Louie's 235 Italian Relatives

The little Italian boy was named Louie.

His Papa’s name… Big Louie.....  was not to be confused with….” cousin Louie, cousin Luigi, nephew Louie, commadre Louie, brother Louie,.. or .brother in law Louie.”

Louie was the 8th Louie in the family…… and like Henry VIII and all other great kings…. the name…Louie the XIII would have pleased the newborn child ….but for humility purposes…. everyone in the family simply called him…”Little Louie.”

Little Louie was born on Valentine’s Day … the same day as his mother’s birthday .In fact… Little Louie  has said he was the greatest gift he could give to his mother….because He knew when he grew up…… that he would  be just like  mama …….and  he knew that he would always be there to remind her that he was a reflection of her.

And he would never let her forget it.

This 3 family house was right next door to a lot of other 3 family houses in the neighborhood. Each floor had their own 30 ft clothesline….. attached to a telephone pole. There were 30 houses back to back which meant 90 clotheslines. There were “alotta clothes, with alotta conversations.” People didn’t need telephones to communicate. They yelled  to each other as they hung out their clothes. Everybody knew what everybody else was doing…. all the time.

So it was only natural that the 235 Italian relatives were a very close family. They were so close…in fact…. that in the summer months… when the windows were open….. you could hear your cousins,  your uncles, and  your aunts……. peeing in the bathroom.

It was always comforting to know that someone was near…..just a flush away.

By age one, Louie’s mother already knew that the child was showing signs of artistic talent. Mama remembers the day she went to the crib to see why there was so much laughter coming from little Louie’s room. Louie was finger painting on the walls … …passionate  sepia swirls dancing across the newly painted plaster walls above his crib…… modern art coupled with an antique, old world patina…. Created from found objects….. in his diaper…. ….making something beautiful from nothing. That Louie is an artist!

As little Little Louie grew up….. he continued to show signs of artistic talent. He even had a flair for fashion…. women’s fashion. Since Louie’s mama made all her own clothes….Louie was…. “naturally curious” ….about imitating his mother. He began to show signs of what we call today…. reverse role playing. Louie liked to play “the mommy” He could imitate mama perfectly… in the kitchen…cooking at the stove… and cleaning at the sink. All the relatives thought that he was cute and funny…… and he was. He just loved going through his mother’s drawers and closets and picking out her can cans and frilly lace lingerie…. and then create…”living caricatures’ of his mother and aunts while they were busy in the kitchen. Louie paid close attention to how they sat… how they walked and even how they stuffed food in their mouth and talked at the same time. He loved to mimic them….but he also loved the “quanta moss” as we say in Italian…that his aunts would make over his imitations..( “Quanta moss”…. is a slang Neapolitan phrase that means “all the drama… the commotion.. the chaos…. over nothing”). But parroting women was as natural as breathing to Louie.

Louie had style.

No one teaches a five year old how to pick out the perfectly coordinated ensemble: can can, earrings and gloves, the perfect. hat with veil….AND… put it all together with flair….that “je ne se qua”… Oo la la. It was the 50’s …….and a five year old could get away with wearing a dress. To Louie. it wasn’t the desire to be a woman……it was a costume ….It allowed him to become another character….someone else other than himself. Louie loved to entertain and he loved to make people laugh. He wasn’t shy and why should he be? He knew he was good at it. It came naturally to him. It was Louie’s reason for being…an Italian boy’s search for meaning. At least if he wasn’t entertaining anyone… he was always entertaining himself.

<< Previous | Next >>