The Hummingbird
[Author's Note: I know this is a very long story. But from the moment Melanie Smith saw the hummingbird tattoo on Jo Napoli's upper thigh in the shower in their dorm, we knew there was a backstory to it. This is that backstory. If you don't know what I am talking about, you might want to read the Soccer Girls and Soccer Women stories first. The story itself is independent of those other stories, but I think you really ought to get to know Jo Napoli first before you read this. It's just a suggestion].
Josephine Theresa Napoli was a second-generation Italian girl living in the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts, USA. All four of her grandparents had been born in Italy. They were all teenagers when they moved with their families to Boston after the Second World War ended. Having a sizable Italian-American community in Boston, all four families had cousins, aunts, uncles, distant relations and close personal friends all living in the city. This meant there was work and a place to stay while the families got settled in their new homes.
The teenagers all learned English, but it remained a second language for them. For all four, Italian was the language spoke when they were home. The grandparents had lots of their own children, including Vito Napoli and Angelina Brunetti. Although born and raised in Boston, both Vito and Angelina spoke Italian at home. English was their first language, but the Old-World accent was omnipresent when you spoke to either of them.
They met, fell in love and married. Both coming from large families, they looked forward to having a big family of their own. But it just never happened. They tried everything that everyone suggested to them. They even tried something Nona Brunetti suggested that involved a full moon and Boston Common. But none if it worked. They could not afford to try some of the scientific options. Now, with both of them past thirty-five, they finally gave up, vowing to be the best uncle and aunt for their many nieces and nephews. Ten months later, Josephine Theresa Napoli was born.
They loved their miracle "bambina" as Vito and Angelina always referred to her. They gave all the love they had saved up for all the many children they were going to have and poured it all into their bambina. Vito loved four things in this world: 1) his Angelina; 2) his Bambina; 3) his family; and 4) soccer. Vito (and all his family) called it futbol, but if you said futbol in Boston people thought of the New England Patriots, the name of the American Football team from Boston.
Vito gave all his love of soccer to his daughter. Having been "DINKs" for so long - Double Income No Kids - the Napolis were able move to a nice big house with a nice big backyard in the suburbs of Boston. With plenty of room for a field and two goals at either end, Jo spent many hours with her father playing soccer. She spent a lot of time when she was by herself out on the family pitch working on her skills. Her friends would play soccer in the Napoli backyard all the time. When her friends moved on to other pursuits, Jo stayed in her backyard getting better and better.
Jo had a later birthday and based on the school district's calendar; she was one of the older children in her school class. She was bigger than many of the other girls in her class. By thirteen, she reached the height she would be the rest of her life (5'-51/2"). At that age she was stout. She was always running and playing soccer and she was in good physical condition. With many boys just hitting puberty at that time, she was bigger than many of her male classmates, some of whom were nine or ten months younger than her.
By the time she was entering middle school, she was already a good enough player to be on the junior varsity team at the high school. The school would not allow that but Vito and Angelina knew that soccer was something Jo loved. So, they got her involved in a premier youth soccer program. This brought Jo into a whole new world. As good as she was, she was now with many other girls who were just as good or better.
This gave Jo a higher level of training and a higher level of competition. Her team would often take weekend trips all over the eastern half of the United States to play in tournaments with the best teams around the country. They played many tournaments all around the New England states in the US as well.
Two years with this program had turned Jo into a defender. At first, she did not like that. It was always more fun to score goals. But the more she did it, the more she began to appreciate the importance of good defense in a team winning soccer tournaments. When she got to high school, she was the best player on her team. She was the striker for the school team. It was still fun scoring all those goals. And the footwork she had been working on since she was five, and which had been drilled into her on her premiere team, helped Jo lead her team to a remarkably successful season with her starting on the varsity team as a freshman.
By the time Jo (only her parents still called her Josephine, except her friends if her mother was around. Angelina did not let anyone call her Bambina "Jo.") finished her high school soccer career with a loss in the State Finals, she was already eighteen years old. Since she had reached her full height back in middle school, a number of people had now passed her in that measure. She had developed a large chest (she was already a 36D and she was still growing a bit in that category). She was not Sophia Loren, but she had a pleasant face. She was blessed with the olive skin typical of her Mediterranean ancestry. She had bright eyes and always seemed to be smiling. She was in all honors classes, usually getting "A"s and the occasional "B".
Her biggest problem in her high school world was that she had always been very competitive. In gym class, she did more pull ups than most of the boys in the class. She was always the fastest to climb the rope and always got to the top. She ended up intimidating most of the boys in her class. Not that they were afraid of her, she was the nicest, sweetest girl but they couldn't keep up with her. And while she had a lot of friends, she never had any boyfriends.
She spent a lot of time throughout her high school career with the other girls from the soccer team who never had boyfriends in her backyard playing more soccer. There was friendship and camaraderie and it made them all better soccer players. This was part of why they were in the State Finals her senior year.
When she would speak to her mother about this, Angelina always tried to tell her that she should not worry about it. "Some day, Bambina. Some day someone will come along and sweep you away and you will be in love with them forever. Just like your Papa and me. You have a lot of your life left. So much is going to happen you have no idea yet. Just keep doing what you are doing and it will all work out as it should."
Jo had led the team to two straight District Titles. That was unusual for such a small school. However, even though they lost, just getting to the State Finals made history, as no team had ever got that far in school history. They decided to have an assembly in the gymnasium to celebrate this momentous occasion. To give you an idea of how big this was, the cheerleaders were there and it wasn't even a football game.
It was a rousing time, but Jo was the star of the show. They introduced the team and each player came out on the stage. Jo was the last one to be announced. Before she came out they went over all her accolades: Varsity starter all four years; team captain for three years; District Girls' Soccer MVP four years; Sportswomen of the Year her sophomore year (she would win it that year as well, but they did not know that yet); and the Golden Boot award winner for the most goals in the State Tournament that year. When she came out on the stage, the crowd erupted in applause, the cheerleaders cheered and all her teammates gathered around her, congratulating her and thanking her for all she had done as a teammate and a role model. To this day it is the last time the school had a team make a State Final.
After everyone had been dismissed and Jo was talking with her coach about some potential college scholarships, Jo noticed that two of the cheeerleaders were still there. One she very clearly noticed. How could she not notice Cynthia Swanson? Five foot five inches, long blond hair, sapphire blue eyes, a body that was made to be in a skimpy cheerleaders' uniform. She was absolutely gorgeous. Everyone knew it, especially Cynthia Swanson.
Cynthia ran the school. Well, not really, but she was the head cheerleader and had minions to do her bidding. She was dating Chad Van der Hoff, the Quarterback of the Football Team (of course). As the Quarterback, Chad had his own minions, but Chad's minions were Cynthia's minions as well. If a girl needed her "special attention" one of her minions would do what was needed. If it were a boy who needed the attention, she would tell Chad who would send out one of his minions to do whatever Cynthia wanted.
Jo and Cynthia never had an issue. As an athlete herself, Jo got along with Chad's minions, so she was always safe there. And Cynthia's minions were afraid of Jo. Cynthia was not about to take Jo head on. So, Cynthia kept her distance and Jo kept hers.
The other girl was almost impossible to see. Cynthia was such a bright light that she outshone all those around her. And Jacqueline Hennessey was always right next to Cynthia. A bit shorter at Five Foot, Four Inches, Jacqui (with a little heart over the "i") had her red hair in the standard cheerleader ponytail. Only Cynthia was allowed to have her hair loose and flowing about her.
Jo could sense the eyes on her and she turned to see Cynthia staring at her. Usually, she would get a death stare, but this time Cynthia was smiling. That should have been a tip-off to Jo. But Jo was talking to her coach about her future and she had just had all the joy and excitement of the assembly. So, when she looked back and saw Cynthia leaving the gym, she felt relief. Jo did do a double-take though, because even though Cynthia was leaving, Jacqui was not.
Jo finished her conversation with her coach and started heading out of the gym when she saw Jacqui walking toward her. "Hi, Jo. Congratulations on your Golden Cleat Award."
"Boot. Golden Boot, Jacqui."
"Oh, sorry. Well, it's still very impressive. You're pretty amazing Jo."
"Would Cynthia want you to say that?" Jo's comment had been intended to be snarky and biting. And it hit the mark.
"I can have my own opinions." Jacqui said defensively and the hurt of the statement registered on her face.
Jo now felt bad for having said it. Her grievances were with Cynthia, not Jacqui. "Okay sorry. I wasn't trying to be mean. It's just like, you're always right there with her. It's like you're a part of her."
"I have a life away from Cynthia, ya know." The defensiveness was starting to stray toward anger and Jo really had no reason to antagonize Jacqui.
Jo tried to sound less abrasive when she said, "I am sure you do. But she is a larger-than-life presence and you seem to get lost always being next to such a bright light."
