Last Dance, Last Chance

construction when they were teenagers, and they understood the principles of building.
    It wasn’t a good summer. Buffalo is usually hot and sunny all summer, but in 1991, rain came down in torrents, making the project take longer and longer as the brothers slogged through a sea of mud. They finally set their moving-in date for February 1992.
    It wasn’t a good omen when Debbie and Anthony stopped to check their new house three days before their moving date and found that someone—probably teenagers—had broken in through a basement window. Since their place was the only home on the long street, it was a natural target for someone looking for a spot to have a beer bust. Empty bottles littered the interior. Their unwelcome visitors had vandalized the house, smearing linoleum glue on the walls, cabinets, and carpets. Debbie sobbed. They had been so close to having a home of their own, and she knew that their insurance wouldn’t cover their losses. They would have to tear up the brand-new carpet and replace it.
    Anthony was enraged, and rightly so. He slept on a cot in the empty house every night to be sure that no one broke in again.
    Finally, in March, after living for nine months in a cramped apartment, and for years without a real home of their own, they moved in. It was lonely for Debbie at first. There were no neighbors to have coffee with, and no grocery stores close by. But they were close to her in-laws, and she and Lena were by now good friends. Caroline Rago wasn’t far away, either, although Anthony wasn’t enthusiastic about Debbie spending much time with her family. Caroline had to work, and her visits were limited to weekends.
    They settled in. Anthony was now completely free to work on his plans to be granted hospital privileges, where he would meet future patients. He applied to several hospitals in western New York, telling them that he was eligible to sit for the otolaryngology boards. But it was simple enough for the hospitals to verify this—and most of them did check and found it wasn’t true. Anthony had never been notified that he had achieved this eligibility, and he was bluffing.
    Anthony found a way in, at least temporarily. An elderly physician in Warsaw, New York, was recovering from a coronary bypass and also had diabetes and hardening of the arteries. He needed help with his small country practice. The older doctor, a native of India, offered Anthony a job assisting him for two or three days a week. It meant an income to add to Debbie’s, and that was important. Anthony applied for loans to remodel an office he leased in West Seneca for his primary practice.
    Largely because he was helping a well-known local doctor, Anthony was given conditional privileges at the Wyoming County Community Hospital in Warsaw, almost forty miles east of Buffalo.
    Debbie set up Anthony’s office books and did all the paperwork for his fledgling practice. There were considerable expenses in setting up a solo practice. Beyond the office and examining room furniture and equipment, there was malpractice insurance, and leasing fees for the equipment Anthony could not afford to buy outright. In time, he would need to hire office personnel and medical assistants. Debbie was doing everything she could to help him get started. For the moment, they were on a shoestring budget.
    Anthony planned an operating room in the basement of his building. That might take a while longer, but he wanted to get to a place where he was autonomous and would never again have to depend on anyone but himself. If he had his own operating room, it wouldn’t matter if hospitals didn’t accept him. Of course, he didn’t include his father as someone he didn’t want to depend on. His father’s approval and support were vital to him.
    Even in the beginning, Anthony designated Wednesdays as special days set aside for his “current research endeavor.” His ultimate goal had always been plastic surgery. As he had said, it was “the perfect match of his intellect and his artistry.”
    For now, he treated patients with ear, nose, and throat problems, and most of the time, he seemed to be competent. At last, the Pignataros were enjoying a comfortable, if not luxuriant, lifestyle.
    Ralph was 5 and in kindergarten. Without discussing it with Debbie, Anthony bought a German shepherd puppy, which he named Polo. Ralph had been named for his grandfather, and Debbie had chosen the name Lauren because she liked it. Polo’s name was