Read Online Home for the Holidays by Steven R. Schirripa - Free Book Online Page B

“The roads haven't been plowed, and your father has a meeting.”
    “About the thing with Mr. Van Allen?”
    “I don't know,” Clarence said. “Maybe.”
    “Have some coffee,” Grandma Tutti said. “And you can try the first
sfogliatella.
Nicky, get Charlton a plate.”
    “It's Ciar— Thank you, Mrs. Borelli. These look delicious.”
    “Look nothing,” Grandma Tutti said. “How do they taste?”
    Clarence bit into one and sighed. “Perfect.”
    When Nicky's father came downstairs, he said, “You boys got big plans for the day?”
    “Not really,” Nicky said. “Not with this snow, and the roads messed up.”
    “It's pretty bad out there,” his father said. “I was justlistening to the news. The interstate is shut down. Do you want to come see my building? Better than being cooped up here.”
    “Sure, Dad,” Nicky said. “Tommy?”
    “Yeah,” Tommy said. “Can we take some pastries?”
    “It's
sfogliatella,”
Grandma Tutti said. “You can take two each.”
    The little town of Carrington was half-asleep in the fresh snow. Most of the shops were closed. The streets were empty. Everything was muffled and silent. Clarence drove the Navigator slowly, its tires making a soft crunchy sound on the pavement.
    The old brewery building was in a broken-down section of Fairport, New Jersey, a city that had once been a big commercial fishing port and had later become a factory town. Now it was a collection of abandoned brick buildings and a little downtown strip that was being taken over by what Nicky's father called yuppies.
    “Look at this,” Nicky's father said. “Around the corner, on First Street, there's a bookstore, a sushi bar and an Internet café. You can get a cappuccino and a California roll, but there's no police station, no public telephones that work and no post office.”
    “Is that bad?” Nicky said.
    “Yeah—but it's beautiful!” his father said. “It's a great opportunity. We're really getting in on the ground floor. Stop here, Clarence. Look at my building. Isn't it great?”
    It wasn't. It was old and dirty. The brick was chippedand stained. The windows had no glass in them. Nicky's father was beaming.
    “We're going to turn this into a real showplace. Clarence, drive over to First Street.”
    Nicky's father dropped the two boys on the main street and said, “We'll come back for you in an hour. You can cruise around, get a bite to eat, whatever you like. Just stay out of the abandoned buildings, including the stuff on the beach. All right?”
    The boys spent half an hour wandering the waterfront. Across the sand was a ruined amusement park, where a roller coaster now crumbled into the sea. Closed storefronts along the empty boardwalk still had signs for a tattoo parlor, a pinball arcade, a hot dog stand, a fun house and a doughnut shop.
    “That reminds me,” Nicky said. “We gotta get my grandma to make
zeppoli.”
    “She
makes
those? The doughnut things?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Oh, man. I love
zeppolis.
They sell them at Santo Pietro. You remember—the school festival.”
    “I remember the school festival, but I don't remember the
zeppoli”
Nicky said.
    “That's because you were too busy thinking about Donna.”
    Nicky blushed.
    “See? Ha!” Tommy said. “You
still
got a crush on her!”
    “Cut it out.”
    “Cut
you
out,” Tommy said. “I could use a
zeppoli
right now. It's freezing, and I'm hungry again.”
    “Let's go in the café,” Nicky said. “I bet they got something.”
    The boys sat in a high-backed wooden booth and ordered hot chocolate and cannoli.
    “Not as good as Grandma Tutti's,” Nicky said, “but not bad.”
    “Delicious,” Tommy said with his mouth full. “I was starving.”
    “We'll get something good for lunch, I bet,” Nicky said. “I think Grandma Tutti is going to make lasagna.”
    “Let's go back outside and look at that amusement park thing.”
    “I don't know,” Nicky said. “My dad—”
    “Relax,” Tommy said. “We won't