The Denouement

By the author, Jim Doti


With the climax of the story literally and figuratively played out, it’s time for the denouement.  That should be short and especially so for a children’s book.  So I create a final scene where all the characters come together for a post-play party at Jimmy’s home.  Given Jimmy’s success in using verve, it’s a festive party that concludes with the elf actors singing their favorite song.

After the play, Terry, Mary, Johnny, Neal, Paul, still wearing their costumes, come to Jimmy’s house for a celebration.   Mrs. Lyons comes, too.  They all sit around the big kitchen table, excitedly talking about the play.  Blackie’s nose twitches with anticipation as it catches the smells coming from the snacks that Jimmy’s nonna is making. 

Johnny asks, “What’s all this stuff about verve?”

Mrs. Lyons responds, “It’s what Jimmy used when he spoke his lines.  He brought spirit to the words.  That’s why the audience reacted with cheers and applause.”

Jimmy is still amazed that no one made fun of him for the way he said the word “good.”  Maybe his mom and Mrs. Lyons were right when they told him,  “Always do your best.  If you do, the little mistakes aren’t important.”

Turning his attention to Terry and Mary, Johnny shouts out, “Hey, Shoemaker and Mrs. Shoemaker, how about some of those meat pies you’re supposed to give us every night?”

Just then Jimmy turns around and sees Nonna carrying a platter piled high with piping hot meat pies.  As everyone looks in amazement, Jimmy and his fellow elves know exactly what to do.

They get up in an instant, hold their hands and arms in a circle and start twirling around while singing:

“We love to sing our song
as we sew shoes all night long.
Putting meat pies in our tummy
that taste so warm and yummy.”

Howling, little Blackie sings right along.

 I visualize the scene as shown below in the stick figure drawing I’ll send to Lisa.

 
I need to close the book with a letter just as I began the story with one.  That opening letter served as a kind of prologue to the story (see “Starting the Writing,” Feb. 15), where I presented Jimmy’s concerns over his speech impediment and his fear of school as symbolized by the “large doors.”

In the closing letter, I’ve decided to bring the “large doors” back into the “picture.”  But I will describe them as they appear to Jimmy now as an adult.  What I relate in the following letter actually happened to me when I revisited Reinberg Grammar School recently.  Happily, the stage where I performed with verve is still there.

 From Jimmy to You

There they are – those big scary doors.  It was 60 years ago that I first entered those doors and walked into a strange and scary new world.

Now, standing in front of those doors again after so many years, they don’t seem big or scary at all.  But they still seem to hold some kind of magic, for as I walk through them, it seems like a part of my past comes into view, reawakening my long forgotten memories:

Memories of Mrs. Lyons greeting me in front of my first grade classroom.  Memories of stuffing galoshes in my locker on cold snowy days.  And memories of standing on a stage, barefoot and wearing funny-looking clothes and pointy ears.

I walk over to that stage and place myself on the same spot where I had stood as a child.  Looking out on an empty assembly hall, I imagine an audience.  I see my mom, dad and nonna looking at me. Then I raise my right hand, point my finger to the rafters  and say  with as much verve as I can muster:

“Now that’s a good idea!”

Finally, since I’d like this book to follow the same format as
A Christmas Adventure in Little Italy
, I need to conclude with a recipe.  Many readers wrote to tell me that they enjoyed my nonna’s recipe for biscotti at the end of that book.

There is no food that figures in this book as prominently as biscotti did in A Christmas Adventure.  But there those warm and yummy meat pies.  So the following is a very simple recipe that uses refrigerated pie dough and is simple enough that even a child could make it—with a little adult assistance, of course.

The Shoemaker’s Wife’s Meat Pies

1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup raisins
¾ pound lean ground beef
2 sheets refrigerated pie dough
1 egg mixed with 1 teaspoon of water for egg wash

Preheat the oven to 400°.  Spray a baking pan with non-stick spray.
Heat olive oil in a frying pan on range over medium temperature.  Then add the onion and raisins and cook, stirring until the onion softens.
Add the ground beef and continue cooking and stirring until the meat browns. 
Add salt and pepper to taste.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Roll out the dough and cut it into 4-inch circles.
Top each dough circle with a heaping tablespoon of the meat mixture. 
Brush around the edge of the dough circles with egg wash, then fold in half.  Use a fork to press the edges together to seal the meat pie. 
Brush the top of the meat pies with egg wash and place in baking pan.
Bake for 18 minutes or until the dough is golden brown.
Final Step:  When the meat pies are cool, find a cozy place and munch away at them while reading this book.