Mr LaMonza's nickname was Pop, he was a tall man, quiet spoken but always had a ready smile. Jobs were pretty tough to come by in those days , so he thought he was blessed to be working at the Philadelphia Navy yard. Pop would take the subway up Broad street and then walk home from there. Often I would meet him and we would walk together. We would pass a row of stores that sold second hand furniture and used items, today they would be called antique shops but back then , we called them junk shops. But every once in a while you could find something worth while if you searched everyday.

One fall day as we were passing this particular shop, Pop came to a screeching halt, there in the window was an old beaten up radio , it was a large Philco that must have been built in the thirties, the price tag said $30 which was a lot of money for that time. Pop loved to work with his hands and build or restore things. Everyday we passed that store and we would go look for the radio to see if it was sold, if I had have the money I would have brought it for him.

Now at that time the state of Pennsylvania had instituted a state lottery which was putting a serious hurting on the numbers guy, you could play a three digit number for fifty cents and up . Numbered ping pong balls were placed in a container with air pumped in to make them swirl, when the opening at the top of the box was uncapped , the first numbered ball that popped up was the first digit of the winning number, and if you were lucky enough for your number to come out, you were guaranteed to be paid, this was a big change when people played the numbers with the local mob guy, who you often had to hunt down when you won.

But as is the case , anytime something is touched by human hands , there will be a scheme to commit fraud and make money.Some insider had the bright idea of weighing down the ping pong balls except the ping pong balls marked with a "7".This would guarantee that triple sevens would come out. The insider must have told a few associates , and those associates told a few more people.The word to play triple sevens spread from the capitol in Harrisburg to every beauty and barber shop, corner grocery and coffee shop in South Philly .

Now Pop did not drink any liquor, while the other guys from the Navy Yard would stop for a beer and a shot after work, he never touched the stuff. His weakness was a good cup of coffee and a cruller donut. On our walk we would stop at this coffee shop ,sitting at the counter he would order a soda for me and a coffee for himself. There were usually a group of regulars , mostly retired elderly men, who would spend hours at the coffee shop, they would often be the eyes and ears of the neighborhood, hearing every bit of gossip or news that was happening and then dispensing it to the others that came in.

A waitress was just starting her shift when she called out to the guys, "Whats a good number?', meaning did anybody have a dream or a hunch of a three digit number to play in the lottery, in unison, every patron yelled out, "Play triple sevens !"

Pop was not much of a gambler , in fact I never seen him play the numbers or a lottery, he looked at me and said , What do you think, should we play?, I said , Go for it Pop. There was a corner grocery right down the street , if he won, it would be one hundred dollars. I ate dinner that night at the LaMonza's and at seven o'clock on television they had a public viewing of the lottery , the first ball that went through the chute to the top was a seven, Pop looked at me, the second number that came up in box number two was a seven, Pop was halfway out of his chair, the third number in the third box came up , it also was a seven, Pop fell back into his chair in shock, Mrs LaMonza looked at him and asked what was the matter? You don't feel good? He left out a whisper , we won., She said we won what? He said, we had triple sevens. She said , we had triple sevens? And then it sunk in and they both jumped out of their chairs and did a little victory dance, we won ! we won! Mrs LaMonza then asked , How much did we win? One Hundred Dollars !cried out Mr LaMonza. Mrs LaMonza cried out, "A New Washing Machine !!! Six months later the insider was arrested and went to trial for committing a fraud, he did 2 years in a state penitentiary.

Lucky thing for Pop he found a washing machine for $75 and talked to the owner of the second hand store to get the price down to $25 for the radio. Pop got the pickup truck, Anthony and I went with him and helped place the radio on the back of the truck. It needed a lot of work, as it was warped in some spots and it would need new tubes and wiring, we brought it into the basement where Pop went to work on it the next night, he wanted to have the radio ready by Christmas.

Opening up the back which was partly off already, he found a letter . It was in a envelope that was used by the military and it was addressed to a woman who lived in the Fish-town section of Philadelphia, the date mark stamped on the envelope indicated that the letter was sent almost 25 years before, Pop opened it and read the contents, it was a letter from a soldier stationed overseas during the last war, he was writing to his wife and telling her how much he loved her and missed her, Pop had been in the last war, he called his wife down to the basement and showed her the letter. She read it and her eyes swelled with tears, I looked at Pop ,he had been in the service and had lost many friends in the war .I imagined this hit him hard.

The next day, Pop took a ride by this woman's house to see if she was still living there, he wanted to give the letter back to her, but there was only a empty lot there now. He wrote the Veterans Administration seeking their help in finding these people but he said it would probably be months before they could answer him, he also wrote to every similarly named person listed in the phone book but in the coming months there were no replies.

Time passed quickly and it was almost Christmas, Pop had replaced all the wiring and the tubes, he had to search all over the region for these tubes as they were not being made anymore, he sanded the wood down and refinished it filling in every nick, crack and imperfection. He applied five coats of varnish until it glistened , it was a work of art and the sound that came from the speaker was deep and resonant.

It was finally Christmas Eve, family and friends would be coming to the the LaMonzas that night, Pop had put the radio in the living room, it looked great in there and the restoration was a testament to his workmanship . The dial was set to a station that was playing Christmas music all day, we had all volunteered at Church to deliver food baskets to the needy, we had finished late in the afternoon and we were all looking forward to that nights festivity .By this time I was considered a part of the family , the Smiths did not care where I was as long as they got my paycheck and the occasional pot of spaghetti sent over by the LaMonzas.For the first time in my life I was truly happy. To be invited into this home was like Heaven on earth.

The postman delivered the mail late that afternoon, in the door was a letter concerning the woman they were looking for. It was from a distant relative of the woman but because of the inquiry they had searched for their long lost relative and they gave us the address. It seems she was living somewhere in Kensington. Pop got back into the truck and I quickly jumped in, he had an idea of where she lived , it was a tiny street off of Venango street, we drove around a few times looking for the address, it turns out it was one of those tiny streets that runs for a block, breaks off and then runs again a few blocks later.

There was supposed to be an apartment in the back, the homes on the street were in need of repair , it kind of reminded me of where I lived. There was trash strewn on the street and many windows were boarded up, there was a tiny alley way on the side, I remember Pop asking if this could be it, we walked up the pathway and around the back. There was a tiny porch and painted on the brick wall in white was the address we were looking for. Pop knocked on the door, a tiny figure appeared in the window , she asked who we were and what did we want? Pop explained about the radio and the letter that was found inside, he took the letter from inside his coat and pressed it to the window, she looked surprised and shocked but she still seemed to have suspicions about us. Pop apologized and put the letter through the mail slot, we wished her a Merry Christmas and we were halfway up the alley when she called to us from the porch.

She asked us if we would like to have a cup of tea, in all reality I wanted to leave as guests would now be arriving at the LaMonza's house, but I followed Pop into her home. She welcomed us in.It was a tiny room with a small kitchenette and a tiny bathroom to the rear, I imagined she slept on the couch as there was no bedroom in sight. There was a small dog by the couch that looked us up and down, he came over and sniffed us and his tail began wagging excitedly. There was a cat on top of the couch acting indifferently as they often do. On the other side of the room was a bird cage that had parakeets of many different colors overlooking a tank of gold fish.

She poured the tea as she spoke ,she told us that many years ago she had married a childhood sweetheart. He was drafted and would be leaving in a matter of weeks . They had set up a household in Fish-town, for a wedding present, her husband had brought a used radio, it was a floor model that had wheels on the legs, they would push the radio on the back porch at night and they would dance under the stars to all their favorite songs. Her husband left and never returned as he was killed during the war in Europe, his body buried in a cemetery in France.

She still received letters from her husband weeks after his death because of the delay in delivery from across the seas.She would place each one on top of the radio. The radio had not been in the best of conditions then, part of the backboard came apart where it met the body of the radio, she imagined that one of the letters had slipped down through the crack. The bills kept piling up and she had an emotional break down and could not keep up with the apartment, she lost everything. She moved in with her sister here in Kensington and never remarried.

Pop had taken a photo of the radio which he pulled from his pocket and showed to her, a smile crept across her face and her eyes which had seemed dull had life returned to them, she asked in a tiny hesitant voice , if she could have this photo, Pop said of course. She took his hand in hers and wrapped her fragile fingers around his and thanked him. Pop asked her if she would like to come over tonight and see it, she slowly waved her hand across the room and pointing to her pets , she said that she could not leave her family.As we drove home , Pop was very quiet , he did not have to say a word to me because I knew that we would have one more delivery to make. Tonight in Kensington there is a woman who is young again and dancing underneath the stars.

That was Pop, he had a handshake like an iron vise, his arms were like sinewy steel,and his chin was made of granite, but his heart, was as soft as gold.