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Anthony Corleone sat on the edge of his bed not knowing if he should be happy that he would finally be spending some time with his father, or be dissapointed that he could not spend the day fishing with his uncle Freddie. He had grown rather fond of his uncle. Ever since nonna Corleone had passed away, he and uncle Freddie had become rather close. Uncle Freddie had become like a big brother to Anthony, doing the many things with him that his own father never seemed to have the time to do. Why was it that his father was always away on a business trip? He once asked Michael this question, during one of the rare times that they were able to spend together, and his father's response to him was "I'm doing this for you, and your sister. Someday, when you are older, when this is all yours, and you have a son of your own, you'll understand." Understand what? Anthony had silently thought to himself. He wouldn't dare talk back to his father. Understand that his father never had the time to spend with his children? That his mother could only visit he and his sister in secret? What was there to understand? It was clear to him now that his father was not a "normal" father, like the other kids fathers were. So many times he and his classmates would be sitting at lunch, mostly boys, and they would exchange stories of how they had gone camping with their fathers, or played a game of catch. Anthony always refrained from joining in on the stories that the other boys shared. What stories did he have to share with the other boys? That his father had thrown his mother out? That one night some bad men came and shot up his house? How every night since then Anthony would have nightmares and wake up shaking? How he wouldn't dare go to his father for comfort out of fear that his father would consider him a coward? No, Anthony would quietly sit there listening to all the other boys, envying them, secretly wishing that his own father could be a "normal" father like the others. But now he had his uncle Freddie. At least now he could go to school and tell his friends how he had spent the day fishing on the lake, having fun. Maybe now he would "fit in" with the others. It was all he could think about as he was about to get into the boat with uncle Freddie. That was until aunt Connie called him back to the house. His father had decided that they would be going to Reno together. Uncle Freddie had a look of dissapointment on his face. But he and Anthony both knew that there would be no choice in the matter. They both knew that when Michael decided something, there was no refuting it. So Anthony unwillingly walked back to the house and prepared himself to make the trip to Reno with his father.
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And in the boy's peurile, yet subtle and complex mind, a far-ranging plan of action was being initiated that would retrieve his mother's honor and bring his uncle back from the dead.
The plan, which was the product of a vivid and troubled imagination first came to him when he thought about the Ressurection story at Easter time in his catechism class.
While his feelings about his father were conflicted, and while he suspected from the time they shot up his parents bedroom that his dad was mixed up in something dangerous, he did not fully comprehend the extent to which Michael had set his course toward a destiny that would repay him for his many sins.
His feelings for the people around Michael were also mixed. In addition to loving his nonno and uncle Freddie, and being somewhat afraid of Rocco Lampone and Al Neri, he didnt know what to make what to make of the distant and cold Tom Hagen, who had been so transparent when he told him the electric car was a gift from his dad. Anthony loved some of the others, most especially Frank Pentangeli. Back in New York, and in Tahoe, Frankie Five Angels was like a jolly uncle to Anthony. He taught Anthony how to drink water from a hose, and told him jokes and played tricks that always made Anthony laugh. He also taught Anthony about operas, something for which Frankie had a passion. Frankie would sing sections of the more famous operas to Anthony, and even got him to memorize a part of La Donn 'e mobile from Rigoletto. Frankie explained to Anthony that Operas were one of the great forms of Italian culture and that he should nevr forget that the among the greatest musicians were Italians. "They're stories, but the actors sing the parts instead of talking," Frankie told him. Then he would always add, "Tony if an orchestra doesnt have at least one Italian in it, its not really an orchestra!" Curious, Anthony would ask Frankie to tell him the stories of the operas, one of which was La Cavaleria Rusticana, in which the Ressurection scene was played out onstage.
Even as he was driving to Reno with his father in the silent car, the music Frankie had sung to him, in his gruff voice, turned sweet, and was of solace to the child. "When I grow up I want to see the opera," he blurted out to Michael who of course prommised him he would take him as soon as he had finished some business. Anthony didn't believe his father any more, but on one of her secret visits to the Tahoe compopund, Anthony, in a rare moment confided to his mother, Kay, that he wanted to see a real opera. After that, from time to time, Aunt Connie would give Anthony opera records she told him came from his mom...but not to mention it to dad.
In time, he forgot about the fantasy to bring Fredo back, and at age 13, when he and Mary found themselves shipped to New Hampshire and to an exclusive boarding school where his mom taught part time, he began to realize how much pain his father had actually caused. During his visits home all through school he enjoyed all the holiday festivities, and was heartened by the kindly way his step dad Douglas had treated him. Sometimes though he and Mary would talk of the good times in the Corleone family, and of the differences between the genuinely joyous Italian festivities they rmembered, as compared to the rather dry W.A.S.P. way things were done in New Hampshire.
Although Mary was never much of a student, a well placed endowment got her into a top notch photography school in Rochester, New York. Anthony, who excelled in academics and in music was torn between an offer extended from Julliard and acceptance to a pre-law program at The University of Pennsylvania. Oddly it was Douglas who persuaded Anthony to go into pre law, and later to begin law school at Penn by telling him "You've got great classical music there in Philly, and you are a short train ride from New York where you can get all the culture you want. Get the law degree, make money, and be a patron of the arts," he would say.
During those years Anthony became disillusioned with school and for three years he dropped out altogether. Kay, who was always supportive, allowed him to bum around Europe for this time, although she never learned that he had made a month long side trip to Sicily where he visited the town of Corleone and learned much of the family history from barkeeps and locals all too eager to recount the legends of "La Famiglia Corleone." It was there he learned for the first time that his father had spent more than a year hiding in Sicily, and that he had married a young girl who was blown up in a car. Although he went to the little bar her brothers had inherited from their father, he never disclosed to them who he was, or why he was there. To them he was just an American tourist looking for some adventure, and at one point they even threatened him about playinhg fast and loose with Sicilian girls.
He really had not thought about it much, but the idea of girls was not something that consumed him. He did not find them unattractive, and he had no feelings toward men, but still he knew there was something about his sexuality that was different than other guys he knew. It was a feeling of emptiness, and repulsion at any form of closeness -- a problem of alienation he would learn about many years later when he sought psychiatric help following Mary's murder on the steps of the Palermo Opera House.
During these years he traveled to Milano where he saw much of the Italan Canon at La Scala, to Germany where he saw the entire Ring Cycle, and to Paris, and even to Spain where he learned Zarzuela watching a family named Domingo performing in Barcelona. He was especipally taken by the talent of their son, Placido, who was about the same age as he, but with a talent he had never before witnessed. It was during this trip that he thought more and more about changing the direction of his life.
He did come home, and finished college at his mother's request, and went through two years of law school before he announced to Kay and Doug that he was dropping out and would enroll at Julliard. Kay allowed him to take classes there, but it was not widely known or discussed. Her mother's instinct told her this was the path he had chosen, and in a way it gratified her because it was so far reomved from the life choices Michael had made. The fact that he was leaving the law altogether made her believe that now there would never be any chance he would change his mind about all those bad years, and be persuaded to work for Michael.
It was in 1979 that Anthony and Michael received a letter out of the blue from their father...."My dear children, It is now several years since I moved to New York and I haven't seen you as much as I would like to......"
Anthony paused. He had visited his father two or three times in New York, never telling him he was at Julliard and leading him to believe he was in his third year at Penn law. The meetings were always brief, cool, and they never ventured beyond small talk. Anthony would always have some excuse not to stay for dinner, and ther was never a meeting between the two that lasted more than thirty minutes. Mary had always been closer, and despite everything, she still loved her dad. She spent several weekends at the apartment, going off to shop with aunt Connie, and having dinner with her father.
As he read the part in the letter entreating Kay to come to the Papal Honors ceremony, the idea hit Anthony like a thunderbolt.
He was immediately on the phone to his mother. "Dad wants you to come to New York with us....to see something the Church is doing for him." Kay told him it was out of the question when he said, "Mom, he wants you there because he wants some kind of forgiveness from you. You are the only leverege I have. You can convince him to let me follow my dream."
Kay saw immediately what Anthony was talking about, and when the invitation came to her and Douglas, she sent out an RSVP saying they'd be there. Douglas was phlegmatic about it, and believed Kay's sole motive was for Anthony. He never knew that there was a lasting feeling in Kay for Michael, and she never let on about it. After all, Douglas had been good to her and her children. He was a decent man who did not deserve such complication in his life.
Still, she deliberately arrived late for the ceremony.
