Full of Life

As her pregnancy nears its eighth month, Emily Rocco, married seven years and about to have her first baby, experiences dissatisfaction with herself and her Los Angeles house. She is obsessed with cleanliness and with trying to understand her life through the philosophy books she reads. Her writer-husband Nick tries to challenge her lapses into morbidity by saying their house will soon be full of life, with the babies they will have and books he will write. One day, the floor in the kitchen gives way from a termite infestation, and Emily falls through the hole. Although the doctor pronounces her fine, Emily moans that with her added weight she is a burden to Nick, and that as a pregnant woman, she is no longer attractive. Nick realizes they cannot afford to fix the floor. Emily suggests that they ask Nick's father Vittorio, an Italian-born stonemason now living in the Sacramento Valley, and despite Nick's reservations, they fly to his parents' home. Papa graciously greets Emily, but is curt with his son. When Nick's mother has a fainting spell, Papa is unconcerned, and after a short rest, she is ordered to get up and kill a chicken for supper. The next day, Papa takes Emily to a beautiful spot nearby for which he says he has paid a fifty-dollar deposit to a "paisano" so that he can build a stone house for her, Nick and the baby. Meanwhile, Nick has arranged for his mother to ask Papa to fix the hole. When Papa learns that they bought a house without telling him, and that it is made of stucco, which he hates, he slaps his son, then goes off to drink in Sacramento. Emily tells Nick that she likes the area and thinks it will be good for children, but Nick does not feel he could write with his father nearby. That night, when Mama gives Emily her wedding dress, insisting that she and Nick must have a church wedding, in addition to their earlier civil ceremony, Emily gently reminds her that she is not a Catholic. Papa finally agrees to help with the hole, but upon arriving at the house, he immediately complains about smog, lack of shade and trees, and the grass. Rather than work on the floor, Papa wants to dictate a story to Nick about his Uncle Mingo and some pirates for his future grandson. Papa falls asleep from drinking as he tells the story, and Nick stays up until five in the morning finishing it. Nick is hurt that neither Papa nor Emily want to read it, and after a boy delivers liquor that Papa ordered, Nick yells at his father to fix the hole. Just then, Father Gondolfo from the neighborhood parish comes by in response to Papa's earlier request. When he questions Nick about the reason he has stopped going to church, Nick says that his thinking and the world has changed, while the church has not. Papa then takes Nick away so that the priest can talk alone with Emily. Nick, to his father's distress, says he does not want the church, which does not allow birth control, to dictate his life. After the priest leaves, Emily tells Papa directly, yet kindly, that she cannot become a Catholic just because he wants her to be one. She says that she wants God in her home for herself and for her child, but that she cannot change overnight. Papa is worried that they will not have time to arrange a Catholic wedding before the baby comes, but Emily says that the priest told her they could be married in the church's rectory. Hearing about the proposed wedding, Nick refuses, saying he would have to go to confession before the sacrament. That night, he tells Emily he does not want to be pushed by his father and that he used to love the church until his father punished him if he stayed away. Emily points out that he never made an intellectual choice to leave the church, but that he left to rebel against his father. As an adult, if his wishes now coincide with his father's, she contends, he should be able to return. A short time later, Papa begins to work on the hole, but when he notices their fake fireplace, he begins to knock out a wall. Emily is shocked at first, then laughs and joins him. Although Nick is upset when he comes home, he helps his father build a chimney and a beautiful fireplace of stone and bricks that Papa dedicates to his grandchild. The night after the church wedding takes place, Emily goes into labor. At the hospital, Nick goes to see her while she is in pain, and she tells him to get out. He then goes to the chapel and prays on his knees. The next day, Papa finds him there asleep and leads him upstairs. He brings a telegram saying that The Saturday Evening Post has bought the story about Uncle Mingo and the bandits for $5,000, and he and Nick hug. Nick is then called to the baby viewing room, and he and Papa, as they look at his son, notice that he has red hair and big feet, just like Uncle Mingo. When Papa says he will build a little fireplace for the baby, Nick tells his father that he should go back to Mama, who needs him, as he and Emily now have enough money to fix the hole. When Nick goes to see Emily, she is happily putting on lipstick. They return home, where they find that the termite repair service truck has arrived.