The Two-Family House(33)

Rose lost track of how long she had been sitting there on the bench. If someone had asked, she would have sworn it had only been five minutes, ten at the most. But then she heard the shouting.

At first Rose thought the children were playing a game. The voices were getting closer and she was annoyed because her private moment was ruined. But after a few more shouts, she realized it wasn’t a game. They were yelling her name. They were looking for her.

Isn’t this always the way, she thought. Just when I finally have a few minutes to myself—

“Rose! Are you back here? Rose? Rose!” It was Abe’s voice. He sounded upset. “I’m here,” she admitted. She spoke it out loud but too softly for anyone to hear. Helen probably sent him after me because I didn’t wait for her at the bathroom. Typical.

“Rose!”

“I’m here!” she yelled.

Abe appeared on the pathway, dripping with sweat and breathing heavily. When he saw her he froze. “Thank God,” he said, gasping for air. He leaned halfway over, hands gripping his bended knees for support. He started to cough, and the words sputtered out: “We couldn’t find you when it happened. We looked everywhere for you. They couldn’t wait anymore.” He stood up straight and wiped his forehead. “They left fifteen minutes ago. I told them I’d drive you there when we found you.”

When she stood, the bluebells in her lap fell to the ground. “What are you talking about? What happened? Where are we going?”

Abe took a few steps toward her. “Rose, I don’t want to scare you. Everything’s going to be fine, but we have to go to the hospital.”

“Is it Mort? Did he—”

“Mort’s fine, Rose. He’s fine. But we have to go now.”

“Then who?”

“Come on, we have to get out of here.” Abe tried to guide her back to the house, but Rose pushed him away. She screamed at him then, shattering the serenity of the spot she had so enjoyed. “I’m not leaving until you tell me!”

“It’s Teddy,” Abe whispered. “He had an accident. It’s Teddy.”





Chapter 26





HELEN


Helen was there when it happened. She had walked over to the side yard to check on the kids and saw her boys and at least half a dozen others starting an impromptu baseball game. Teddy was sitting with the younger kids and the girls, watching the bigger boys play. But he got bored with their hand-clapping games and wandered onto the makeshift infield just as Sam was hitting the ball. It smacked Teddy in the eye, and the little boy fell over, crying, from the impact.

Helen had seen her share of playground accidents—she knew enough to know that crying was a good sign. She would have been more concerned if Teddy had been quiet. She ran over to him, scooped him up off the grass and carried him, screaming, to the terrace to find Rose and Mort.

Rose was nowhere in sight, but Mort was there, sitting at a table next to Abe. Both men stood up when they saw her with Teddy. “What the hell happened?” Mort yelled, causing Teddy to cry even harder. People were turning their heads, and everyone was staring.

“It was an accident, Mort. He got hit in the head with a baseball.”

“What the—”

Abe stopped him. “Calm down, we don’t want to make him any more upset.”

“Shh. Shh.” Helen wiped Teddy’s tears. She laid him down on the closest lounge chair and tried to pry his hands away from his eye to get a look at it. A few of the women asked if they could help, and Arlene ran over with a dish towel wrapped around some ice cubes. Helen whispered to Teddy that she wanted to put the ice near his eye. “It will make it feel better,” she promised. The little boy moved his hands a few inches but continued to wail. Helen could see the skin around the eye starting to swell and blacken. Abe politely encouraged everyone to go back to their conversations and food and to give the little boy some air. Mort just stood by, scowling.

“Where’s Rose?” Helen asked him.

“She must be in the powder room.”

“I don’t think so—I saw her there only fifteen minutes ago. She wouldn’t have gone again so soon.”

“Well, maybe she’s still there.”

“No, she was gone when I came out.” She was supposed to wait for me, but she didn’t.

“I’ll go look for her,” Abe told them.

Judith ran over then to see how Teddy was. “Is he all right?” she asked Helen.

“I think he’ll be fine, honey. But we might want to bring him to the hospital just so they can check his eye and make sure his head is okay.”

“The hospital?” Judith’s eyes grew wide and started tearing.

“It’s not as serious as it—”

Mort interrupted, his face red and angry: “You were in charge, young lady,” he said to Judith. “If you had been watching your brother properly, this never would have—”

“Mort!” Helen glared at him. “I saw the whole thing. Teddy bolted onto the field. Judith couldn’t have stopped him. This isn’t anyone’s fault. It was an accident.”

Mort paced around the lounge chair, firing questions at Helen like artillery shells. She tried her best to answer them.