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141 pages

English

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The Last Cigar is about generations of a Portuguese family, beginning in São Miguel, in the Azores archipelago in Portugal, in the 1800s. The story encompasses the struggles, trials, and tribulations of the family through the years with the aim that their future generations can lead more prosperous and rewarding lives. The theme involves specific traditions of the family, such as whenever there is an important meeting or special event, whoever is present will be offered a cigar to smoke from a box containing 20 cigars. Another tradition is that when a son in the family turns 21, the father offers him a chance to attempt to prove whether or not he can beat his father in a fight.

The book encompasses much action and drama, including fighting, accidental killings in self-defense, and even an illegal bareknuckle fight. Other areas comprise the struggles of making a livelihood, fighting for the country of the United States, having a famous Portuguese naval captain in the family, and some revelations from police officers in the family, such as when a retired policeman acts as a Robin Hood to get justice for people when the courts failed to do so.

The book is in the spirit of family, values, traditions, and respect, which is carried over to all nationalities. From building livelihoods by owning properties, a winery, apartment tenements and delivery trucks to dealing with racism to committing violent acts, this book has it all!

Sujets

Vie de famille

Relations familiales

Historical

Fiction

Informations

Publié par	Xlibris US
Date de parution	27 décembre 2021
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781669804727
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0200€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

THE LAST CIGAR

Thomas Mello

Copyright © 2022 by Thomas Mello.
Library of Congress Control Number:
2021925437
ISBN:
Hardcover
978-1-6698-0474-1
Softcover
978-1-6698-0473-4
eBook
978-1-6698-0472-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Editing by Lorraine Reguly from WordingWell.com
Cover creation by the Xlibris Publishing Team

Rev. date: 02/14/2023

Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
835243

CONTENTS
Preface

Chapter 1 The Quinta
Chapter 2 A Wedding
Chapter 3 America
Chapter 4 Visitors and Vengeance
Chapter 5 A Remarkable Christmas
Chapter 6 A Death in the Family
Chapter 7 Greenhorn
Chapter 8 A Changing Family—Jorge
Chapter 9 Jorge
Chapter 10 A Growing Family
Chapter 11 Traditions Continue—Mickey
Chapter 12 Townie
Chapter 13 Injustices
Chapter 14 Duties, Divorces, and Dating
Chapter 15 Undercover—Marcus
Chapter 16 Robin Hood
Chapter 17 Robin Hood, Again
Chapter 18 The Retirement Party

Epilogue: Success
Endnotes

To state the facts frankly is not to despair the future nor indict the past. The prudent heir takes careful inventory of his legacies and gives a faithful accounting to those whom he owes an obligation of trust.
—John F. Kennedy

PREFACE
This book involves much drama and suspense. It encapsulates some of the struggles, trials, and tribulations of generations of a Portuguese family—from their time in Portugal to their arrival in America and thereafter. While this book is classified as fiction, the characters, places, and events were created and inspired by the history and experiences of multiple Portuguese families, including my own. Also, throughout the book, you will periodically find superscript numbers in the text because I have included many pieces of historical and factual information in this book. The corresponding source for each can be found in the section called ENDNOTES, at the end of the book.
The main characters include the first son of each generation, dating back to the 1800s. Specifically, the generations of men are Francisco (born in 1835), Angelo (born in 1887), Jorge (born in 1929), Mickey (born in 1962), Marcus (born in 1990), and Brian (born in 2017). Each generation has gone through much and always try to help and support their family members as well as their friends. As time goes by, they try to leave their generation better for the next, to become more accepted and to be as successful as or even more successful than the previous one. It is well-known that the Portuguese have always been hard workers.
The Last Cigar is symbolic of the tradition wherein a certain brand of premium, fresh, mild-burning and medium strength cigars is offered from a family member to anyone who may be attending a meeting or important event. Each generation is asked to carry on the traditions to the next generation.
Every nationality and ancestry has its own history, culture, tradition, norms, and style. In the past, particularly in Portugal, if someone owned a lot of land, they would be considered rich, and women were looked upon as the property of men. Times have certainly changed!
Enjoy!

CHAPTER 1
The Quinta
The Azores Islands, an autonomous region of Portugal, form an archipelago of nine islands located in the mid-Atlantic. They are characterized by dramatic landscapes, fishing villages, green pastures, and hedgerows of blue hydrangeas. Green, volcanic, and remote, the islands were first settled in the 15 th century and are popular for hiking, whale watching, blue marlin fishing, surfing, and diving. 1
São Miguel, the Green Mountain, is the largest and most populated of the islands and has been referred to as the presidency of the autonomous region of the Azores. São Miguel is made up of villages, hills, mountains, farms, wineries, and ports of fishing. It is well-known that if someone owns a large amount of land in São Miguel, they are considered to be rich. A person with money or investments is wealthy, but someone with land is truly rich.
In one particular area of São Miguel, there is a village called Povoção. It is made up of villages, farms, masses of great picturesque scenic areas, and waterfront views. In one particular area of a remote village, a massive mansion stands atop a huge amount of acreage of land that encompasses a large farm and winery.
On a balmy day in June 1846, a young woman in her late twenties was picking flowers in a beautiful garden on the south side of the property. She stood to take a break from her work, inhaling calming and soothing breaths of fresh air. While enjoying the environment, she heard a faint sound in the distance that repeated itself approximately every five seconds. It sounded like it was coming from the area of the mansion. Never hearing the noise before, she was perplexed, so she slowly made her way toward the large dwelling.
Upon getting closer, the weak sound became louder. It was a kind of snapping noise, accompanied by some sort of screaming from another side of the mansion. Upon proceeding closer, she realized it was coming from the wine cellar.
She entered and discovered a young boy being struck on his back by a man with a belt. He was screaming at the top of his lungs.
“Stop, please! It was a mistake! I’m sorry! It will never happen again!”
The eleven-year-old boy’s hands were bound together and tied to the rafters. Blood was beginning to appear on his already red back.
The man yelled, “You stole my cigarettes and got caught smoking. You were told never to smoke. You disobeyed me!” The man lashed out with the belt once again.
The woman from the garden, who was the boy’s mother, rushed toward them and yelled at her husband to stop. She thrusted herself in front of the boy to block the blows to his body.
“Stop, now! That’s our son .”
The man pushed her away. She tumbled to the floor. She grabbed a nearby axe, picked it up, and raised it above her head. In one swift motion, she aimed for the rope tied to the rafters and swung. The rope split and the boy crumpled to the ground.
She turned to her husband. His face was full of rage, veins bulging from his neck.
She pled, “Leave him alone now. You’ve punished him enough!”
The couple stared at each other. Finally, the father turned away and exited the cellar.
The woman covered her son with a nearby blanket. She wept and said his name continuously.
“Francisco. Francisco. Francisco.”
She lay crying over his bloodied body until some farm workers entered the cellar and carried the boy upstairs to his bedroom where he would lie on the bed to recover.
***
Many years later, a man in his early fifties taking an afternoon nap abruptly awoke from a nightmare and sat up in bed, gazing outside an upstairs bedroom window. Shaking, he remembered the past when he was much younger. The boy was now a man—Francisco. While thinking of that horrendous incident in his youth, a warm breeze flowed through the grape vines used to produce wine. It wafted through the open window. He scanned another area of the property and marveled at the abundance of apple and pear trees. He could see strips of carefully manicured crops of corn, string beans, tomatoes, and potatoes. Farm workers were picking and planting crops. Some were riding on tractors and other equipment while sprinklers threw streams of water throughout the property. Chickens and roosters ran freely in their penned area. Francisco’s face chiseled out a small smile as he thought of his accomplishments. He had been through a lot in his lifetime but had accomplished much through his ownership of the quinta. (A quinta is a country villa or estate—in particular, a wine-growing estate in Portugal.)
Francisco forced himself from bed and sat at a desk near the window. He began writing. He carefully checked his work. Then, he grabbed a nearby phone and spoke with a servant in the downstairs kitchen, who served at his every beck and call. Francisco instructed the servant to summon his son, Angelo, who was working on the property. The servant immediately ran outside, jumped into a work jeep, and drove away in search of Angelo.
It was late in the afternoon. The sun was beginning to fall in the cloudy sky. Angelo was found supervising a large group of workers picking crops in the field. The servant told Angelo that his father wanted to speak with him.
The two returned to the mansion in separate vehicles. The servant went back to the kitchen as Angelo entered the elevator to meet with his father upstairs.
Upon entering the elevator, Angelo watched the floors change from above the door. He appeared to be in a trance while star