![\"\"](\"http:\/\/mydoublelifeinitaly.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/05\/family-landscape.jpg\" "\\"Family")
<\/a><\/p>\n“Family \u00a0Landscape” \u00a0 mixed media<\/p>\n
Maria’s\u00a0life has not been an easy one. \u00a0She lives in community housing with her mother and father, an although she would like to have a place of her own, she is aware that her parents depend on her for support, both economic and emotional. \u00a0\u00a0Ours is a small town, and modest \u00a0unsavory deeds \u00a0shine brightly in \u00a0this overcast atmosphere of shared knowledge. \u00a0Families provide one’s identity, and if one member has committed a sin, all will be tainted by association. \u00a0Once committed to communal memory, an unfortunate incident is rarely, if ever, \u00a0forgotten.<\/p>\n
Her parents are an interesting couple, her mother an intelligent \u00a0foul-mouthed \u00a0and \u00a0iron-fisted \u00a0busybody who still applies heavy make-up and peroxide at sixty-five. \u00a0She is one of those women who understands that her control of the situation depends upon her playing her cards close to her chest. \u00a0I like her! \u00a0 Her father is mouse-like, a reserved and hesitant cultivator of a small plot of land, an ex-drinker. \u00a0Maria confided to me that as a child, after each episode of \u00a0drunkenness and predictably despicable behavior, her father would wake them all up to require that they \u00a0eat the compensatory ice cream he brought home to them. \u00a0 \u00a0She told me that recently she tried, yet again, \u00a0to eat some ice cream. She was not surprised to be overwhelmed by nausea, just like the times before.<\/p>\n
She was one of five siblings, now four. \u00a0One beloved brother was lost to a drug overdose. \u00a0 Working in Germany, trying to make some money to send home, he died \u00a0in isolation and was discovered \u00a0after many days. \u00a0They brought him back for his funeral service, where the presiding priest chose to lecture the congregation on the evils of drug use. \u00a0This \u00a0provided Maria with her final reason to cut herself loose from the overweening and proprietarial hypocrisy of the local church. \u00a0Judgments given \u00a0so easily require the addition of a smidgen of empathy before they are applied to a family, one already reeling under the weight of \u00a0tragedy.<\/p>\n
Her oldest \u00a0brother is known as one of those people who cannot be trusted, and many a finger has been wagged in his direction when something of value disappears. \u00a0He is an opportunist, someone who is up and about in the wee hours. \u00a0He is \u00a0a gatherer of available merchandise, some of it already the property of others. \u00a0He supplies firewood, and therefore he \u00a0is a wood-chopper, a cross-cultural category which implies unsavory traits. \u00a0Opportunities \u00a0present themselves in special ways for him. \u00a0 He sued a friend of mine who ran a small gas station, because his teenage daughter (walking along looking at her phone) stepped into the open manhole where my friend was refilling his tanks. \u00a0 She was only slightly injured, but thanks to her father’s adept legal \u00a0maneuvers, her sore ankle supplied the family with extra funds for a year. My friend, who had four small children, was given only the opportunity to worry.<\/p>\n
Maria’s sister has many children, a hard-working husband with serious heart trouble, and a house which \u00a0she imagines is running hard in an \u00a0imaginary “Joneses” \u00a0derby. \u00a0 \u00a0Her character \u00a0does not shine for its altruism. \u00a0 If given a gift, it will be immediately rated \u00a0according to brand and selling \u00a0value. \u00a0Home-made gifts or donations of time and effort are rarely appreciated. \u00a0She often begs for \u00a0free babysitting from her sister when Maria has time off from her work. \u00a0She always has a favorite child, chosen serially on her good days, \u00a0and the others jockey for position as her “pet” in order to profit from the associated perks.<\/p>\n
Another brother is a collector of metal scrap, and he possesses an honest heart, even if he may be persuaded to behave to \u00a0the contrary on occasion. \u00a0He has a garage \u00a0in the\u00a0Centro Storico<\/em>\u00a0which is stacked to the ceiling with interesting antiques, \u00a0and a wife from Naples who has just given birth to their first son. \u00a0They live over their small store which stocks \u00a0a few paper flower arrangements, souvenir postcards, \u00a0lightbulbs and assorted sundries. \u00a0They do a brisk business at Christmas in artificial trees and figurines for \u00a0presepi.*\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em>\u00a0Maria is tainted by a reputation which is not of her own making. \u00a0 It doesn’t matter really what she does, as she is part of a clan which is known for its less-than-exemplary behavior. \u00a0This, I imagine, has been her lifelong motivation to behave as she does; \u00a0she is scrupulously honest, excellent at her job, \u00a0and demonstrates a punctuality which is almost scandalous in this part of the world. \u00a0 She has had to deal with people who would not pay her for her work, a recurring theme which , each time it occurs, causes me to cringe. \u00a0Humanity, empathy, recognition of \u00a0 merit; \u00a0all seem to be lacking in regard to those who aren’t high in the pecking order. \u00a0 \u00a0Money, for many, occupies the highest rung on the motivational ladder, \u00a0just \u00a0above \u00a0familial love \u00a0and the Pope.<\/p>\n She is \u00a0assumed to be an “easy” woman, an ignorant woman, a person of little moral integrity. \u00a0All these things are not true, and yet \u00a0these things will define her as long as she remains in the same small town where her family is known. \u00a0 I believe that Maria is an uncomfortable presence for many, a kind of moral thermometer which measures the extent of their \u00a0mediocrity. \u00a0Most people prefer to stand next to someone who doesn’t illuminate their flaws so clearly. \u00a0And yet she shines on brightly, \u00a0and it is clear for all to see.<\/p>\n I wish her a long and happy life; \u00a0she deserves it.<\/p>\n