My Angel

She came to me one moon lit night
Blinding all with in my sight
She was fresh as a mornings breeze
I was gentle as the falling leaves
The grasp of love had taken me
Under the boughs of windswept trees
With the melody of an ocean's tide
Her warm scented body close by my side
Her kisses like rain upon my lips
Stars exploded with the crackle of a whip
Loves embrace had made me cry
Her shadows unmasked had made me sigh
She came to me a gift of love
An Angel of beauty from the heavens above
Then left as she came into the night
An Angel of beauty in celestial flight
She left me with bits and pieces
Of her love that seldom ceases
To burn like a fire
That increases my desire
For that Angel of beauty
From the Heavens above...

Lying in the lap of a princess, she, wiping the evidence of misfortune off his face with a damp cloth. Green eyes... Warm, freckled face... Stirring his emotions... Emotions he fights helplessly to dispel.....

HE WAS IN LOVE! He continued to act like he was hurt, he did not want the feeling to lapse as they always seemed to. Thus, his first serious relationship bloomed...

Now, this experience would lead to the most unusual situation of the streets: Joe's image of Aggie as a princess combined with his view of respect led him to cherish his relationship to the point he "honored" her by refusing to ever attempt to have sex (all of the guys were engaging in sexual intercourse by now) with her. He made a commitment that he would live up to. This extraordinary event was not lost on the crew: She immediately became a liability to the guys. From this moment on, they would fear the ending of the relationship of the brotherhood and begin to plot to remove her from the scene! In the mean time, Joe would attempt to lose his virginity to a street walker ten years older than he....

...Her name was Carmen, she was a Puerto Rican prostitute whom was the neighborhood squeeze. The event happened one night after Joe dropped Aggie off at her home. He was on his way back to the neighborhood when he ran into Carmen. Soon, after a half bottle of rum, in the back seat of a '49, "Flat-Head Plymouth", the opportunity "exposed itself"...

Carmen sat on the back seat teasing Joe.

Joe, slightly intoxicated, absent of his blue-jeans, aroused, suddenly figured he was finally at the gate of pleasure. He was actually with a naked chick! Yes! He was gonna do it!

Carmen settled back on the wide seat. Her feet up upon the seat cushion, knees bent out, wide open, pulling him towards her. Her hand guiding him, taunting him, pulling him...

Joe, in the darkness, kneeling upon the floor, coming closer to her, desperate to view this wonderfull object of man's pounding desires...

A car roars down the road, headlights staking the road. Zoom it passes the Plymouth, it's glaring lights illuminate for a fleeting moment the sacred object of man's desires! Joe thinks: 'Unreal! Is that what men fight, lie, connive, and dream for! I bet, if I asked father how could something so ugly cause so much pleasure, he would have replied, "When you get older, you will learn that many things ugly can cause you pleasure!" But, before he can lose his excitement to this stunning revelation, Carmen grabs and him pulls him to her.

He is at the door.

Posed and ready.

Her hand guiding him...

'This is it! This is what all the guys talk about...' He is ready... He begins to push and wham.... He ejaculates all over the seat!

Later he would brag to everyone that he had 'done it" and then find out everyone who had "done it" with her had to go to the doctor and get shots for a venereal disease she was transmitting like a one woman plague! But Joe was smart, he just made believe he had gotten the injection!

As Joe fought a battle between the message of HIS WORD as taught by Aggie and the word of the street, orders were coming in for four and five hundred dollars. One night, he was approached by some guy named who was on a crew Captained by some guy named Tony Black, he wanted cigarettes: two hundred cartons. Paul and Nicky picked out the place and they planned the job.

Aggie heard of the "JOB" from one of the guys whom thought if he informed her, she would get upset and leave him... alone to the crew!

She informed him that what he was about to do was wrong. She said it was getting worse--the crimes--and he would have to pay one day. She quoted Biblical Verses in an effort to back up her statement. He just said he had to meet the guys and quickly left her house. As he hurriedly trotted to their prescribed meeting place, he heard her tears of grief over and over in his head. He kept thinking that it would be all right--it was a simple job!

Good Food was a Supermarket on 21st Ave. in Astoria, Queens. They agreed Joe would keep "chicky"--a look-out that kept an eye for cops. Paul and Nicky would disable the alarm system, climb the roof, and cut a hole in it and wait in the back. Donny, Danny, and Crazy Eddy would climb down, load the cigarettes in carts, and deliver them to the rear door where Paul and Nicky would load them up. This left Pete to be the intermediary between Joe and Paul. If something went wrong, Joe would signal Pete, Pete would yell to Paul, and everyone would make a dash to a prearranged safe house--which was an empty apartment.

On the night of the job everyone was ready. A '58 Buick Special -- stolen by Paul in Flushing, Queens. -- was parked during the day at the rear exit. The crew left it there so any cops who saw it would assume the owner worked there and store employees would get used to it being there. That night, as they walked towards their rendezvous, they passed Bernies. The "thugs", growing increasingly jealous of their success, immediately began their symphony of cat calls and harassment.

"Hey, look whose across the street," Joey Esposito yelled. "It's the Mickey Mouse crew, m-i-c-, see you soon, k-e-y---why? Because we are gonna kick your butt! You are $#@#ing m-i-c-e."

Joe returned the talk..."$#%@ You!" Then they took off with ten of the older guys chasing them down the street. As they turned a corner the police cruiser was waiting.

As I mentioned before, Joe was born with club feet and suffered from the after effects of this affliction. He could walk and perform as any other healthy person, but a fact remained: he could not run a lick! He would see nothing but the rear ends of his buddies as they steadily increased their distance between themselves and the hunter..... leaving Joe to become the prey. He would always be left behind as they hit after-burner. Thus, he developed a gift of communication. He learned how to "talk" his way out of tight spots. Sometimes it didn't work...

Hands shot out and grabbed him, throwing him against the car.

"You $#@%ing little piece of #$@%!" Ball Buster screamed at him as he beat him with his open hands, slapping and pulling.

"He's like his father -- a %$#%ing punk!" Jolly Green Giant added, joining in the evening's entertainment.

"Who the $#@$ do you think you are, huh? We know what you are up to." Ball said. "We want information... And your gonna give it to us you %$@%!"

His mind was trying to fight off the pain as it attempted to organize an answer. The treatment he received usually worked on those of lesser ideals -- by this time they would be yapping away -- he, on the other hand, was a man of respect, he "knew every thing."

"O.K. O.K. I will tell you! Just leave me alone..." He shouted, eyes misting, voice cracking. "They are gonna break into a bar on 38th and Ditmars Blvd. tonight at 1 a.m.. I swear, I swear!" He screamed, feigning fear.

"You get your butt out of here -- we'll be seeing you soon..."

As he walked away, he could hear them patting each other on the back as they laughed and jibed each other...

Joe arrived at the Church play ground later on that evening. The crew was assembled and waiting for him.

"Hey Joe...what happened?" Pauly asked.

"Oh, nothing -- those #@$#%^$ cops... I managed to talk my way out."

Even though he told the cops a lie he did not want to let his guys know that he had given them wrong information: wise guys did not even talk with cops!.

They prepared for their job by dressing into all black clothing and checking their tools and equipment then set upon their way. It was 12 a.m. and a full moon was bathing the city. They scurried, like the rats they were, into the night. They reached the store in thirty minutes and Joe climbed the tree across the street. From this vantage point, he could see all of the routes connecting their location. Pete had positioned himself on the opposite corner facing him. The crew went about their business defeating the alarm and cutting a hole in the roof.

Over the course of the next hour the cigarettes were being loaded into the car, but the guys inside, after helping themselves to beer and wine, were drunk. They were running up and down the aisles playing bumper cars with shopping carts, turning lights on and off, making all kinds of noises. Someone must have called the cops because Joe saw lights of several cars approaching... Sirens mute. He frantically yelled and waved to Pete... ...who looked dumbly at him and just stood there!

The cars surrounded the store and arrested everyone, but Donny, Danny, and Crazy Eddy continued their gallivanting unaware of the commotion right outside the window. Then, with a crowd standing in front of the Supermarket--neighbors who saw the lights and clamor--the police used their bull horns....

"THIS IS THE POLICE, WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED, COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP! LET ME REPEAT, THIS IS..."

...Well, let him tell you Harry, when Donny and Danny saw the crowd in front of the store they wet their pants!

Ball and Jolly had been the first to arrive and he could hear them saying that they, the motely crew, had a rat in their midst! Joe remained motionless in the tree until after much prodding, Danny, drunk and believing that it was he whom gave them up, pointed to his secret spot.

The cops raced across the street. Joe leapt out of the tree and ran... faster than he ever had... to the safety of Aggies house..