The Twelfth Commandment

Although the main characters in this story are devout Catholics, this is not a story about religion, and although The Twelfth Commandment mysteriously adds to a personal list of the Biblical Ten Commandments, this is not a story about The Commandments.
This story, about the lives of eight people spanning three generations, starts in the early part of the first decade of the twentieth century. Two of the four people of the first generation, Carlo and Grazia Bello, left their native Sicily by ship and arrived in New York in June of 1905. They arrived under the sponsorship of two good friends, Alfio and Maria Conti who were already in America and had written to the Bellos about the opportunities available in America. The Contis had one child, a nine year old daughter named Rosa. The Bellos had no children, but during the voyage, an eleven year old boy left orphaned by the mysterious disappearance of his uncle (his only relative) was adopted without formalities by the Bellos. The boy named Francesco unknowingly was now the sole caretaker of a large fortune in high-denomination lire taken from a mafia operation and hidden in the secret compartment of his uncle’s suitcase. By a quirk of fate Francesco’s first and last names are changed to the English translation and he becomes Frank Baker a fortuitous event that erases the track by which the persistent mafia would surely have found him.
Frank and Rosa became good friends and before long, even as children, they agreed to marry when they got old enough. The adults were amused and chuckled at this children’s pact, but Frank did marry Rosa. The outstanding feature of Frank’s young life was the reputation that he gained as being an old man in a boy’s body because of wise decisions that he made as he put his fortune to good use from time to time. With America’s entry in the First World War, Rosa was left a despondent widow with two young children, Joe and Al. Rosa never recovered from the loss of her husband end eventually withered away when Joe and Al grew and were called to duty in the Second World War.
During their school years Joe who demonstrated outstanding intelligence was bested only by his younger brother in academic achievements. But while Al took a few beatings from school bullies because of his willingness to take them on, Joe who avoided confrontations until forced into one eventually tamed the two biggest bullies in the school.
With his mother’s death during the war and with Al killed in the South Pacific, Joe is the last of his immediate family. Then receiving disfiguring war wounds, he breaks with Lillian the girl he had intended to marry, is discharged from the army, and goes to live with his grandparents. With at least two of his grandparents dying from events resulting from adverse social changes with increased crime rates, Joe prays to God to help stem the tide of increasing crime.
Joe always kept a precious list of The Ten Biblical Commandments to which he had long ago added an Eleventh Commandment—THE GOLDEN RULE. But soon, by an event that he could not explain a Twelfth Commandment was added to the list. He interpreted this as God’s answer to his prayers—a command to undertake a holy but secret mission. A mission that Joe believes that only he with his God given strength, speed, and intelligence could undertake successfully. As the mission nears completion, Joe is reunited with Lillian as a result of a chance meeting with an old school friend, and he must deftly complete his secret mission while resuming his relationship with Lillian. With his mission complete, The Twelfth Commandment mysteriously disappears from Joe’s precious list, and Joe and Lillian retire to their new home in New Hampshire.