Albany Park (3 page)

“Why didn’t you let us know you were coming?” Pa asked. “I was worried when we didn’t get a letter for so long.”

“Sorry,” Frank apologized. “It all happened so quick. We didn’t know until the day we got orders to sail that we were going back to the States. The rumors were that they were moving troops, especially infantry, to the Pacific. There were a lot of stories about the invasion of Japan and the fact that they were already beefing up the forces and sending equipment to Australia and New Zealand.”

“You mean they were sending you right from winning the war in Europe to fight in the Pacific?” Pa queried.

“Hell, Pa, who knows, that’s typical Army bullshit, it happens all the time,” laughed Frank.

The room got deathly quiet at the mention of bullshit. Pa looked at Ma and the others all turned to her as well.

“Oh my God, I’m sorry”, gushed Frank, his face turning a bright red. “In the Army, we cuss about everything. I gotta’ watch myself. I’m really sorry. Luckily I didn’t say anything worse.”

Everyone laughed, including Ma.

“Frankie, you must be hungry after such a long trip,” Ma said with a smile. “I’ll make you a plate.”

“Let me do it,” Sally volunteered. “You worked hard enough cooking today and I want to get used to serving my husband.”

Untangling herself from Frank, she went to the kitchen and returned smiling with a plate filled with roast chicken, peas and mashed potatoes. Sally had been Frank’s girlfriend since his second year at Von Steuben High School. They had married just before he shipped out for overseas. A popular, vivacious strawberry blonde, with brown eyes, a zaftig figure, well distributed over her five-foot three-inch frame and a clear throaty voice, she had sung with a three-piece group at a few small clubs in the City. The band broke up when two of the boys were drafted.

Lifting a drumstick for his second bite, Frank smiled. “Boy is this good. You can’t possibly know how many times I’ve dreamed about this day.”

Sally brought more platters as Ma and Flo began filling plates and passing them down the table.

Vic and his sisters could not take their eyes off Frank. To Vic, he seemed so mature, and he noticed how Ma and Pa treated him like he was more their age.

“Hey Vic,” Frank said, “I can’t get over you. You’re as tall as me and I see you’re shaving, too.”

A red flush lit up Vic’s face as everyone turned to look at him.

”Look at him blush,” Sally grinned. Untangling herself from Frank, she tried to pinch Vic’s cheek.

“Ah come on,” Vic stammered, “leave me alone.”

“You better keep your eye on him, Frank,” teased Flo. “I’ve seen him try on some of the clothes that you left in the closet when you got drafted. Another year or so and they’ll fit him.”

Coming from the kitchen, where she had deposited an empty platter, Ma walked behind Vic and put her hand on his shoulder, pulling him close. “Leave him alone, he’s a good boy. And he doesn’t need any of Frank’s clothes. He’s gets nice things at the clothing store where he works.”

“Thanks Ma,” Vic laughed, “I know they just like to tease me ‘cause they’re jealous.”

Kissing the top of his head, Ma moved to Pa’s side, beaming as she looked at the whole family, together for the first time in almost two years.

“What about you, Flo? From the letters I got from Pa, it sounds like you’ve dated half the guys in the Army and Navy since I left.”

Flo chuckled. “If you listen to Pa, he can make you crazy. Every time a guy would come here to pick me up for a date, he would ask a million questions.”

Sally jumped in, smiling broadly. “Tell him about the names and stories Pa would make up about them.”

“Tell him about the giant,” said Faith, covering her mouth to hold back a giggle.

“Oh, Frank, you wouldn’t believe this guy,” Flo laughed, holding her hand up as high as she could. “He had to be about six-foot-six and as wide as a doorway. He was an Ensign in the Navy and when he walked in here with that long black overcoat and big white hat, I was afraid to let him sit on the couch. I never saw anybody that big. And Pa, who was about half his size, started to ask him where he was from and what he did in civilian life and a bunch of other questions. I thought I would die.”

“He looked like a human dry dock,” piped Pa. “About the size of an aircraft carrier.”

“Actually,” Flo smiled slowly, “he was a very nice guy, who used to date a girl I work with, before she got married. After the war, he’s going back to college to become an engineer.”

Lilly sat quietly and when Frank asked, she introduced him to her rag doll Lucy. She wanted to know if he remembered her.

“Sure do, but what happened to her eye,” he asked, noticing the blank spot where the doll’s eye had been.

“It fell off when I bit it one day,” she answered quietly.

“What happened when you got to England?” Pa wanted to know. “And when did you get into the actual war? I heard that the Battle of the Bulge almost turned the war around and our troops were pushed to surrender. Weren’t you there? What happened?”

Frank pursed his lips and pulled Sally a little closer as Pa peppered him. Looking down, he shrugged his shoulders and shook his head without answering.

“What about the Jews,” Pa asked quietly,” “did you see the camps?”

“Please Pa, not now,” he answered softly.

Slowing down, Pa asked. “Where were you in France and Germany?”

Frank sighed. “All I remember is that we were moving constantly. Then we would stop abruptly and have to dig in and maybe stay in one place for a few days.” His voice trailed off and he looked down.

He looked up and continued.

“When we got to Aachen, early one morning, we hadn’t seen any German troops for two days.” he said with a grin. “Our platoon took over a big hotel and raided the wine cellar. By the time we had to move out, we were all drunk. Then we went downtown and began taking over the office buildings. Some of the guys started tossing typewriters out the windows and then we threw chairs and even desks from the top floors. Everyone was laughing and it was like a big party. Finally, a few guys passed out and we just stayed there all night.”

Pa looked up and started again. “I heard from Sid Klein, who lives down the street, and lost a leg in the war, that the Nazis were bayoneting Americans in the Battle of the Bulge.”

Frank looked away and didn’t answer. A smile broke out though, when he mentioned some of the places he had been; like the famous bridge in Remagen that the Germans did not destroy when they retreated. “It saved a lot of lives and shortened the war because we got so many troops and tanks across it before it finally collapsed.”

“What about the synagogues and the Jews in Germany? Are there any left?” Ma asked in a soft voice.

“Ma, I can’t talk about it now, but it was worse than anyone can imagine. All I can say,” he started and then stopped. Looking down, he shook his head, twitching a shoulder. Frank the older brother and boy just two years before, was now a man. His lean face with those very blue eyes, which suddenly narrowed as his brow creased said in a somber voice, “After the war, we had to help set up the displaced people’s camps where they brought survivors from the concentration camps. The people were more dead than alive. I saw young men and women from cities all over Europe who weighed less than eighty pounds. They were filthy, and sick; and many of them couldn’t walk, they were so malnourished. They smelled and a lot of us got sick from the odor. Some died before we could save them. Please, I can’t talk about it.” He stopped abruptly, making another twitch of his shoulder, which they all noticed.

Looking from Frank to the rest of them as they sat silently, Pa spoke up. “C’mon, son, let’s have drink.”

Pa poured some bourbon over ice for Frank and made himself a highball, proposing a toast, as he raised his glass. “Our family, may we always be together and celebrate only happy occasions,
L’Chaim.”

“What are all the ribbons and medals for?” Vic wanted to know.

Frank smiled, and shrugged. “One is a Bronze Star, which all the original guys in our company were awarded, plus a Victory Ribbon. Three others are for major battles we were in and the blue one with the wreath is the Combat Infantry Man’s Badge. It’s the same as the one I wear on my wrist,” he said holding up his right arm.

“A few everybody got, like a Marksman Medal and the Good Conduct one. The whole Division also got one from the French Government.”

They sat around the table for two hours, talking without eating much; Sally still holding onto Frank. Ma and the girls cleared the table and served tea. Pa continued with questions about the war, but Frank seemed to be getting tired of them as his answers got shorter and the shoulder twitch, accompanied by a soft cough, got more pronounced.

When the talk turned to the Pacific, Frank said, “I’m not sure. All I know is that I have to report to Fort Sheridan on August
seventeenth. From there, I probably will be sent for more training in the states or possibly in Australia.”

His comment was greeted with silence.

“It’s late,” said Pa finally. “How about I take you and Sally down to the Palmer House and rent you the honeymoon suite? We can catch up with the two of you tomorrow. You’ll be home for a month.”

Pa pulled Ma by the arm. “C’mon Ma, come with me, while the girls clean up.”

“Sure Ma,” Flo smiled, “we can handle it; keep Pa company.”

“Let me just call my parents,” said Sally.

Lilly and Faith started to clear the table. Flo, who had put on a skirt and blouse, had taken out the curlers and brushed her hair, was already at the kitchen sink giving orders to Vic to help the girls. Glancing over his shoulder, Vic smiled, thinking how much she resembled Ma with her quick smile and black hair, thinking how Ma must have looked like as a teenager.

Amidst the sound of dishes being cleared, scraped and washed plus chairs being moved, Frank got up and went to the phone to say a few words to Sally’s folks. Finishing the call the happy couple said their goodbyes. Once outside, they climbed in the backseat of the old Dodge. Ma and Pa took their places in front. The four kids were at the window watching as they pulled away.

Vic and the girls were still up when the folks returned an hour and a half later.

Gathered in the living room, they talked and talked about Frank and how exciting it was to have him home. Faith fell asleep on the floor next to Flo and Lilly nodded off on the couch with her head in Ma’s lap.

Eventually, the conversation stopped. Flo, looking up from her seat on the floor next to the couch, said to no one in particular, “I can’t believe how grown up he is and he’s more handsome than ever. I hope he’s through with war and doesn’t have to ship out again.”

Ma agreed and said, “C’mon, it’s one thirty in the morning, let’s go to sleep. We’ll see him tomorrow. He’ll be home for four weeks.”

The phone rang about three a.m. Ma, in her nightgown and barefoot, shuffled to the telephone cabinet in the small entry hall. She answered on the fifth ring.

“Hello,” she whispered, hoping not to disturb Pa and the kids.

The loud ring in the middle of night had in fact awakened all of them. Vic was standing in the hallway leading from the dining room, wondering who could be calling in the middle of the night. He listened carefully as Ma held the phone.

“Oh my God,” she gasped. “Are you sure he’s okay?”

By now Pa was at her side. Vic and Flo crowded behind them.

“What happened?’’

Ma, held her hand up, signaling them to be quiet, paused,. “Oy, I don’t believe it. Do you know where he is?” she said, nodding as she listened.

“What’s going on?” Pa said in a low voice. Ma waved him off. “Wait, I want to tell Pa.”

By now Faith and Lilly, in their nightgowns, were standing there too.

With her hand on the mouthpiece, she turned to Pa. “Frank is gone; he just disappeared about an hour after they went to bed.”

“What do you mean, he’s gone?”

“She said he got up and got dressed, telling her he had to get out and would be back in a little while.”

“And?” Pa wanted to know.

“After about an hour, she got dressed and went to look for him. No one in the hotel could help her. They told her to go back to the room and they would call her when they found him. That was over an hour ago.”

Pa took the phone. “Sally, it’s Pa, don’t worry, I’m coming right down. I’m sure he’s alright, just maybe a little scared after being gone for such a long time. Please, Sally, just try to stop crying and stay where you are. I’m coming and if you hear anything, call Ma right away. I’m on my way. Here, talk to Ma,” he said, handing over the phone.

Looking at Vic, he said, “C’mon with me to find your brother.”

Five minutes later, he returned fully dressed and whispered to Ma, “Keep her on the phone.” Motioning to Vic, he started out the door. ‘We’re on our way. I’ll call when I get there,” he whispered.

They stopped at the front desk of the elegant, high-ceiling lobby and asked to see the security people. They were told that they had found Frank in a bar just off the lower level corridor on the Wabash side, and he’d told them he was okay, but just wanted to be alone. He also had asked them not to say anything to his wife and that he would go upstairs after he had a few drinks.

The small, dark bar was almost empty when Pa and Vic found him. Music was playing softly and the stale smell of cigarettes was in the air. Only one other stool was occupied with a man in a suit who looked like he had been there for several hours. The bartender was washing glasses and glanced up as he heard Pa and Vic walk in. Frank, in his uniform, was sitting quietly with a drink in front of him and did not notice them.

Walking up to him, Pa held his hand up to the bartender to let them alone.

“Are you alright, Frank?” Pa said in a soft voice.

Frank looked up without saying anything. He turned back, focusing on the drink that he cradled in his hands on the bar.

Vic stood behind Pa remaining quiet as he took in the intense scene that was unfolding in front of him in the dark bar. Just hours before they all were celebrating and now his family was being torn apart by a sudden crisis between Sally and Frank.