had as much to do with nurture as nature. Alessa’s mother had stopped going to school after fourth grade so she could work to help her parents pay their bills. The decision not only deprived her of an education but also robbed her of all ambition and drive. Caterina had only one asset to fall back on—her good looks. And she was content to get by on them. Her body was lean, with curves that other women envied, and her legs were long and shapely. Her smile was inviting and she had jet-black hair, with a touch of curl that fell in all the right places. Her deep olive complexion gave her an exotic look that men adored. She was a beautiful woman, and since she was dirt-poor and had nothing else to fall back on, she had no qualms about using that beauty to get everything she desired.
Caterina’s lack of education had not stood in the way of mastering the art of manipulation. She could muster sympathy from strangers. She cried the blues about how poor they were and how her four kids needed to eat. Yet, no matter how much she complained, Caterina always looked great. She didn’t wear expensive clothes, but her outfits were always new, perfectly accessorized with matching jewelry, sunglasses, shoes, and purses. And she never left the house without her makeup in place.
As an adolescent, Alessa would always face the brunt of her mother’s criticism, directed primarily at her lack of good looks. Caterina often nagged her daughter, insisting she wouldn’t look so homely if she wore makeup and fixed her hair. It never occurred to Alessa to fight back. She and her siblings had always been less privileged than their mother when it came to matching outfits, manicured nails, and decent haircuts. The children rarely received new clothes and continued to use the same underwear until the elastic on their panties and bras wore out. None of the children even owned a toothbrush; they shared one between themselves. But it hardly mattered because Caterina didn’t provide them with toothpaste anyway. Only Caterina’s bathroom boasted such luxury. Naturally, the children’s teeth were in poor condition. Alessa did the best she could with the little she had to work with, often sneaking up to her mother’s bathroom to steal a squirt of toothpaste or deodorant before school.
Caterina disciplined her children by hitting them with a wooden spoon. She would bolt off in a huff to find it, so she could come back and beat the hell out of them for some misdemeanor or bad behavior. Once when she was beating her son, Anthony, the wooden spoon split into two. Unfazed, Caterina moved on to a metal spoon as her weapon of choice. As she struck one of her children with the spoon, she would scold him or her for whatever infraction the child had been guilty of and always ended her last three thrashings with “I’ll show you!”
Alessa’s life during these years was a hollow one. The advantages of beauty, dignity, self-confidence, and an appealing personality eluded her. What she lacked in looks and charisma, she made up for in maturity and in the ability to withdraw into her own mind. She had a vivid imagination and lived through the stories she heard other children narrate at school that spoke of the abundance of love they enjoyed at home and the fun they had with their own families. Alessa’s classmates had very different experiences compared to her own. Through them and their description of their home lives, she would build a beautiful imaginary world for herself.
But the truth is, Alessa could never be carefree like the other kids her age. She had forgotten what it was to be a child. Her reality was harsh and dark. From an early age, she knew how different she was from her peers and could never feel comfortable in her own skin.
The years of abuse at the hands of her Uncle Danny had inadvertently taught her how to be a survivor. Deep in her soul, she knew that she would one day escape the nightmare she was living through before it consumed her. She was determined that someday, she would have all the things she dreamed of, including real love and a family.
Shortly after she turned thirteen, Alessa set herself the goal of escaping from his clutches. She summoned up the nerve to confide in her mother and tell her what had been happening. Terrified of Caterina’s reaction, however, she practiced the conversation in her head for weeks before she gathered the courage to speak to her. Then, when she felt the moment was right, she approached her mother in the kitchen, cooking dinner for the family. Waves of nausea rose from Alessa’s stomach into the back of her throat. She could feel her heart pounding inside her chest as she approached her mother slowly.
Caterina saw her daughter standing idly in the kitchen and snapped, “What’s wrong with you?”
“Mom,” Alessa blurted out, “Uncle Danny does things to me.”
“What are you talking about? What kinds of things?” her mother asked angrily.
“He has been coming into my bedroom at night and doing . . . things,” she mumbled, allowing her words to make the air thick.
“What are you trying to say, girl?” Caterina’s voice rose in indignation. “Everyone knows that Uncle Danny loves you. You don’t complain when he brings you candy and things that you want, do you? Now, all of a sudden, he’s doing things to you, is he? Don’t you have the sense to realize that he’s being affectionate because he loves you so much? Even your brother and sisters are jealous of how much attention he pays to you.”
Caterina was screaming now, and Alessa could feel herself shut down. She was terrified that her mother would report everything back to Uncle Danny. She backed out of the kitchen, sorry that she had mistakenly confided in her mother. Caterina hadn’t even bothered to sit her down and question her in depth on this matter. She did not care to understand or even acknowledge what her youngest child had told her.
Instead, she went on, “Your Uncle Danny adores you. So when you hurl such accusations at him, you sound like a dirty pig with a filthy mind! You’re rotten to the core! Go to your room right now before I get the spoon out and give you a good beating! That would straighten you out. And don’t you go repeating this shit to people or they’ll think something is wrong with you. You sound like a stupid idiot spewing out that stuff about your uncle. He is good to us and helps out around here. We would never have been able to keep this house if it weren’t for him. Do you want to live on the streets? That’s what we’d be doing, if he weren’t here, helping us! That’s what family is for. Now get out of my sight before I get really mad!”
It suited Caterina to live in denial. Accustomed to manipulating every situation in her life to get what she wanted, she preferred to ignore reality, even when it looked her in the face. She wouldn’t allow herself to recognize the implications of what her daughter was telling her about her brother because that would mean having to do something about it. Namely, ordering him out of the home. That would mean seven hundred and fifty dollars less every month. There was no way Caterina would give up easy income. The alternative would be to get an actual job to support her family. She much preferred to pretend that Alessa was fabricating malicious tales and continue to collect her rent check.
Alessa turned and went back to her room, where she threw herself on the bed and cried. She was shocked and hurt that her mother not only refused to believe her but seemed not to care about the situation. Instead, she had done her best to demoralize her daughter and threatened her with a beating. Alone in her misery, Alessa couldn’t think of a single soul who might help her. She had no one to lean on, no one to talk to. She had only herself. She was determined to get away from her nightmare and her uncle, away from all the pain and anguish he was causing her. Alessa was determined that as soon as she was old enough, she would leave her home and never look back. She was desperate to believe she could escape her darkness and there would be more to her life than the rotten place she called home.
