How It All Goes Down
- Back in 1901, Domenico and his bros land on American soil; Vincenzo, ever the class act, mimes humping the Statue of Liberty in celebration.
- Domenico gets a job sweeping the floor at the New York Public Library at night, and he studies English by day.
- When he hears that the American Woolen and Textile Company in Three Rivers, Connecticut, is hiring, Domenico and his bros hop a train for Connecticut.
- Domenico gets a job there alongside Nabby Drinkwater, a "lazy son of a bitch" (33.19) and worse (his racism, not ours), an Indian. Domenico knows better than to make friends with a "shifty dark-skinned Indian" (33.20).
- He tells his superior that Drinkwater is slowing him down, and he starts doing the job of two men faster than he could do it with Drinkwater as his partner.
- They promote him to boss dyer.
- His brothers aren't so lucky, though. Vincenzo goes to work at the market in the day, and goes to work on the town's womenfolk by night, if you know what we mean.
- When he gets a woman pregnant, the town's priest, Father Guglielmo, brings Domenico in for an intervention.
- It doesn't work. Vincenzo gets caught with a policeman's wife, and the officer goes all Robocop and shoots Vincenzo's penis off. He dies of an infection.
- Domenico writes to his Mama telling her of Vincenzo's death and gets a postcard back from Uncle Nardo: "Mother died 24 June. Malaria" (33.79). Succinct.