In the mid-1940’s, during high school days, brothers Len and Rich happened to be attending Keene High at the same time, Len in his senior year, and Rich in his freshman year. Back then, life at home was slow and quiet; no TV’s, with radio usually in the evening only. Afternoons at 101 Court Street usually found our mother and HER mother, Grammy, sitting at the kitchen table conversing in their native tongue. One day Rich returned from the end of the school day, and sat at the table with Ma and Grammy, snacking while the normal conversation ensued. A while later, Brother Len walks in the back door and announces his entrance by slapping his brother on the back, saying “Dick, F….a!,” using the very obscene Italian word that he’d apparently just picked up. Instantly, Ma’s chin traveled directly below the table, while HER mother leaped out of her chair, and bounded up to her room (as fast as a seventy-year-old could “bound!”), where she could kneel at her “kneeler” and began praying! With no words spoken by ANYONE, Rich grabbed Len by the arm and headed outdoors to the back porch where he asked him, “Do you KNOW what you just SAID?” Well, brother Leonard apparently learned his first Italian word, but forgot to find out just what it meant!

Rich Farina