He came into this world kicking and screaming. He would leave this world kicking and screaming too.
“Aww! Look at him, he’s perfect!”
“Look at all that hair!”
“He’s a spitting image of his father.”
On a snowy winter morning Jake Dimartino was born, and the Dimartino family finally had a male successor to take over the family business someday. This made many people very happy that day, and many others not so happy. Such an unfortunate weight placed on such a small body, but he would grow. And grow he did.
In sixteen years, Jake went from a seven pound ball of defenseless mush, to a two hundred pound, six foot two strapping example of a man. He was tall, dark, and handsome- with deep brown eyes and a head full of thick black hair. His skin was paler than most of his family, but he wore it well. Born into a strong Italian family and raised by good Italian parents, he had not a care in the world. He was surrounded by six older sisters and a hoard of overbearing extended family. Everyone loved Jake and praised him. He was the families’ jewel.
His family had a lot of money, he knew. What he didn’t know was the particulars of what his father did. He had asked several times over the years, but never got an answer that was neither definitive nor graciously given. His father would get exasperated any time Jake brought up the question, “Dad, what do you do at your job?” His mother didn’t work, nor did she offer any help with this question. One time when Jake was seven he’d said, “Dad, I want to be just like you when I grow up!” which resulted in a prompt and aggressive lecture on being anything but just like his father. But Jake never became ashamed or afraid of his father, because otherwise the man was a wonderful, wonderful person in his eyes.
One day when Jake was sixteen, a last minute flub-up in family affairs required that Jake and his father take a road trip together from their home in New Jersey to their destination in Philadelphia. Jake’s father wasn’t pleased, but he did it anyway. This sort of thing was typically left up to his Mother, because Jake’s father was usually very busy and was working.
This was also a bad time for the family business.
Jake and his father left early that morning in a rented car that his father got the night before. His father said the car was so that Jake would look “cooler” when he dropped him off in Philly. Jake accepted this, just as he accepted a lot of things his father told him.
About an hour into the drive, they pulled over for some breakfast. Jake stayed in the car while his dad left to grab some food from inside the restaurant. Jake’s father told him specifically and firmly to stay in the car.
About ten minutes went by. Then fifteen. Now twenty. This was a fast food joint- what on earth was taking so long? Jake then unlocked his car door and began to open it.
He then heard a loud “BANG”.
He turned his head towards the sound, and saw two men running out of the restaurant. Jake, scared and surprised, stared at the men for a second, and then the men stopped and saw Jake in the car. Jake came back to earth and quickly tried to close himself back in the car and lock the door, but one of the men got their hand wedged into the car door, which Jake promptly tried to pinch in the car door. The man yelled but held on. Eventually, both men were able to pry Jake’s top half out of the vehicle.
Jake struggled. He was so scared.
Both men were able to pin Jakes head down facing the concrete just outside of the car while the rest of his body was still in the seat of the car. It all happened so fast, Jake really didn’t know what to do or how hard he had to struggle. He never put two and two together.
Jake then felt something cold against the back of his head where his neck and his head met. The coldness was a little shocking.
Then he heard a very loud “CRACK”.
And that was it.
Jake Dimartino never got to be the head of the family business. He never knew what the family business was. In sixty seconds, the end of an Italian family era came and went.