"It's a STORM, Joe!!!!!!!"

Events have conspired against me to inspire me to write about Joe.

I don't remember how i first met Joe. There was so much going on at LAMDA, and I was the most overwhelmed 21 yr old mother on the planet. There was checking in to do, finding temporary digs so you could then go out and want to kill yourself as soon as you realized how EXPENSIVE it was to live in London in 1987. ESPECIALLY if you were unlucky enough to be an American with USA dollars to exchange. And, of COURSE, all such financial stress was upped quite a BIT if you were there as the single mother of a one year old, AND supporting and pay-rolling a NANNY. No matter that he was a game, young, gay man who wasn't charging MUCH....it was another person to FEED!
So...there was a LOT going on in my head when i first arrived at LAMDA. i was staying in a "hostel" with one room and one very long SINGLE bed WITH both Max and Nanny. Good thing the Nanny and I were so VERY thin back then. We'd get back to the "hostel" at night - after searching for apartments, or doing things at school, or both - and have to squish a sleeping Max around a BIG line of hookers and johns that filled the narrow stairwell starting at about 7pm. SCARY.

What i do remember is that SOMEHOW I convinced Joe to move to the country with us, and share rent on a great big house 45 minutes outside of London by train. What can i say? I've always been a little bit of a Diva - but this was more than that...it was really about feeling that Max would be safe - and not have the worst time in the world, either. And it WAS brilliant.

I found a BEAUTIFUL, giant house down in Eltham, an hour door to door from school. And if the rent was split into 3 - we'd all be paying the same or less than a complete crap-hole in the city. The house was down a beautiful lane. it backed up onto a golf course - had a VERY deep back yard, with an apple tree, and gooseberries. The house came FULLY furnished - down to the pots and pans,silverware,etc - how PERFECT for a little (strange) family!!!
And Joe was brave enough to move right in with us. It was Max and I, and the Nanny (Tony- I'm pretty sure)and Joe. Joe Alessi, the Sicilian, Northern English man with a fantastic accent, the warmest heart, and the MOST patient soul.

We would get home from school, after these BEATING days - such hard work, and so physical...so much on the line, as well - and we'd get home after those crazy hard days, after a LONG commute home ( we were always scared we'd fall deeply asleep on the train and miss our stop), Joe would pick his energy back up - it even LOOKED like he was literally bending down to pull new energy from the earth - and play a rousing game of 'bang on all the pots and pans' with Max before i moved the little one towards bathing, reading and bed rituals.
And then, half the time it seemed, Joe would be cooking 'a little something' up for dinner. The house would start to smell delicious as i read Max his bed-time stories. Sometimes it made Max squirm and NOT wanting to go to bed. "Want!" he'd say and point his adorable little hand towards the door. He could tell that something fun was going to happen without him. He was right. So, I usually laid down next to him until he was all the way asleep. I figured it was the least I could do after dragging him halfway across the world. Max never went to sleep alone when he was a toddler.
But when I got the chance to slip out from Max's little arm, I would gently sneak out of the door, close it most of the way, and tip toe downstairs to see what Joe had made. It was almost always Italian, and it was ALWAYS really good. Sometimes it was just Joe and I, and sometimes (more often) it was the three of us. Joe, Tony and I. And I'll tell you - there was just something so great about that. About that time - that other life that I - that we all lead - but only for a few months. I felt like some kind of royalty with Joe and Tony around. Or some kind of very elite artists. It just felt like we were all so clever and young and good looking - and pulling off this fake but awesome family thing. There was definitely a bit of 'House playing" going on , if you know what I mean. But it was great.

Joe and I were on our way. We felt it. We knew it. we were on our way to being actors. The real deal.LAMDA - the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art was felt to be the best of a very small number of GREAT acting schools in the world. We were in good hands.
And Tony, well, Tony felt great about himself, too. He was from a very poor family. They were Catholic, and just stretched too thin. LOTS of siblings. Italian family. And for him, it was a dream adventure - quite a lot earlier than he thought he'd get it. He would stay on after LAMDA and then get a chance to see more of Europe. And he did get to leave for the weekends - he had love affairs all over England, and great traveling adventures.

Well, Joe will have to help me remember the date, but at some point after we had all been happily playing house together for awhile, Tony was gone on a small trip, and Joe and I were at the house with Max on our own. Max slept in my room with me - most nights in my bed- and Joe was down a short hall from us. The master bedroom that I'd taken for myself was beautiful - most of the wall space covered with these odd fold-out cupboards made from blonde wood. AND a king size bed - which was awfully nice when Max wouldn't sleep in his own bed!

On this night in question,Joe made us 'a little something' for dinner.
"Joe.."I said appreciatively, as soon as I'd snuck downstairs.."It smells SOOOO good. I didn't realize how starving I was." and that was almost ALWAYS true at LAMDA for me. I was ALWAYS starving....I just forgot about it sometimes when I was lucky.
"Oh, It's nothing." said Joe, in his lovely northern accent. "It's just 'a little something' I whipped up.." and a sly smile came over his face as he realized that I was trying not to laugh about his 'a little something'
"well, it just so HAPPENS, my friend, that 'a little something' was just exactly what I have been hoping and praying for."at which saucy statement, Mr. Alessi promptly trounced me with his kitchen towel.
"AH! Be nice to the cook, dearie, or you don't EAT!"

As we ate and laughed and drank a bottle of wine (that I had NO idea where Joe got the money to buy), the sky raised her voice as if to match and surpass our own howling laughter. The rain turned into pouring rain. The distant thunder and lightening crashes turned into VERY CLOSE sounding thunder and lightening crashes.
We laughed our last 2 tired laughs as the rain seemed to subside with us. AH - we were ALL going to bed. What a fun night!

And then, 2 hours later, I was awoken from a sound sleep by my bedroom. It was possessed! The shutters were coming to life and threatening me, the cupboards were opening and slamming shut of their own volition, some damn ghost was HOWLING through the windows in the most horrifying manner! I was too scared to move - but I HAD to! I'd seen a couple of those movies - I had to secure the window! So the ghosts or witches couldn't come in! I couldn't let them get MAX!!!!!

I felt like I was getting BLOWN OVER as I made my way to the window, shutters flapping and ripping about every which way...I pinned them down when i got close enough, so they wouldn't come flying into my face. And I looked out the window.

There it was.

The biggest storm England had felt in a hundred years or something crazy. It looked like the tornado in 'The Wizard of Oz'. That's exactly what it looked like - and I PANICKED.
The shutters were fighting me as if they were alive - so I let them go and RAN to Joe's room, pounding on his door and yelling, "Wake UP, JOE!!! It's a storm! It's a STORM, JOE!!!!"