Mamma Mia

Let's-a Go Away

“Luigi?” The woman doesn’t even bother introducing himself, just walks right up like she’s entitled. “I don’t know if you remember me…”

“Oh we remember, Molly. In fact, I couldn’t get him to not remember.” Mario says, balling his hands into fists.

“Been a while, hasn’t it?”

“12 years, 5 months, and 8 days. But who’s counting?” Luigi attempts to joke, but neither Mario nor the woman seem to be in a laughing mood.

“You remember me too, don’t you?” Mario says, emotionless.

“How could I ever forget?” The woman replies. “Big brother Mario, wouldn’t let anyone get near his brother, including me.”

“Luigi.” Mario hasn’t looked at her once, and now he completely ignores her to say, “I’m going home. I’ll see you later?”

Luigi nods, and after Mario’s gone, he just stands there awkwardly.

“You uh…want to go somewhere so we can talk?”

“I’d like that.”

The two of them find an empty table at a café, and Molly chooses to break the silence first,

“Never thought you’d one day be taller than your brother.”

“Oh you know. Eat your veggies.” Luigi says awkwardly, before asking, “How did you even track us down?”

“Actually, I reached out to your family in Brooklyn. I’m guessing no one said anything?”

“No they did not.” Luigi admits, knowing immediately it had to be Mario’s doing.

“Anyhow, I was in Brooklyn for work. I got out of foster parenting, became an event planner. Even got my own business card.” She reaches into her purse, pulls one out, and slides it over.

Luigi picks it up, and he can’t help but think of his and Mario’s, decorated with a pixelated backdrop of the Mushroom Kingdom.

"I heard you’d up and moved here after saving everyone. Thought I’d see how you were doing.”

“I’m doing…pretty great, actually.” Luigi admits, not ready to tell her the full truth yet. He looks away, “Look, Mario just said he went home as an excuse. We were on our way to a job when I noticed you were following us.”

“Oh no. I understand completely. I have my own business now too, remember?” She reminds him as they both stand up.

“Just…watch yourself out there, okay?” She attempts, even sounding like she might mean it.

“You…too.” Luigi can’t even muster up some genuine excitement.

She starts to leave, but before Luigi can think better of it, he turns around and says, “Wait.”

Seeing she’s stopped, he catches up and says, “If you want, you can stop by our new home later. Our whole family’s here for a visit.”

“As nice as that sounds, I know you and Mario are still living together. Something tells me he wouldn’t be too thrilled if I made another appearance.”

“Oh don’t worry about him.” Luigi waves it off, but secretly he agrees with her. “I’ll make sure he’s on his best behavior. Say 8?”

“8 it is. I’ll see you then.”

“Oh Papa!” Luigi calls as he walks into the house with Molly.

“Hey, Luigi, Molly.” He looks over without registering what he just said, before he stops himself. “Molly?”