Accidental Mobster by M. M. Cox Page B

know I was at the diner? Should I apologize? Is Gino thinking twice about bringing me to stay at the Vigliotti house? “Uh, Vince and I, we had, um, what you might call a disagreement with some other teenagers.” Geez! Is that the best I can come up with? Now I sound like a mobster!
    â€œJust be careful, okay.” Gino’s tone is strict, but surprisingly, not angry. “Ronnie and I don’t always agree about fighting—I don’t think you should always back down—but just be smart about it. Tommy Gallo is not a kid you want to tangle with unless it’s absolutely unavoidable. You may be able to kick his butt—good for you. But that kid has a very powerful father, and it’s not smart to provoke him.”
    â€œI didn’t provoke—”
    â€œI know.” Gino cuts in. “Vince told me. But nevertheless, you are grounded for one week. We’ve got to make Ronnie happy. Vince is grounded for three—he lied about bringing you to the diner.”
    I feel my face flush. One day at the Vigliotti’s and I’m already causing trouble. At home, I’m usually so responsible, and now I feel like I’m behaving like a poster boy for troubled teens. I want to make a good impression on the Vigliottis, but now they might send me away.
    â€œI’m very sorry, Gino. I’ll understand if you want to send me back to Ridley. Just don’t send me to Barb Kluwer.” I hate the pleading tone in my voice.
    Gino smiles and shakes his head. “Danny, you are not going back to Ridley until Penny is ready for you to come home. You’ve got a really screwed up idea about family. Just because you make a mistake doesn’t mean we give up on you. Heck, if that were true, Julia and Vince would have been given away a long time ago! You’re a good kid—I know that. So don’t worry about it.”
    A brief silence follows. If Gino considers me part of the family, I know I could never come up with the right words to thank him for that kind of acceptance. Gino motions to me. “Let’s go grab some dinner. And your stuff from home has arrived.”

    * * * *

    Being grounded at the Vigliotti house is like a fun-packed snow day. The first day of our punishment, Vince and I play video games all morning in the game room (I catch on quickly, even though I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve played a video game). The game room is equipped with an enormous TV and a state-of-the-art stereo system, which means that every game is an audiovisual thrill. Then we order pizza (on Ronnie’s credit card, of course), watch Goodfellas (which isn’t quite as dumb as I remembered), and go online to debate which Hollywood actress is most “talented.”
    Despite Vince’s sketchy loyalty during the fight yesterday, I feel we are forming some sort of friendship. I have started to realize that Vince is a bit of a loner, but that he is enjoying my company, despite my freshman status. I wonder if this is what having a sibling is like. In addition to watching Goodfellas , Vince and I consume an assortment of mob movies, every one of which Vince seems to have seen before. I have to sit through several seasons of Sopranos (the “good ones,” as Vince observes), and by the end of my exposure to various Mafia stories, I know that a wiseguy , a made man , or a button man is a guy who dedicates his life to the Mafia, that a gumata is a mobster’s girlfriend, and that getting whacked or “hit” means you’re not long for the earth.
    After overdosing on video games the first day, on day two Vince introduces me to FaceSpace, a website where Vince chats with other kids his age. Well, “kids” means mostly girls; despite Vince’s loner personality, he obviously has plenty of time to flirt. And he appears to have quite a few fans. Between texting on his cell phone (I’m envious because I’ve never had a