Polumbi’s – Located downtown, West Side, it was where Eve had her first slice of real New York pizza - “Damn good pizza.” It was a little place and had a counter that ran along the front window. In Kindred in Death, Eve told Roarke she bit in and it was like her own little miracle and the best day of her life. Being free, doing what she wanted to do, eating pizza and watching New York.[1]
A hole-in-the-wall pizza joint - a crowded, noisy joint with the tables crammed so close together that the patrons’ elbows bumped. When Eve and Roarke went there in Fantasy in Death, she said it hadn’t really changed at all. She said she felt like her life could finally begin when she sat at that counter. They sat on squat, stingily-cushioned stools at a narrow two-top with the scents of spices and onions and cheap wine in squat carafes stung the air. The beer came in bottles and it was “still damn good pizza.”[2]
When Eve asked if he bought the place, he said no, some things should remain constant. But they’re keeping an eye on it, in the event the owners decide to retire or sell it. (So it could stay as it was, for Eve.)[2]
In Abandoned in Death, Roarke took her there again: “[Eve] trailed off when she registered where they were. A few steps from the pizza joint, the one where she’d had her first slice on her first day in New York. ‘You’re always thinking,’ she murmured. ‘Of you.’ [Roarke] brushed a kiss over the top of her head.”[3]
In Passions in Death, Eve saw a painting Erin Albright did of the pizzeria in her studio: “Eve’s eye landed on a canvas, a painting of an Italian place, a pizzeria. Bright colors, people sitting at booths and tables, drinking wine, eating a slice, a waitress in motion with a loaded pie on a tray. The long counter at the front window where people could sit on stools and watch New York go by. A lone figure sat there, facing the window, a slice in one hand. As she had when she’d first arrived in New York.” Donna Fleschner, who shared studio space with Erin said Polumbi’s was one of their favorites: “Great pizza. She really captured the vibe.”[4]
When Eve told Roarke about the painting, he called ahead to reserve a booth and they went there for dinner. “It worked its magic, the smells, the light, the energy. She sat so she faced the front, and the memory... ‘I did a lot of walking around New York today,’ she told him. Downtown anyway. And it struck me how much it’s mine. And that painting ... I’d never felt what I felt when I sat on that stool at that counter looking out at that street. I never felt that freedom, and more, honest-to-God, like home. Mine. Never tasted anything half as wonderful as that first bite of pizza.’” Roarke told her she should buy that painting[5], which she did at the end of the story: “Shauna understands I can’t take that painting as a gift -- and the money from the sales of Erin’s paintings is going to a scholarship for artists. She asked if I’d find someone at An Dídean for that particular amount... She sees it as a way to pay me back, and she doesn’t have to pay me back for doing my job. But--” Roarke said “It remains incredibly kind, and clever with it.” They decide to let Rochelle Pickering choose the recipient.[6]
References:
- ↑ Kindred in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15595-6), pp. 93-94
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Fantasy in Death, Chapter 12
- ↑ Abandoned in Death, Chapter 13
- ↑ Passions in Death, Chapter 4
- ↑ Passions in Death, Chapter 9
- ↑ Passions in Death, Epilogue