"Oh, I am sorry! I forgot to introduce myself. My formal name is Luigi (younger brother of Federico). However, I still to this day go be the name Manfred gave me. He called my "Little LuLu". I hold that moniker close to my heart. It is the only thing he ever gave me.

As I said before, I have known Manfred all my life. He lived next door to my family on Bleecker Street. My family was small. Our family simply consisted of my mother, Federico, and myself. We are Italian at least on my mother's side. I knew very little about my father. Whenever I asked my mother about him, she would either shush me or fall into tears. Federico told me he knew our dad was a traveling photographer who would come around the neighborhood to shoot family portraits. Zelda provided this information. She was the nosey, old woman down the block who stayed at her window and watched the street like a crouched cat stalking her territory. I doubt my father was Italian though. Along with my blue eyes and freckles, the sandy red hair with blond tendrils tells me something else is going on in my bloodlines. In fact, other kids in the neighborhood would tease me and occasionally call me "Mc LuLu" just to get on my nerves. 

As for Manfred, I can't say much about his family. His bunch seemed very secretive. In fact, Manfred was the only one to make his presence known in the neighborhood. His bold bravado and gregarious personality made up for the cloistered nature of the rest of his family. The picture tells it all and captures Manfred's authentic spirit. However, I do wish he would have opted to borrow the snappy, blue strappy numbers with the big blue flowers that bounced atop of each foot. They would have gone so well with his checkered dress. He nixed the idea of adding them to his ensemble because they would reveal his toes. He always thought his toes were ugly.