He walked over casually with Angelo, and paused beside them, as if wondering whether to go in. The girl glanced at him and smiled, but not in a flirtatious way. She turned back to her companion.

“Well,” she said in Italian, “if you won’t go on the roller coaster, do you want to go in here?”

Salvatore smiled. Then he addressed her in Italian.

“My brother’s afraid of the roller coaster,” he lied.

“My cousin’s the same.”

“Maybe if we all four go together, that will give them courage.”

The girl gave him a quick look, decided he was respectable, and turned to her cousin, who shrugged.

“Andiamo,” said the girl. “My name is Teresa,” she added.

“Salvatore. You’re Italian?”

“Almost.” She laughed. “Albanian. From Inwood.”

For a moment, Salvatore was surprised. Inwood, at the top of Manhattan, was a mainly Irish and Jewish neighborhood. But then he remembered. Here on Long Island there was another Inwood, on the eastern side of Jamaica Bay. He knew that Albanians had often been forced to flee their native land down the centuries. In southern Italy there were whole populations who spoke a part Albanian dialect called Tosca. And there was a large Albanian-Italian community out at Inwood, Long Island.

So Teresa and Salvatore and her cousin and Angelo all went on the roller coaster together. Then they went on the bumper cars, and out to the small racetrack, and came back and had hot dogs at Nathan’s, and visited a dance hall.

At the end of the day, he asked Teresa if he might see her again, and she said that she and another cousin were coming into the city the following Sunday. So it was agreed that they would meet at Uncle Luigi’s restaurant for an ice, and then go out on the town.

“You can bring your cousin,” he said, “and I’ll bring Angelo.” At this suggestion of extra company, he thought she might have looked a little disappointed. He was pleased about that, but he wanted to proceed carefully and do everything with propriety.

Uncle Luigi liked Teresa. He thought she was a nice, sensible girl. Albanian, he said, was almost as good as Italian. And Teresa seemed to like Uncle Luigi too. After they’d had their ices she said she wanted to walk in Central Park, and then visit the stores. Salvatore soon understood that though she loved her family, who all lived together on Long Island, Teresa’s greatest joy was to come into the city.

Two weeks later, he went out to meet her at the racetrack by Coney Island. Teresa was with a young male cousin, but Salvatore came alone. They all enjoyed the races, and as they walked to the subway, she linked her arm in his in a friendly way. Her cousin left them for a few moments, and Salvatore kissed her on the cheek. Teresa laughed, but she didn’t seem to mind. Then she told him she’d be coming into the city again in two weeks, and they agreed to meet.