Magnet & Steele (12 page)

Francine took a quick peek at Derrie
another time for support. Derrie still wasn’t paying any attention
to her and continued to eat his apple pie. “My father works for
Hartford Insurance.”

“Oh, he sells insurance?”

“No, he’s the President of the
company.”

“The President of the company,”
Jerry repeated right after her shaking his head like he was
impressed with the fancy title.

“What do you do Mr. Magnet? Derrie
doesn’t say much about your job.”

Within hearing his name, Derrie now
pays attention to the conversation.

“Really?” Jerry uttered surprised.
“I run diners.”

Derrie started to laugh. “Dad, no
one calls them diners anymore, they’re restaurants.”

“You run a restaurant?” Francine
asked a little shocked.

“Own, my dear, own,” Jerry stated,
smugly. “And more than one I might add.

“Oh? What’s the name of your
restaurants? Maybe I’ve been there.”

“Luccardi’s.”

“Luccardi’s?” Francine repeated, not
so sure of this conversation, and equally unsure of Derrie’s
father. She felt like she couldn’t keep her eyes off him and him of
her. She then said nothing else and realized that Derrie’s father’s
accent only came out when he was describing something Italian or
speaking to his mother, other than that there wasn’t a hint of
being a foreigner. “I’ve heard of that place. You’re over on
Ventura Boulevard, aren’t you…Right between that fancy shopping
mall and the movie theater?”

“Yes, that’s one location,” Jerry
said arrogantly, “I’m all over the Los Angeles area. You’ve eaten
there I presume? I always like to hear what my customers think of
the food.”

“I’m sorry, but no, I haven’t been
there. But once, after my family finished seeing a movie, my father
suggested that we go to your place next door, but my mother didn’t
want to go, so we ended up eating Chinese.”

Jerry stopped eating and stared at
Francine again. Insulted, he inquired with an Italian slip, “What’s
wrong with your mother? She don’t like Italian food or
something?”

Francine gulped, “No, Mr. Magnet, on
the contrary! She loves Italian food. My mother’s so hung up on
tomatoes; we practically have acres growing in our
backyard!”

Derrie started to laugh, but Jerry
still was not amused. Something was bothering him and he couldn’t
understand why. He felt like he knew this young girl, seen her
before, but he’s never met her until today. What was it
exactly?

Francine caught Mr. Magnet staring
at her queerly again; he was making her feel uneasy this time by
his long inspection. “But I’ll tell my parents to take us there one
night,” she said quickly, trying to ease the tension.

“You do that,” Jerry said, cutting
himself a slice of pie. “You do just that…”

After the food was all eaten and the
wine all drank, Jerry stood just inside the front door with one
hand on the door knob and the other flush with the wood when he
eyed Francine and Derrie saying their goodbyes. Studying his son’s
body movement and unusual interest in their dinner guest, Jerry
realized that his son was probably wishing that his father wasn’t
still there so he could kiss her goodnight. He was just about to
turn away to give them their space when he heard Francine let out,
“Mr. Magnet thanks so much for dinner.”

“You’re very welcome Francine,”
Jerry softly said turning around to face her, “It was nice to
finally meet you,” he playfully assumed, winking at his
son.

Derrie pretended not to catch his
father’s conjecture when he noticed his father focusing on
Francine’s face again. Why was he so interested in her
anyhow?

Francine’s face flushed red, within
seeing Derrie’s father still continuing to stare at her. She
swallowed hard then blurted out, “My parents are planning this huge
New Year’s Eve party for the neighborhood, Mr. Magnet,” she
wheezed, “Kind of like a house warming slash New Year’s Eve party
and I would like you to come, you and Derrie, of course, your
mother too. The entire neighborhood is invited.”

Derrie eyed his father for a
decision, but Jerry was too engrossed still in Francine.

Jerry quickly pulled back his focus
and then gazed down at the ground. Kicking his shoe into the
‘welcome’ mat, he relayed, “I don’t know Francine…I’ll have to
think about it.”

After closing the door, Derrie
walked Francine over to her front porch.

“Do you think you can come to the
party?” Francine asked him while they were walking.

“I don’t know my dad’s always
working.”

They make it the front porch step
and sit down again. Francine watched Derrie as he leaned his body
back onto a step and gazed out at the orange sky. “Well then, do
you think you can come?”

“I dunno,” he just said sort of
sadly.

“I want you to come,” Francine said
gingerly. “I want you to meet Ian; he’ll be coming back to
California in a few weeks to stay with us.”

Derrie looked away from her for a
moment, “Why is he gonna stay with you?”

He walked into this one. “To prepare
for the wedding, silly.”

Still not looking at her, Derrie
rolled his eyes, “Oh.”

Then silence, until…

“What’cha think of dinner?” He asked
of her staring out at beautiful red-yellow sunset out on the
horizon.

Francine looked down at her sandals.
“Oh, it was an experience.”

“What, dinner…Or the whole
ambiance?”

“Oh, I guess, everything…total. Has
your father always been like that?”

“Like what?” He asked, stretching
out his legs, “Proud to be an American?”

“Yeah, proud to be an American,”
Francine agreed, “He’s so red, white and blue!”

“Yeah, I know,” Derrie said, smiling
and shrugging his shoulders. “Something happened to him before I
was born. With my mother dying, he’s always been so hung up on his
nationality, like people are gonna judge him or something, he’s so
damn insistent on everyone knowing that he’s an
American.”

“Same with my mother,” Francine
softly voiced, “She’s always insisted on us knowing the difference
between certain races and not to judge people by the color of their
skin.”

“Wow, that’s weird how we both have
that in common with our parents,” Derrie said eerily. “Want to know
a deep dark secret?”

“Is it gross?”

“Do you want it to be?”

“No.”

“No really, a secret; a family
secret.”

“Cool, OK, spill it.”

“That my family name isn’t really
Magnet.”

Francine looked at him oddly,
“Really? Like what? Like your name really isn’t Derek
Magnet?”

“Yeah, like my father changed his
entire name back in the forties and our family name really isn’t
Magnet.”

Francine was taken-back. “OK, so
what’s your real name?”

“Magetti.”

Francine let it soak in for a
moment. “Magetti? Really? Like Derrie Magetti?”

“Dosario Angelo Magetti. It’s
Italian!”

Francine started to laugh. “Well,
nice to meet you Dosario-Ang-jello-whatever! Magetti, that’s a cool
name, you should change it back.”

“Never! I kinda like my Magnet name
now. Anyhow, my father makes me proud of what and who I am,
whatever my name happens to be.”

“Your father has proven that point
tremendously at dinner.”

Derrie laughed and agreed with her,
“We’re both proud; and, we both hate this damn war
Fran.”

“Well, Derrie, we all
do.”

“I hate that the U.S. is even in
Vietnam.”

“Like most Americans.”

“Two of my closest friends have
already enlisted.”

“Ian enlisted.”

“He did?” Derrie asked envious for
some reason. “I don’t know if I should go and enlist or wait to be
drafted.”

“But Derrie, Notre Dame; you were
accepted to Notre Dame.”

Just then, a loud screeching sound
of rubber on pavement turned both their heads sharply
around.

Nancy abruptly parked her car in a
bizarre position, sort of half on the concrete and half on the
lawn. She hurriedly exited her car and slammed the door behind her,
scurrying past the twosome on the steps.

Francine focused on her mother’s
face as she blew by her; she’d been crying. “Mom?”

“I’m OK honey,” Nancy cried, opening
up the front door and Francine watched her mother disappear behind
the closed mahogany.

“She doesn’t look OK,” Derrie
quietly stated to Francine.

“No, she doesn’t,” Francine agreed.
“She’s been acting real strange ever since we moved to
California.”

“Strange like my dad?” Derrie
snickered.

Francine thought about it for a
moment, “Yeah, strange like your dad.”

December 25, 1967

Christmas ornaments, popcorn and
tinsel hung on the noble fir while a nativity set just above the
fireplace mantle was assembled artistically. The entire Steele
family was at the dining room table and everyone was hushed while
the turkey was being passed around. For one day out of the
ordinary, it was a special day; Paul and Ian were dressed in their
military uniforms, on R&R for the holiday for just two weeks
then back to Subic Bay.

Along with the Marines, Suzy,
Francine, Cassie, Nancy and Stephen were in the middle of prayer
when a knock at the front door startled their peace. Nancy rose up
first and walked into the foyer and opened up the door to see her
son-in-law, Ray Ashford about to knock on the door
again.

Normally, Ray Ashford was a tall,
good-looking athlete with a presence larger than life. But on this
day, he was drunk and unshaven and walked right past his
mother-in-law and straight into the house unwelcome.

“Hey mom! Thought I might join
ya!”

Nancy watched Ray as he stumbled
into the dining room making his attendance felt. “Ray,
we’ve—”

Ray took a quick look towards the
family all collected at the dining room table all staring back at
him. “Oh wow, my invitation must’ve gotten lost in the
mail.”

Suzy scooted back her chair and got
up immediately from the table to assist Ray out. “Ray, what the
hell are you doing here?” She yelled at him through clinched
teeth.

“See what’cha did to me Suzy!” Ray
yelled back at her, waiving her helpful arm away from his forearm.
“See the asshole you made me become?”

Within hearing the profanity
Francine quickly looked at Ian. Ian shook his head in
disbelief.

“What should we do?” Francine
whispered to her fiancé.

Ian shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t
know, do you want me to do something?”

Back in the living room; Ray fell
out of a chair as soon as he tried to sit down and bounced his
backside hard on the hardwood floor.

“Oh my God…I can’t believe you’re
drunk!” Suzy exclaimed in a panic.

Back in the dining room everyone was
reserved, except for Stephen, Stephen started to carve himself
another slice of turkey.

Nancy turned to Francine, “Fran, go
and help your sister.”

Francine obeyed her mother’s wishes
and stood up and walked into the living room to find Ray still
sitting on the floor with his legs stretched out in front of him.
Francine went to grab his arm to help him up, but Ray jerked his
arm away from her grip.

On all fours, Ray stood up on his
feet and shuffled his way around the two girls and headed outside.
Suzy glanced over at Francine first before heading out towards his
hasty exit.

“What the hell were you thinking
Ray?” She yelled at him the moment they were alone outside. “Coming
over to my dad’s house stinkin’ drunk!”