Joseph Cattanzara’s Journey

It was the year  1890, Joseph Cattanzara was sitting in the park near his neighborhood on his usual bench, reading the latest book his family was able  to afford. Focusing on enjoying the quiet and peaceful environment before he had to go back to his small, crowded house with his 10 siblings and sick mother.

His mother was very sick and her days were numbered. All of the familiy’s money went towards her medical bills. If his mother dies, all 10 of his brothers and sisters will be left orphans since his dad died when he was  only 5 years old. He went on a fishing trip and never came back. Nobody knows what happened but Joseph and his siblings were absolutely sure he was eaten by a fish.

It was a cold and dark day, the sun started to set early and that meant Joseph had to go back home and see if his family needs any help.
He walked down his usual path home, waiting to have the usual dinner with his family, but what he walked into was nothing but normal.
He walked in the house and went to greet his family only to find all 10 of his siblings gathered around his mother’s chair sobbing in pain. Joseph immediately realized what happened and stormed out of the house, he didn’t want to look weak in front of his sisters.

That day, his life fell apart. His siblings stopped communicating, there was no food on the table and Joseph couldn’t bring himself to go back to his university to continue his studies.

His house was in terrible shape and they began to run out of money.

Joseph was the oldest out of the 10 and he had the most promising future. Unlike the rest of his siblings, he was very smart and educated.

He couldn’t stand watching his family and not being able to fix it.

It was almost impossible for him to find a job and after weeks of searching he has lost all hope.

Weeks have past and thing just got worse and worse.

Joseph realized that there is no future for him in Italy and decided that in order for him to thrive and support his family, he needed to move away.

He decided to move to America.

To be continued…