As mom and Paolo pulled more and more people from their past, the relationships became increasingly distant. They had started with family members, but had now moved on to friends and townsfolk. Sometimes the names were on the tips of their tongues but wouldn’t arrive; their mental struggles were obvious on their faces. Then a name would be shouted and there was a clear recognition. This is the power of imagery brought about by the nickname. Cracchi (no translation), La Muta (The Mute), Musso Rosso (Red Face, but they were referring to one woman’s red lipstick) and Musso Pittatu (Painted Face…too much makeup). But the king of nicknames belonged to Francesco; he had at least four of them. Ciccio is another form of Francesco, akin to Dick and Richard in English. Francesco went by Ciccio u'Longo (Tall Frank), Ciccio Franco (Frankie Frank), Tavolone (like a table…long and thin) and Barbarino (a play on his last name).
There were many others with nicknames almost as good, but the information was coming too fast for me to keep up.
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