Chapter five:
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They had finished their hotdogs and trashed the napkins by the time they caught up with the rest of the family at the tour line docks. They still had their drinks though, but so did Luigi and the others.
“So this is my other nephew,” a petite woman with hair that was a mixture of silver and fallen autumn leaves approached them. She wore a simple purple dress and several thin golden bands on her wrists that clanged when she pointed at him. He’s just about our size, sis.” She grabbed Mario by the shoulders and pulled him close before she kissed both her cheeks. “I’m your mother’s older sister, Sophia.”
“H-hello,” Mario stammered out. He sought out Luigi who also gave him a sympathetic smile. He had to have receive the same greeting from their aunt.
“Luigi come and meet your Uncle Tony, Aunt Callie and your other cousins,” mother grabbed Luigi by the arm and dragged him past Mario and Maria while they met with Sophia.
“He looks just like his father,” a tall man next to Sophia said. His dark hair was thinning at the top of his head and he was dressed in a crisp blue shirt printed with images of tropical flowers and a pair of khaki pants. “Except he’s as short as his mother, and you my little munchkin.” He gave Sophia a pat on the shoulder and kissed the top of her head.
“He also has his mother’s eyes,” Sophia didn’t seem bothered by what her husband called him. “He and his brother both.”
“They are twins,” a young teenage boy said. The kid was close to Susan’s age but his voice was still creaking and squeaky. “Just one is taller, that is all.”
“I got a bit more padding,” Mario gave his stomach a small pat. “And our moustache’s are different.”
“You have been introduced to Aunt Sophia,” Maria said. “This is uncle Pauley and two more of our cousins,” she pointed at the boy. “This is Joey and-“ her voice drifted when she was about to point at the sixteen year old girl standing next to Joey. She was also dressed in a pretty blouse and skirt, but they were matching shades of golden yellow. She had wore a bright red belt that had a small shiny box clipped to it that had head phones connected. By the way the girl was bopping along and swinging her arms Mario could tell she was listening to music.
“Why did you say she could bring that,” Uncle Pauley asked and removed the headphones from his daughter’s ears. “Angie, this is your other cousin long thought dead, acknowledge him.”
“Ouch,” Angie stepped away from her father and turned to Mario. “This is Mario?”
“In the human flesh, “ Mario said and knew he had said the wrong thing when he felt Maria’s fingers on his shoulder “I mean the living flesh.”
“Yeah,” Angie rolled her brown eyes. “I figured that was what you mean.” She tried put the ear phones back into her ears but had the top of her hand smacked by her mother. “What, I’ve met him.”
“Do not understand?” Sophia asked. She had the same look in her eyes that Mama Kammy had just when she was about to grab them by the arm or horn or drag them to the corner. “We had thought they were killed when they were infants many years ago. They were alive all this time and lived somewhere far away. You don’t understand how long we have gone thinking that they are dead. Do you not understand?”
“I do,” Angie glared at her mother.
“You understand and you don’t care,” Sophia unclipped the device from her daughter’s belt and took it, the wires, and the headphones away. “You can have this back in a week.”
“No,” Angie stared at her mother in a mixture of shock and revulsion. “My favorite song was on.”
“You can listen to your favorite song in a week,” Aunt Sophia placed the music player in her purse.
“I can’t believe this. I’m not a child, you can stop treating me like one.”
“Then you can stop acting like one,” her father stared at her. “You can give up on your technology once in a while.” He turned to stare at his son. “Did you bring any of your game systems?
“No,” Joey pulled out his pockets and held up his hands. “I left it at home.”
“Why can’t you be more like your brother,” Aunt Sophia asked.
Angie didn’t say anything. She folded her arms across her chest and stared at the floor. Her lips were curled in a snarl.
Maria kept trying to look away during the exchange. He stared at the sky, at the ground and his hands. He could figure out that she didn’t want to come, despite the fact that up until now, his family had thought he and Luigi were dead. He added in her age as a factor, or maybe he should take out the age factor. Joey and Susan were close in age and they were not behaving like brats.
“Um,” Maria tried to break the tension and coughed. “Mom is trying to grab out attention.” She pointed to where her parents, Luigi and the rest of the family were lining up, along with several other people. One of the large triple deck power ships had pulled up.
“Great,” Uncle Pauley clapped his hands. “Time to go all aboard that is going aboard.”
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It was Stevie’s suggestion that the kids, or in her words, the younger generation ride on top. “The view is awesome and this is your first time up here.”
“You know you can’t argue with that,” Maria said as she walked oddly to the stairs. “Whoa.”
“When this boat is a rocking, don’t come a knocking,” Susan laughed as she too was feeling the tilt and bobbing of the ship and teetered from side to side.
“That’s not funny,” Stevie was the only one smart enough to use the railing to help keep her steady.
Mario understood they couldn’t help it, even after the ship and the waves underneath it had initially settled it had started to bob again after passengers had come aboard “Take it easy on the stairs, Luigi.” Mario felt himself teetering to the left.
“I’m always careful,” Luigi as right after he had nearly collided with Beth. “You are the one who goes charging into every situation without thinking first.”
“That’s why Jack Sparrow walks like that,” Maria said once they had reached the second deck and the ship seemed to have settled. “He couldn’t help but to walk that way.”
“He was also drunk all the time,” Joey added before he started to run up the stairs to the top deck. “Don’t forget that.”
“I won’t,” Stevie started up after him. “And don’t run, we don’t know if this ship had settled all the way, and you shouldn’t be running up stairs anyway.”
“Just pick a place,” Maria sat down on one of the bench like seats and slid all the way down. Mario sat down next to her and Luigi slid after him.
“Hey Maria,” Beth shouted and pulled out a tube of lotion from her purse. “Did you put some on today?” She waved the lotion around.
“Crap,” Maria kneeled one the bench and held up her hands. “I’m open.” Beth tossed her the lotion and she caught it. “Usually if I’m on one of these I put on sun lotion. I tend to burn when I’m on a boat. I have no idea why, maybe it’s the sun light reflection off of the surface.” She applied lotion to her nose, forehead and her exposed parts of her arms with the lotion before she handed it to Mario.
“Thanks sis,” Maria put some of on his hands and rubbed it around. It was smooth and creamy and smelled like coconuts. He rubbed it on his face and his arms before he handed it to Luigi.
“I never burn,” Luigi tried to hand it back but Mario shoved it back to him. “I told you I never burn.”
“The last time you said that your body turned reddish orange and two days later you shed your skin.” Mario said and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Don’t forget our human hides are much weaker than our Koopa hides.”
“Oh all right all ready,” Luigi put some lotion and then handed it to Susan.
They chatted for a few minutes until the guide made an announcement. Mario learned a lot about his cousins, Stevie wanted to major in child psychology and Beth was doing a dual major in literature and architecture. Susan had mentioned she wants to be veterinarian. Joey had no idea what he wanted to be, not for certain and Angie was still in a pouting snit to say anything other than mumble about being a reporter.
“So what have you guys been doing?” Stevie asked. “Who raised you, what kind of schools did you go to. Who raised you?”
“A wonderful and caring woman named Kammy,” Luigi answered. He did the explaining for Mario and told them they were in the military but have taken on the role of plumbers. That was what Maria told them to say. They had been in the military but now ran their own plumbing business.
“What’s the name of the place?” Stevie asked.
“The Koopa Brothers,” Mario answered and felt a jab in his shoulder fro Maria’s finger. “Cooper brothers,” Mario massaged his arm. “The Cooper Brothers plumbing.”
“Good afternoon folks,” the voice boomed out through the speaker, bringing their conversation to a grinding halt. “I like to welcome the folks out of town to the fabulous city that is New York. I hope you are enjoying the city so nice that they named it twice.”
A soft groan came from Maria’s direction. Mario gave her a sympathetic smile. He had come across similar tour guides in Dark Land. Considering that the name of the city was also the name of the state there was a high possibility that Maria had heard that before.
“For our local visitors welcome to the Circle Line tour. I hope you enjoy learning about the history about your city as much as everyone else.”
“Let me guess,” Mario leaned over towards his sister and whispered. “This is also the cliff notes version?”
“Pretty much,” Maria nodded as the boat began to move.
The first subject on the tour was about how the park received it’s name and history. It was once a base where it held several artillery used during something called the revolutionary war. From the few times Maria visited Mario between the events on Dinosaur Land and the attack from Smithy, he knew that her home country was once a colony for a smaller island country an the first collection of colonies fought against the island and won and became the states. Luigi was the only one who seemed confused about the subject.
“We have to fill him in on the subject,” Mario whispered to Maria again and pointed their brother.
“Leave that to books and the good ole History channel,” Maria nodded.
Their tour continued with the guide pointing out various buildings they could see and he would give a description as the ship chugged along. Mario took several photos along with Luigi and lowered the camera when the guide pointed out an empty space that used to be the home of a world trade center.
“Maria?” Mario just whispered her name in the hopes that she would know what he was going to ask.
“A tragedy happened,” Maria answered. Her eyes were closed. “It wasn’t long ago. We will stop by the site later today and Mom, Dad and I will explain what happened.”
Mario nodded and decided to stay silent during the rest of the trip. He would ask questions after the tour was over, and better yet, wait until they were in his parents car so he could avoid any possible awkward looks from his aunts uncles and cousins.
There were several small islands: Ellis island, Governors island, and Liberty island that was pointed out. It was the mention of Liberty island that made nearly everyone stood up, and Mario could see why. The last island had a giant green statue of a woman dressed in a toga like crown. In one arm she held a plaque. Her other hand was raised and holding a torch.
“You defiantly want to get pictures of that,” Maria said as they neared the statue.
Mario and Luigi didn’t have to be told twice. The majestic statue deserved to have its picture taken and Mario wondered if there were miniature versions that could be bought at a gift shop somewhere. He would love to get buy one for his adoptive mother. He should get a gift for Bowser and the kids as well.
The tour ended with a view of the harbor. There were a small handful of tall wooden ships with masts that Luigi had taken several pictures of the ships despite expressing his disappointment that the area had been turned into shops.
“Where are we going now?” Joey was the first to stand up once the ship came to dock.
“Probably going to see the Empire state building,” Stevie said after she took a sip from her near empty bottle of water. “I overheard our parents talk about it.”
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The Empire State building was tall. Mario had tilted his head back as he stared up to try and get an estimate on how tall it was ad nearly fell on his backside.
“Careful,” his mother grabbed him when he had tilted too much. “There is 102 stories if you are curious.”
“That’s even taller than the Terrapin Tower,” Luigi let out a whistle. “That is only 90 stories tall.”
“There is even a taller building in Chicago,” Maria said. “And even taller buildings in other parts of the world.”
“Wow,” Luigi angled his camera and took a picture from the ground of the building.
“Save your film,” their father poked Luigi in the shoulder. “You are going to want to grab a better shot from the observation deck.”
“We are going to climb the stairs to the top?” Mario asked.
“Hell no,” Uncle Tony shook his head. “I don’t even think they have stairs, and even if they did then there is no way I’m going to be able to climb up all those flights to the 86th floor.”
“I thought the deck is on the 102nd floor,” Mario asked as they entered the building.
“It’s smaller than the one of the 86th floor,” Maria explained. “Not too mention we don’t know if its open today, beside the view is still spectacular.”
Maria was right. The view was breathtaking. Mario could see everything. He could see the entire island of Manhattan and he was certain he could see the other parts of the city. He was able to point out Brooklyn and Maria pointed out where Bronx and Queens were located.
“And I think that part is Staten island,” She pointed at a bit of land on the horizon. “A lot of people forget it is also part of the city. It’s the fifth borough.”
“Ah,” Mario placed a few coins in the viewer and looked through. He was able to see even more of the city and at closer range. He felt like a little kid. He had to see everything. He couldn’t believe how much he was enjoying himself and felt disappointed when his vision went dark, indicating that time was up. “Your turn bro.”
“I almost wish it wasn’t nice out,” Maria was leaning against the wall. “The clouds actually make this even more fun to visit.”
“How so?” Mario watched his brother stare through the viewer.
“Considering how close we are to the sky we would be able to make hand shadows on the clouds. We could also grab a bit of static from the air.”
“Really?” Mario said in an impressed tone. Being able to grab a handful of lightening was even more impressive than the view.
“Yeah,” Maria sighed. “I’m glad you are able to enjoy this though. The next place we are going to isn’t a happy one.”
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Their parents explained what happened during the car ride over. Mario wanted to believe that it hadn’t happened. He didn’t want to think that people could commit such a crime, but as they approached the area where the two towers of the World Trade Center once stood he saw that it was the truth.
“I can’t,” Luigi’s voice came out in shaky creaks. He was stared at the camera in his hands. “It’s wrong. It just feels wrong.” He put it back in his pocket.
Mario couldn’t blame his brother. He too felt it would be wrong to take a picture of the area. It felt too tacky to take a picture to show to the family back in Dark Land and tell them ‘Hey, I was at a place where a national tragedy occurred. Take a look at the picture.
Instead he stared at the banners that were hung out by some of the surrounding buildings, banners that had images of hearts and flags. Messages that promised to never forget.
He also read the plaques that were attacked to the chain link fence that surrounded the area. They were the names of those who had died in the tragedy. They were the people that worked in the towers and the names of the police officers, fire fighters, and paramedics that had rushed in to help those trapped in the buildings, only to die when the buildings had fell. In addition to the plagues there were cards and flowers that were attacked to the fence, held by twist ties and clothespins. People who had left them in the memory and out of love of those who had died.
Mario removed his eyes from the site when he felt a hand take his. It was Maria. He reached out with his other hand and grabbed onto Luigi’s. The three of them continued to look at the site, until their parents told them it was time to go.
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