Mr. Camp offered $ 6,000 for the record, "Six thousand!" Enrico and Giovanni shouted together. Angelina and Mary Alice looked as though they might weaken, but Beppe stood his ground "we do not sell the record". I still could not speak, and there were tears in my eyes which almost blinded me.
Good son!
I turned my head away so no one could see that I was crying. Through a blur I could see the record on the table. I'll never be able to explain, not even to myself, just how it happened, but with a sob of "No! No!" I grabbed the record from off the table and slammed it onto the floor.
You did the right thing.
This is a family again, and nothing else matters.
The record was broken into thousands of pieces. Mr. Kamp finally grabbed his hat and left, muttering to himself, "Crazy as loons, all of them!"
Listen, I guess we'll have to get a new "Vesti la Giubba", It seems like our old one got broken somehow.
Everything in the room stopped dead-still where it was. Giovanni's hands hovered above Beppe's shoulders, where they were about to grab and shake him good. Papa's face had an expression of sorrow and joy and relief all at once as he took my hand. Mamma broke the silence sobbing and saying over and over in Italian, "Good son!" The others just stood staring at me in disbelief.
I ran into the kitchen, no longer able to control my sobs. The others followed, all except Beppe, and they were crying and hugging me and saying I had done the right thing, that it was the only way to bring them to their senses. Papa, his arm around my shoulder, assured me, "This is a family again, and nothing else matters." Mamma began pouring wine and passing it around, stopping only to brush away a tear from time to time, she was smiling for the first time in two weeks.
We became conscious of the sound of music drifting in from the parlor. A few seconds later Beppe appeared at the kitchen door. "Listen," he said. We could hardly believe our ears. It was "Celeste Aida!" Beppe grinned at me. "I guess we'll have to get a new "Vesti la Giubba", he said. "It seems like our old one got broken somehow." In my rush, I had grabbed the wrong record from the table.