Cristina Rosamilia: I used to think ...

I used to think the Irish were stuck-up boring fanatics but now I believe they're just fanatics. True, Agnes has told me just about everything she thinks and she makes fun of me and Angelo, how we carry on when my folks aren't looking. And she really enjoys a good picture show with me, especially Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. What a riot to go to the movies with her! Why, Angelo never wants to go. All he wants to do is stay at home, play music on the victrola, dance with me, and then spend a steamy afternoon in the bedroom. How can I now we're living at home, my parents just across the hallway?

That's why I like Agnes so much. But that family of hers, they're a bit stiff on the Catholic stuff. Why, the evening her mother and uncle came over for dinner, you'd have thought it was a funeral. Not even an Irish wake in that family. I wish they'd lighten up, but at least I've got to say, old Mrs. Limerick's a pile of fun. How does she ever live with Agnes's mother, all those grays and lilacs. She's only 50 but she's got more wrinkles than Mrs. Harding had or even old Mrs. Taft. But Agnes has some life in her, like when we danced on Locust Street to Camptown races. Lord, she's 21 years old and still happy as a ten year old at the beginning of summer.

Me, I can't be bothered with all that depressing religion stuff. I go to mass just like any good Italian girl, but it's mostly for Ma and Pop's sake. I don't do it for me, and I know Angelo doesn't care a whit about it. But Agnes ... she's got some pretty strong opinions about religion, but looks to me, every time she talks about St. Patrick's Church where her uncle's the priest, you'd think God lived in the house himself. Seems to me, the way she recalls going to the St. Patrick's school, you'd think she'd been a juvenile delinquent, being called into her uncle's office at the drop of a hat. Hopefully now she's an adult, she can make her own decisions. Just not the Balmoral man.