Paolo Pagano Jr. aspires to be louder. It runs in the family. Little Paulie, as he’s known, is the loudest. Loudness is to this family what college is to others. It’s their pride, and it’s what they’re good at.

Jennie Watson is almost as loud.

Paulie Pagano and Jennie Watson live approximately one hundred yards apart, separated by one building, one alley, a universe, and you.

The stabbing couple, two porches down, is close behind, but that’s a story for later.

Jennie lives in the new condo across the street, a warehouse rehabbed into a unique urban loft-style experience. Paulie lives next door in a single-family home with his mother, who has, in her small parcel of land, an impressive vegetable garden. You won’t be invited anytime soon, them not really knowing who you are, but you guess that a meal with the Paganos would be both interesting and delicious. You have never seen Paulie’s mother smile, and suspect that it’s been a long time. When she talks to the neighbors (a group with a surprising number of tenants who show some indications of being one family, although after several years of observation, you’re still not sure), they connect by complaining over the fence. My back, Paulie’s mother will say in her thick Italian accent. The weather. My son. The neighbors nod solemnly. They know about backs and weather and sons. Your tomatoes are gorgeous, they will say. These are people who traded in their grass for cement.  , they had told Paulie’s mother, who nodded solemnly. Miscellaneous other people are also in apparent residence at the Paganos’. These might include his sister, a girl who looks like his sister, and a heavyset guy who might be a cousin, but they’re all frequently seen in the adjacent yard, so you can’t be sure which sister belongs to which house. The girls who might be his sisters are also given toward loudness, although they aren’t as ubiquitous and therefore appear somewhat less invested in their loudness than their possible brother. The girls who might be his sisters look just like Paulie, except they wear their hair in tight, shiny ponytails. These ponytails look like they could only hurt.

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