Two Youngsters and the Madonna (I)

The parents of Gianni and Franco lived in one of the poorest districts of Genoa, near the port where their father worked as a porter. Unfortunately, their father spent his evenings in the local bars and each week he wasted his pay there. Their sickly mother was a washerwoman and managed to provide for the needs of the family. The two youngsters often played in the streets and, on occasion, pinched fruit at the street markets. Besides that, they were basically good boys. Gianni and Franco were delighted by the idea of the upcoming procession of the “Madonna della Guarda”, because they loved the Blessed Virgin with all their heart. They wanted to light candles on their window sills in her honor, just like everyone else. But where could they find the money? Their father never even brought a penny home and what their mother earned was hardly enough to feed the family. Then Gianni had an idea. “What if we went out to work?” he asked Franco. “We have one more day before the procession. We can surely earn a few liras to buy some candles.” So the next morning, to their mother’s great surprise, both boys got out of bed before 7 o’clock and quickly disappeared. “What mischief are they going to get into today?” the mother thought to herself. The coal merchant was also surprised when the boys asked for work. He was even more surprised to see them, during the course of the day, working as hard as his best workmen. When the youngsters came to ask for their wages, he would have readily kept them on until evening. The merchant gave them each one hundred liras. They returned home very proud of their first pay. One hundred liras was hardly the equivalent of a quarter in those days, but still it was better than nothing! The joy of having earned the money themselves beamed on their faces.