Lisa Simpson's New Friend

Chapter 13

Two days after Papa got better and his sling was taken off, I realized it was Friday and that meant I got to see Lisa again. After doing our homework together in her room, we played with her Malibu Stacey dolls all through the night until it was time to go to sleep. I got my sleeping bag and went to the bathroom to put on my PJs. They were a black shirt and black pants combo with my favorite anime show title, "Hachi" all over the pants and shirt.

When I came out of the bathroom and settled in for bed in my sleeping bag Lisa asked, "Do you regret what you did to those men?" "Of course, I will regret that choice I made for the rest of my life, and I pray that God will forgive me. But those men were threatening to hurt your family and mine too. So, I did what I had to. If there's one thing, I always do it's protect the people I care about. Plus, it's not like they were good people to begin with. Papa said they were his enemies for a reason." I explained. "I guess you're right," Lisa replied understanding. I started to yawn and said, "I'm glad we're best friends." It was then Lisa's turn to yawn, "Yeah, I am too." She said as the two of us fell asleep.

Saturday morning after eating our breakfast, Papa came to pick me up. He said we were going to spend the whole day together. When we got home I made his favorite food in the Old Country style he was used to; Trenette al Pesto, which is something his mother made for him when he was young. "Principessa this is the Best Trenette al Pesto I've ever had!" he exclaimed as he ate his food with gusto. "Your grandmother would be so proud of you." He said once he finished his plate. "I wish I could have just one memory of her," I said sadly. My grandmother passed away when I was too little to remember her. There are pictures of her holding me in her arms when I was a baby and some pictures where I was a toddler, but it feels like I'm looking at a stranger. Luckily, Papa tells me enough stories about her and me that I can have some kind of idea of what she must have been like.

For our next activity, Papa took us to our home theater room to watch an old movie called "A Streetcar Named Desire". As we watched I got scared when Brando smashed the plates and yelled at his girlfriend. Papa saw how scared I was and paused the movie, "Principessa, are you all right?" he asked with concern at how scared I was. "Yeah, I guess. It's just that I wish Marlon Brando's girlfriend knew how abusive he was being towards her," I explained. "You're right Principessa, it's wrong for her to stay with someone like that. This is why I want you to understand that this is just a movie and that there's no excuse for a man to ever put his hands on you. And if he does you have my permission to show no mercy until he stops putting his hands on you, if it comes down to taking his life so he stops you don't ever hesitate, understand?" Papa explained as calmly as possible. "I understand, Papa," I said. "Do you want to keep watching the movie?" Papa asked. "Yeah, I want to see how it ends." I said. After the movie was finished, I was practically falling asleep in my seat. Chuckling Papa said, "I think it's about time you and I went to bed, Principessa. Plus, we have church in the morning."

Despite Papa's less-than-legal line of work, he made it a point to raise me in our Catholic faith. Ironically when I was younger, I hated going to Mass every Sunday but as I got older and attended Sunday classes, I grew to love my faith and prayed to the Virgin Mary to always look after my Papa no matter what. Trying to keep my eyes open I yawned and said, "Ok, Papa let's go". After getting to my room and putting on my PJs, I fell asleep expected to have sweet dreams but instead came to have a terrible nightmare.