The Two-Family House(26)

“No,” Rose said. “I have it in a drawer somewhere.”

Rose preferred to open the door herself, so she rushed over to get to it in time.

When she opened it she found Helen and Natalie, both bundled up in hats and heavy coats. “It’s freezing out today,” Helen said. “I think it’s too cold to go to the park. What do you think?”

Rose shrugged. “We haven’t been out yet. But if you think it’s too cold…” She was hoping Helen would give up their daily walk and leave her and Teddy to themselves for the day.

“Well, maybe we’ll come in for a few minutes. The kids can play a little.”

“Sure.” Rose knew better than to argue. She stepped aside to let Helen and Natalie into the kitchen. Teddy was sitting on the floor, playing with a set of wooden farm animals he had inherited from Dinah. His favorite was the sheep.

Rose filled a kettle with water from the tap and put it on the stove for tea. As soon as Natalie was out of her coat and down on the floor, she crawled over to Teddy and grabbed the sheep from his tiny fist. Then she yelled, “Baa!” in Teddy’s face. When Teddy started to cry, Helen pulled the toy away from Natalie and put it back in Teddy’s hand. After that, both of them were crying.

Helen didn’t know who to comfort first. She took Teddy up on her knee and picked one of the other animals for Natalie. “Here, sweetheart. Here’s a cow for you.”

“Mooo!” Natalie called out.

“She’s smart,” Rose said. “Like Judith.”

Helen was miffed. “Sam spoke early too.”

“I know,” said Rose, “but Natalie takes after Judith in a lot of ways.”

“She has the same chin as Harry,” Helen pointed out.

“True.” Rose gave in. “They both have Grandpa Harold’s chin.” Harold was Mort and Abe’s father. Rose knew the conversation was not going in a good direction. She was trying to think of something else to talk about.

Helen must have been thinking the same thing. “What do you want to do for Thanksgiving this year?” she asked. “Do you want me to have it upstairs? It’s no problem.”

Rose suppressed a sigh. Where was it written that the two families had to celebrate every holiday with each other? Rosh Hashanah and break-fast had been in September, but it felt like they had just happened yesterday. Was it really necessary to have Thanksgiving together too?

“We … may go to my aunt Faye’s place. She invited us.” It was only partly untrue. The last time Rose had spoken with Faye was over a month ago. She hadn’t invited them specifically for Thanksgiving, but she had told Rose to “come and visit anytime.”

“Really? You’re going to schlep all the way to Manhattan on Thanksgiving? Why do you want to go all the way there?”

“It’s not that far.”

“I thought Mort didn’t like Faye’s husband.”

“Mort had a nice conversation with Stuart last time.”

“Suit yourself. Let me know if you change your mind.”

“I will. I’ll talk to Mort about it tonight.”

“All right. Faye can always come to us. It’s just the two of them. Maybe I’ll just call and invite her here. That way everyone can be together. Why don’t you give me her number?”

“I’ll ask her.”

“Are you sure? I’d feel rude if I didn’t invite her myself.”

“I said I’d ask her!”

“All right. You ask her.” Helen got up from her chair and handed Teddy to Rose. “I forgot how many errands we have to do today,” she said. “We need to go to the fish store and the pharmacy and—”

“Don’t let us keep you.” Rose was visibly relieved. “We’ll see you later.” As soon as Helen and Natalie were out the door, Rose locked it quickly behind them. She took a small leather-bound book out of her kitchen drawer, found Faye’s number and began to dial it.





Chapter 21





JUDITH


Judith was bored. She looked over at her sisters, who were sitting on the other side of the long mahogany table. Dinah’s eyes were half closed, like she was falling asleep, and Mimi kept sneaking glances at herself in the enormous gold-framed mirror on the wall. Judith took a spoonful of soup. It was going to be a long afternoon.

Who served soup for Thanksgiving anyway? Sure, they had soup for other holidays, but that was different. This soup was pale green and tasted funny. Aunt Faye said it was cream of celery, but Judith was trying to pretend she hadn’t heard. She was afraid she wouldn’t be able to eat it if she thought about the ingredients, and she wanted to be polite.

Judith preferred Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Helen’s. There was no celery soup, and Aunt Helen always made pumpkin bread. Judith was pretty sure there would be no pumpkin bread here. She could see only hard, store-bought rolls in the polished silver bowl that sat in the center of the table.

It had taken forever to get from Brooklyn to this fancy apartment building on Park Avenue. There was a stylish-looking doorman in the front of the building who asked them their names and called Aunt Faye on the lobby telephone to announce them. Then another man, also in uniform, rode up the seven floors with them in the elevator. Judith didn’t see how a person could make an actual job out of riding in the elevator. How much work did it take to push a button anyway?