Pope why St.Luke’s is unable to teach my talented little prince.” “Seb, maybe you should listen to the Ms Jenkins has to say.” Giovanni added; fear dwelling in his eyes. “Yeah I knew you’d take the teacher’s side. Typical bloody male falling victim for a pretty face. When I was at school all the teachers picked on me just like Jenkins is picking on your son Anthony. And you want to just sit here and take it?” Sebastiana began. “I don’t think that’s what she’s doing Seb, maybe we should ...” “Maybe you should just shut your trap and let me do the talking here!” Sebastiana yelled, “Or do you want your son to grow up thinking his Dad wouldn’t back him up.” Giovanni lowered his head and submitted, grinding his teeth. Ms Jenkins began to feel very uncomfortable as she noticed families outside the room peering in at the commotion. “I think we’re out of time Mrs Mezzatesta-Mangiapane. Thank you for coming in, I’ll take into account everything we’ve discussed today and we’ll see if we can get Anthony on track.” Sebastiana glared at Ms Jenkins and stood up, the chair still firmly attached to her bottom. As she took a few steps towards the door, the chair lodged free from her behind and dropped onto the floor. Giovanni picked up the chair and returned it to Ms Jenkins. He looked at her with sorrowful eyes and apologised with a facial glance. He then sighed deeply and returned to Sebastiana as Anthony quickly followed, purposefully knocking over another stack of toys on his way out the door.
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 06:42:37 +0000
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