Page 18 of Tito
My mother and I both looked over at her.
I paused, then answered, “I don’t think he takes days off?”
“No, the man never has as far as I know?” my mother pondered.
“Never?” Valencia stared at us in surprise.
I laughed. “Wow, Mama’s right. I don’t think he does that?”
“Never took a vacation?” Valencia asked curiously as she looked at me, then at my mom.
We stared back at her and slowly shook our heads.
The door to the kitchen pantry opened up and out stepped the very man we were talking about…Max.
We looked over at him.
He paused and gave us his patented formal bow.
“Hello, Max,” I greeted him. “We were looking for Uncle Stephano. Have you seen him?”
With his usual blank expression, Max replied, “He’s on the golf course today, sir.”
I shook my head at him. “Max, I was in diapers. You know like a rugrat crawling around everywhere and you used to pick me up by said diaper so people wouldn’t step on me, remember? So can you pleasenotcall me sir?”
Valencia giggled.
“You waste your breath, figlio,” my mother interjected as she smiled. “Max will not change.”
Max acted like we weren’t discussing him at all as he again bowed politely and walked out.
I stared at him, then I looked over at my mother to ask, “Why would he just suddenly come out of the pantry?”
She paused to look at me. “Sei pazzo Tito, how should I know?”
To answer her question…Yes, maybe I was crazy? I went over and opened the pantry door, stepping in, I knew what it looked like well enough as the Moon Estate was my childhood home. However, I couldn't understand how he had been in here for the twenty minutes we had been in the kitchen. I never questioned Max's activities or his presence before but this was an occurrence I had seen before over the years. The man exited the pantry many times but there seemed to be no reason why. As in, I never saw any can of food or any item at all in Max’s possession whenever he came out of that door. And now suddenly, it bugged me. I slowly walked along the aisle, it was a large pantry as compared to others maybe, but this was a mansion, so that was normal.
I spotted a large box, sticking out from a shelf toward the end. It seemed to be sitting a bit crooked. I stepped over and knelt down. Cool air hit my face. Blinking, I moved the box from the shelf. On the wall there, I saw an indention like for a door? I reached in and moved the next box. Setting it down on the floor, I could now see this indention was in fact part of a door.
“Tito!” My mother called me, “What are you doing?”
I paused. I didn’t tell her that I was snooping. That I was looking at something I never knew existed. A secret door inside the pantry of all places. Then I laughed and shook my head. Damn, Tito, you aren’t ten years old anymore. Letting your imagination run wild like there was a mystery to solve.Scooby Doo, where are you?I chuckled to myself. I quickly put the boxes back then stood to head through the long aisle and came out of the door. I smiled at my mom and had a good excuse handy, “I was looking for those little bags of chips.”
She scoffed. “Chips? You don’t need any chips. Take your girl to lunch, silly bambino.” She swatted at me.
“Ouch!” I pretended to be afraid of her hitting me.
Her and I both laughed at this old game we had been playing since I was a teen. I stepped over and grabbed Valencia’s hand. “Thanks, Mama. Let’s go have lunch, Valen. Uncle Stephano will show up.”
Valencia nodded at me. “Is there a particular kind of chip you like?”
I paused while feeling confused then I remembered that was what I’d told my mother. “No, I was looking for…” My voice faded away. Yes, what had I been looking for? A secret door Max was using, one that only he knew about? But if that was true, why? He had his own small house at the side of the property. Not that I’d ever been there. Inside anyway. I’d seen it of course, but now that I thought about it…. I’d never seen inside of it. Mymother and uncle both told us as boys that his home was off limits. That Max had a right to his privacy.
He did for sure, but I suddenly got the feeling Max was as odd as Valencia had said. Maybe he was even more than just odd. I mean he wouldn’t hurt anyone as he had been here since before I was born. No, I didn’t feel like he was dangerous or anything, but I did ask myself.
What did I actually know about Max and I came up blank.
The answer was absolutely nothing. I knew him as Max, our butler and that was the total sum of my knowledge.
