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It was summer, vacation time for all the kids in the area. Danny had already planned on attending City College starting this fall. It would be easy commuting to and from school on the subway. As usual, Danny was approached several times by the boys of the neighborhood to join them in their many activities. And as usual, he preferred to remain by himself.
When Dannys parents decided to move to this particular neighborhood it looked peaceful enough and they thought it would be a nice environment for Danny. But they should have looked further. It was far from being peaceful. The Italians did not get along with the Irish. The Irish did not like the Italians. Danny wondered where the Jewish people would fit in if there were Jews living in the area, except for themselves.
Most of the people living in the neighborhood did not understand the Jewish people. Wasn’t involved with them, and did not know what to think of them. Some said that they killed our Savior. The more intelligent said that was a lot of bull. So Danny suffered some abuse in the form of insults to him and the Jewish people in general.. But Danny, never said a word or took any sort of defense in reply to these insults. He figured, what the heck, it wouldn’t do any good anyway. So he just accepted these abusive marks, and took them for what they were worth.
The airport where Danny went most weekends was a lot closer to where he lived now. He could, if he wanted to, walk there. Although it took him about an hour to get there, he didn’t mind. It would save him ten cents on subway fare, and maybe buy himself a chocolate malted milk or if he was real thirsty, he would settle for a 2 cents plain at the local candy store on the corner where he lived.
Danny had no idea of the impact, living in this new neighborhood would have on him. It came one day in the form of two Italian youths, a 6 footer named Louie and a little over 5 footer named Tony. They were the most unlikely pair anyone would think of seeing together. They were inseparable, and they had been ever since they were tots living in this same neighborhood together. The only difference between the two were their size. Their personalities were similar. And except for one thing, liked the same things. The girls in the neighborhood liked the boys, enjoyed their company and they would go out on dates together. But strangely enough, Louie preferred short girls, much shorter than he, while Tony liked tall girls, much taller than he. If the girls didn’t like this arrangement, Louie and Tony would not go out with them.
Louie and Tony didn’t hang out with anyone in their neighborhood. They thought the guys there were punks always fighting among themselves, and accomplishing nothing. But everyone knew that Tony and Louie were special, specifically selected by the adult leaders in their neighborhood to do certain jobs for them, run errands, and most everything else that they were able to do. Usually, these honors only went to Italian boys who had proved themselves one way or the other. Occasionally, and very, very rarely was someone of a different background selected.
Louie and Tony were about the same age as Danny, and although they were street wise and intelligent in many ways, they had no intentions of furthering their education above the high school level. They figured that they didn’t have to. They would make their own education. They commanded respect all over the neighborhood. Probably because of certain influences, so, as a result, no one dared to approach them, except to greet them respectively, or possibly ask for a favor. A favor given, but a favor returned.
Danny didn’t know these boys, never met them, never spoke to them, and didn’t know a thing about them, and didn’t really care. But he noticed something different, their movements, their strutting about the neighborhood, as if they owned the territory. But he was naturally curious as to why.
Tony and Louie were also curious as to what a Jew boy was doing in this neighborhood. What was he doing here? Was he crazy? But they noticed something different about him, something that separated him from the all the rest. What was it? they were determined to find out.
“Hey kid, come here, will ya, wanta talk to you. How yah doin?” Danny was surprised . This was the first time that this tall guy, hovering a good 5 inches above him had spoken to him, let alone, even looked at him. “I’m doing fine,” replied Danny, looking at Louie straight in the eye, and with a straight, no nonsense reply, continued with, “what can I do for you?” Louie and Tony were surprised at this no give a damm attitude that someone would talk to them that way, but they liked this, and thought, here’s a guy, a Jew boy too, that apparently wasn’t afraid of them. “Don’t want anything” said Tony, just being polite, and sorta welcoming ya to the neighborhood.” “Thank you,” was his reply, and as Danny started to walk away. “Hey wait a minute,” called Louie, “we said we wanted to talk to ya.” Danny turned around and looked at both boys, and he saw something in their eyes. Something he hadn’t seen with anyone that he knew in Harlem or anywhere else. He saw toughness. He saw the struggles that they endured. The hardship of being brought up in this neighborhood. But he saw something else. Was it compassion? He wasn’t sure. But he liked what he saw, and for the first time in his life, he felt that, maybe, just maybe, he could be friends with someone. Someone that will listen to him, confide in, that he could talk to, and they would understand him.
Strangely enough, Louie and Tony took an immediate liking to Danny. They liked his attitude, and the natural intelligence that he displayed. So it came to past that a bond was formed. A bond between a poor Jewish boy from Harlem with a couple of Italian toughies from a remote section of Queens. A bond
that at times would be shaky, but a bonding never-the-less. A binding between three boys from vastly different religous backgrounds that would endure for all time.
~ To Be Continued ~
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