The Other Brooklyn: Joey Toranetti Trilogy Read Online Free

and uncle came out of the office my uncle said goodbye
to me and my father and said to me, “Be there on time Saturday.”
    “Yes sir.”
    My father came over to me and said, “You realize that you
owe your Uncle a favor for doing this for you.”
    “I know.”

12

Uncle Tommy
    T ommy
Consiglio was a big shot in the union. He was well liked and feared by many
people. If he said he would take care of something you could count on it. But
you would owe him big time. He wasn’t very big in build but like my father he
knew how to handle himself.
    He was actually a close friend of my father’s and I always
called him uncle. When I received confirmation I asked him to be my godfather
and he said yes.
    I didn’t know until recently that he was in jail for five
years for manslaughter. My father told me he really wasn’t the person that committed
the crime he just took the blame for the other person. This is probably why he
was very much welcomed and liked in the neighborhood. He was known as a standup
guy and would never turn on anyone.
    While he was in prison he had plenty of protection from
people that knew about what had happened. They were told to protect him.
    When he got out he was given a job as a shop steward in
the trucking industry. A shop steward fights for the workers of a company for
the union. He was so good at this that he eventually became one of the few in
the biggest trucking union in our area.
    Now I owed him big time for the job I was asking for.

13

Saturday Morning
    I arrived at Transamerica Freight 6:45 a.m. on Saturday and saw my uncle’s car in
the terminal, so I drove into the terminal and parked next to his car. I got
out of my car and walked to the steps leading to the door that said dock. I
walked in and saw my uncle standing next to a person in a suit and another in
work clothes. My uncle saw me and said, “Hi Joey, come on over I want you to
meet some people.”
    I said, “Hi Uncle Tommy,” and walked towards them.
    My uncle introduced me to the man in the suit first, Joey
this is the terminal manager of Transamerica, Eric Calder. We shook hands and said
hi to each other. This is John Talucchi the steward of this terminal. He is
going to teach you how to drive a tractor trailer (semi) today. We shook hands
and said hi. My uncle said, “You will probably be here all day because you will
start work on Monday morning. You have to understand that you will be the last
one to work because there are 79 workers ahead of you, these are union rules.
Do you understand me?”
    I said, “Yes I do.”
    My uncle said to me, “Let’s go outside and we will talk.”
When we got outside he said, “Did you bring what I asked you to bring?”
    “Yes, here is my birth
certificate, driver’s license, and $165.00.”
    “Great, I will have
these for you tonight and bring them to you, including your union book which
will show that you have joined the union and are paid up two months in
advance.”
    “Thank you Uncle Tommy
I really appreciate this.”
    “Don’t worry Joey, some
day you can help me; I am sure of that. Do well, learn fast, and I will see you
tonight.”
    “Okay, I will.”

14

Driving
    J ohn
said to me, “Okay kid let’s get started with your driving instructions.”
    “Okay, great.”
    We went out into the
back of the terminal where all the tractors were parked. They all looked fairly
new and pretty big. I was a little nervous because the biggest truck I ever drove
was a pickup. These trucks were red with a white stripe on the bottom of the
door and the name on the side of the door said Transamerica. The first thing I
was told was to climb up into the driver’s seat and check out the distance from
the gas pedal. I would need to adjust the seat if necessary so my feet could
reach both the clutch and the gas pedal. So I made all the adjustments and got
comfortable.
    The next thing I
noticed was that one shifter had a button on it. Now I really started to get nervous.
This looked like it