When I think of my cousin Gene, I'm filled with memories. However, the first thing that comes to mind is writing on a frosted glass window in the winter. The window in question was at our Grandmother's home. It had an enclosed terrace where she kept hanging plants year-round. In the winter, the windows would frost over. As children we'd draw and write on them. I vividly recall my cousin Gene writing the word Generosa. I was very young. He asked me if I could read it. I said "yes" and read it to him. He asked me if I knew who that was and I shook my head no. He smiled. He picked me up. He said "it's me!" When you're a child, there's a big difference between Gene and Generosa. Of course, I laughed and didn't believe him.
The cousins were easily grouped by age. Gene and Odie were older cousins. Joey and I were younger cousins. Essentially the older cousins looked after the younger ones. I remember one year Joey was being bullied at school, badly. Our Auntie used to keep a little sword shaped letter opener on her desk. One day, Gene took it to scare the bully. It worked a little too well. He showed up at the house with his dad demanding to see the parent or guardian of "the boy that pulled a knife on his son". Our Auntie was furious at first. She yelled for Gene. We weren't going to let him go out there alone. He was smiling and didn't care. The bully's father was pointing his finger and yelling at him. Gene very quietly replied in detail that he only wanted to scare him because of what he'd been doing to Joey - and he listed the infractions. The red faced man said it was no reason to pull a knife on his son. Gene smiled and replied, "you mean this?" and produced the letter opener. The bully started screaming "that's it! That's the knife!" not realizing it wasn't a knife at all. My Auntie grabbed it by the blade and said "how many times have I told you not to take my things without asking?" She apologized to the bully and his dad with a shrug and said "it's just a letter opener." The bully's dad dragged him away by his collar. We all went back inside. Gene got in trouble but not for the reasons you'd think. Our Auntie was proud of him for taking care of Joey.
Gene was proactive. He got a black belt in karate. He taught pretty much everyone self defense. He always told us it was never good to start a fight. However, if you found yourself in a situation, it was better to know how to fight than to be on the losing end of a battle. I've never forgotten those words.
Gene had a difficult time growing up. He'll hate me for saying it. However, one might say, "he ran away to the marine corps." I remember how angry his parents were at the time. I remember my Dad telling my Uncle Navaro, "we really have no room to talk." My Uncle knew this but every parent wants their children to have things better than they did. I remember Gene's first call home. He called my Auntie's house. My cousins and I are menaces. I answered. I heard, "collect call from Generosa DeGala will you accept the charges?" Of course me being me, yelled "hey! Do we know a Generosa DeGala?" My cousins being my cousins, all went with variations of "hmm Generosa Generosa can't place it". Our Auntie screamed, "don't hang up! Accept the charges! It's Gene!" Except for that whole tour in Lebanon thing... the Marine Corps was good for him. He stayed with our Auntie after he got out. He took a job surveying roads. We loved it when he'd bring home random things from roadside stands and farms. I remember some particularly delicious watermelon but that's a tale for another day.
I saw him at our cousin Odie's funeral. He looked at me and said, "are you okay? You were close right?" It made me a little sad. Yes, Gene. Odie and I were close. So were you and I. We were all close at one point in time. I suppose I'm a little sad that he doesn't seem to remember.
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