Santoria looked at her watch just as she finished her experiment. 7 o'clock? It was so late and yet she had worked straight through without any interruptions. She ran upstairs to the kitchen to prepare dinner for the kids, it would have to be something quick and simple tonight. She rummaged the fridge and found some frozen pizzas, cheese for her and Marco, wiener for the children. How anybody could like a pizza with hot dog meat on it was beyond her comprehension but children had a way of liking things like that.

She placed the pizzas in the oven and began to set the table, she couldn't help but to think that something wasn't quite right, but before she could put her finger on it:

G: Mrs. Santoria, can I help?

S: Sure Giovanni, do you know where everything goes?

G: Yes, I've been paying special attention.

With that Giovanni grabbed the step stool and with tremendous effort and skill he reached as high as he could reach (just barely reaching the top plate in the cabinet). He was so adorable and at just 2 years old he was a master of all things. Marco had worried when he first came to stay that he would be a constant bother, but Giovanni was really no trouble at all. Actually when she really thought about it, for most of the day she didn't even know what Giovanni did. He already had the vocabulary of a college graduate, he dressed himself and styled his own hair (with a remarkable flair for fashion. Today he wore a nice khaki pants with baby blue shirt, navy jacket and stripped tie). She believed he could also read and write. He was more like a little man than a little boy, and he was extremely helpful, all this and all he asked for in return was a little love.

G: Mrs. Santoria, Mrs. Santoria...

S: Yes Giovanni

G: I'm finished, is there anything else you would like me to do?

S: No, dinner will be ready in a few minutes.

Giovanni smiled broadly and opened his arms to be picked up. As Santoria raised him in her arms he clung to her with the scorn of someone who had never been loved by his mother.

G: I love you Mrs. Santoria. I want to stay with you forever.

S: I love you too, now go get Marco Junior and Santoria Junior. Dinner is ready.

She could feel Giovanni tense in her arms. She pulled him away from her body to look him in the face. He had a strange expression on his face but she couldn't tell what it meant.

S: I have to put you down now, it's time for dinner, now get the other children.

As she put him down Giovanni straightened his jacket and hair. He folded his hands across his waist and almost as if he had practiced said:

G: Marco Junior and Santoria Junior aren't here, they haven't come home yet.

It was almost 7:30. Marco Junior had assured her they would be home by 5. Then it dawned on her why she had started dinner so late, and why the house had seemed so strange. The Juniors had not been there. Everyday at exactly 6pm Marco junior would come down to her lab, asking what was being served for dinner and every evening before she could even begin to cook she was bombarded with the complaints of Santoria Junior of all the bad things her brother had done to her. Yes, something was wrong, very wrong. And the sense that something was not right was heightened by the look of shear joy on Giovanni's face as he removed the pizza's from the oven.

G: I guess they're running late. They'll probably find something to eat on the road. We can eat now, just me and you.

S: ...and Marco?

She looked down at the table. Giovanni had only made two place settings. Giovanni noticeably caught of guard fell silent for a second.

G: Oh... Marco already had dinner. He doesn't want to be disturbed because he's playing a new video game.

Marco and his damn video games. She could only pray that he had not found that Deadly Submarine III had been released last week. To say that such games were addictive to him was a complete understatement. When Deadly Submarine II came out he played nonstop for months. He eventually stopped bathing himself, going to work and nearly wasted away from lack of nutrition. She tried not to expect the worst, maybe it was just some new chess game.

S: Marco!... Marco!

There was no answer. This was definitively a bad sign.

S: Giovanni start eating without me, I have to talk to Marco.

G: Oh, I don't mind waiting Mrs. Santoria. I'd much rather we ate together... just me and you.

Giovanni placed two phone books on the chair and sat at the table. He glanced at his reflection in the pizza cutter and quickly straightened his hair and tie. He then interlaced his fingers and placed them before his plate.

G: I'll be waiting right here.

Maybe there was something to what Marco Junior had said about Giovanni. Not to say that she thought he was evil, BUT she started to get the since that he might not be quite right for someone his age. Santoria left the kitchen and sprinted across the living room to Marco's office. The door was closed and she could already see from the flicker of light under the door that the lights must be off, the curtains closed and the computer monitor on. When she opened the door her greatest fear was realized. Marco was playing Deadly Submarine III and from the looks of it he had already departed from reality.

S: Marco, the Juniors aren't...

M: Shh... I'm very close to the enemy, we have to be very quite right now. Rig for silent running!

S: Marco I really need to talk to you, and I swear to God if you don't pause the game I'm going to unplug your computer.

M: Wha...

S: Ok, I'm going to...

M: Ok, Ok

Marco paused the game, which came as a shock to Santoria. Perhaps he wasn't lost yet.

S: I thought you weren't going to play video games anymore.

M: I got this in the mail today with a letter from the company, they wanted to thank me for all my years of loyalty to the corp so they sent me this free game. You see! - Marco shouted - they appreciate me!Not like you, always trying to tell me what to do. It's my destiny to captain a submarine and after I finish this game I'm going to leave you, the children and join the Navy.

Santoria just rolled her eyes, she had heard this speech before. Marco had completely lost himself. Even though he could have only been playing for a couple hours, his beard had already started to grow, in his eyes you could see he was crazed, she was certain that he smelled and he had managed to give his whole little speech without once taken his eyes of the paused game on the monitor. Marco feeling that the conversation had finished gestured for Santoria to leave so that the could return to his beloved game.

S: Not so fast. Did you noticed that the Juniors aren't here yet. Marco Junior said he would be home buy 5, but it's 7 o'clock and I haven't heard a word from them.

Marco, obviously agitated could no longer resist the temptation to start the game. But as he clicked resume on the monitor, for a split second he turned to Santoria and with a glimpse of the sweet Italian that she had come to love came the last bit of sanity that she was sure to hear from him for months:

M: Call his cell phone.

And with that, Marco slipped back away from reality, to continue his patrol at sea as captain of the U-43 submarine.