The Playboy Diary: Age of Innocence

Preface "Love is a game; some play for the body, and those are the worst players; others play for the soul, and those are the best players." – Romeo Dawn At the break of dawn, a cry traveled gently through the air and over the waves at the shores of Sicily. "It's a boat," shouted a man. "It's one of those immigrants; they keep coming every year!" explained another. The three fishermen were about to call it a night when a cry for help tickled their ears. The boat danced on the mild waves, carrying the baby cries louder and louder until it awakened a sense of humanity in them. "We gotta do something," suggested Donatello, also known as Don the Boss. "But Boss, it's not our job to help them! They're getting closer to the shore, so they will be safe," argued one of the fishermen. "What do you suggest? We ignore the baby!" asked Don. "Boss! You're softening up ever since your wife got pregnant, I guess," the other fisherman said teasing. "If it were your son, would you let it die?" asked Don irritably. Silence hung in the air as the men swallowed Don’s words. Of course, they wouldn't let a baby die; this is inhuman! "What do you want us to do?" asked one of the men. "Let's get them on board before the coast guards come," suggested Don. The men started sailing towards the boat, and while approaching, he noticed that it was slowly sinking. "It's sinking!" shouted Giovanni. "Hurry up! We're close," Don shouted back. It didn't take them a long time to reach the immigrants and end their misery. On board, a young man and his young pregnant wife, both unconscious, were gently sleeping while a one-year-old little girl was crying for help. Don then decided to carry them to his house, which was ten minutes away from the shore. "Bianca," Don's wife, a beautiful Sicilian woman in her twenties, welcomed the visitors and agreed to shelter and care for them in the family's old cottage. She was pregnant too, and her soft heart couldn't allow the suffering of a fellow human when she could step in and offer help. Don lived a quiet life with his wife Bianca on the shores of Sciacca, Sicily, until the previous event took place and altered the course of their lives. The Algerian family, "Ali," the father, his pregnant wife "Leila," and their one-year-old niece "Houria," fled the country in 1954 after losing almost their entire family in the m******e of May 8, 1945. The French army kept harassing them for years until they killed his brother and sister-in-law. To revenge the death of his brother, Ali killed two French soldiers and took a boat from "Annaba," which is a city not far from his birthplace, and headed towards the unknown. Don and Bianca provided shelter and solace to their guests, who were more than grateful to accept it. Ali was a skillful and educated man who spoke Arabic, French, and Italian very well. His Algerian features were not different from the Sicilian ones, had it not been for his foreign accent, no one would have doubted that he was Italian. Besides fishing, Don grew some olive trees and was happy to know that his guest knew everything about nurturing them. So, Don invited them to stay for some time until they find a better place; Ali accepted and was thrilled to help in the field. After a month, both wives gave birth to two boys on the same day whom they named "Paolo” and "Izil”. A year passed by until one day, Ali made the decision to move with his family to the US. The two families had grown closer, and Don couldn't imagine being torn apart from his friend, so he decided to join him on his next trip. In New York, the two families worked hard chasing the American dream. Their faithful wives stayed at home and took care of the kids while they toiled and maneuvered, struggling to protect their Muslim and Christian values. Religion was scarcely debated at home, and both lived harmoniously while teaching their spiritual beliefs to their offspring separately. However, America is the land of temptation, and the two innocent boys, born in Sciacca under bittersweet circumstances, grew up to beat the dire challenges imposed on them by their new environment. "Izil," Ali's son, and "Paolo," Don's son, found themselves at the age of sixteen hovering around the mafia. Their friendship amazed everyone who knew them; they were like brothers despite their ethnic and religious differences. In Brooklyn, the other Italian kids called them "The Imam and the Priest," the two names that they came to be known and called by for the rest of their lives. In an attempt to save their sons from the new world's degeneracies, Don and Ali married them off very young. Izil had to marry his cousin Houria that he called “Liberty”, which was the translation of her name while Paolo married an orphanage Italian girl named "Luana." At last, Izil and the Paolo found themselves alone following the death of their parents in a car crash. It wasn’t a decision, but rather a necessity that pushed them to sink into the new world since the two authoritative figures that they feared the most, were dead. The Imam and the Priest built their own empire and due to their unbreakable bond, it lasted for so long until … well, it was broken from within.