Chapter 23: Struck From the Book

The council met on Monday night above the bakery, with all eleven chairs full and not one empty.

The seven who had taken Aldo's money sat in the same chairs.

They kept their eyes on the table, and none of them had slept.

I sat beside Rocco, not in his chair, since the ring was back on his hand.

The old capo set the family book on the table and opened it to the page with the rule.

"The matter is the second wife of the table," he said.

"Rocco Brandolini, you have the floor."

Rocco did not stand.

"I want it struck," he said.

"On what ground?"

"That the rule was nearly used, by a man who wanted the family's docks."

"It nearly ended in a funeral." He looked down the table. "A rule that can be bought is not a rule."

"The motion is to strike the second-wife rite from the book," the old man said. "Is there a second?"

"I second it," said the heavy man.

I looked at the seven.

Nobody breathed.

One of them, the stout man with the brace on his leg, cleared his throat.

"I would second it too," he said, in a small voice. "If the council would hear me."

"The council does not hear you," the old man said gently. "But we note that you spoke."

He counted the hands.

It was the first time in sixty years that all eleven were raised.

"It is struck," he said.

He took a knife from his pocket, the small kind used for opening letters, and cut the page along its inner edge.

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