My name is Frank Christopher Lipper.

I have just arrived in Sicily, where my parents were born. I am still not sure if I like it or not. I need to go around to try to understand local people. They seem always sleepy and I think they need more self-confidence. The sun is always shining  and everything smells.

When my parents decided to leave for the united states to search for a job, they were still young and my sister was a newborn girl.

My father did several kinds of jobs and by hardworking he was able to open his own hardware store selling cloves, hammers, and mason’s stuff.

I was young when I started working in my father’s shop. The customer’s knew me as the son of Benjamin Lipper.

My father’s original name was Beniamino Lipperi, but he changed it into Benjamin Lipper inorder to hide his Italian identity. He also changed his wife’s and daughter Rose’s name. Lipper became our family name and everyone who knows us used to call me the son of Lipper.

My mom used to call me Francesco, and my father called me Frankie. My mom used to talk to me in Sicilian, and my father in English. but as his English wasn’t good I learned bad English. Customers never commented on our broken English. They loved us.

I never saw Sicily because I was born in the USA. My mom loved it. She got touched and began crying everytime she started talking about it. I always desired to go to Sicily. I wanted to smell the scent of the sea and the orange blossoms, hear cicadae singing, go fishing and eat sea-urchins. Consequently I gathered money and I left America.

I followed the same route as my father ‘s but the opposite direction arriving to Palermo city. My grandmother gave me hospitality. She cannot see clearly, but she loves me. The house is in Arenella neighbourhood , my mother’s native village. Here is were she met my father. It’s a small house but I like it because it’s near the sea.

My neighbourhood call me flipper, because when I play soccer, I run like a pinball ball. Pinball is Flipper in Italian, and as my name is F.Lipper they enjoy calling me Flipper.

I was son of Lipper when I left america, now I’m here.

Son of Lipper, now is here.