In the Unlikely Event (14 page)

“Let me see that.” Miri passed her the bracelet. Rusty turned it over in her hand, studying it the way an appraiser might. “Which Mrs. Stein?”

“Phil's mother. They live on Westminster.”

“Who is Phil?”

“Phil Stein. He's Steve Osner's best friend. He was at the New Year's Eve party.”

“And what's the connection between you and Mrs. Stein?”

“I drop Fred off at the Steins' house a couple of days a week.”

“Fred?”

“Fred. Mason's dog.”

Rusty breathed deeply through her nose. “So this is about the dog?”

“Yes. Mrs. Stein likes having Fred around. They had a dog, Goldie, but she died.”

“Does that make Mrs. Stein a better mother than me?”

“What? No.” This wasn't going well.

“Mrs. Stein probably doesn't go to business,” Rusty said.

“She doesn't.”

“You see?”

Sometimes no matter what Miri said or didn't say, Rusty acted as if it reflected on her as a mother. She should have told Rusty that
Mrs. Stein would like to work. That she'd like to be a librarian or a clerk at a bookstore. Instead she wound up saying what she thought Rusty wanted to hear. “You're the best mother.”

“You're just saying that so you can keep an expensive bracelet she had no right to give you.”

“I don't care about the bracelet.”

“Good. Then give it back. It's inappropriate for a stranger to give you such an extravagant gift.”

“She's not exactly a stranger,” Miri muttered under her breath as Rusty walked away with the bracelet. Miri chased her down the hall. “Mom…”

“What?”

“You took the bracelet.”

Rusty handed it to Miri.

The next day after school she returned the bracelet. She didn't want to offend Mrs. Stein. But as soon as she began, “My mother doesn't think…” Mrs. Stein gave her a kind smile, a knowing smile, and took the box.

“Maybe I will give it to my daughter, after all.”

“I'm sure she'd like it.”

“She's hard to please.”

“Even so.”

“Thank you, Miri.”

There. She'd done what she had to do. She would tell Rusty she'd returned the bracelet and she hoped that would satisfy her. Rusty could be moody but her bad moods rarely lasted.

BEFORE THE FAMILY
sat down to Miri's birthday dinner, Rusty gave her a small box wrapped in blue paper and tied with a white ribbon. “Happy birthday, honey.”

Inside was a gold and garnet bracelet, not exactly the same as Mrs. Stein's, but close enough. “It's beautiful,” Miri said, slipping it onto her wrist.

“Now you see why…” Rusty began.

Miri hugged her mother. “I'm sorry.”

“There's no need to be sorry,” Rusty told her, smoothing her hair. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Miri would never know if Rusty had already bought her the bracelet when she showed her the one from Mrs. Stein, or if she went out and bought it that day. “It looks really pretty, doesn't it?” She held up her arm for Rusty to admire.

Rusty smiled at her. “It does. It's delicate enough to go with anything.”

Miri resisted the urge to laugh. At least Rusty hadn't called
her
delicate.

LATER THAT NIGHT
, Mason stopped by with a birthday present for Miri. After Rusty greeted him, she went into her room, closing the door behind her, so the two of them could have the living room to themselves. “Fifteen minutes,” Rusty called. “Four feet on the floor at all times.” They couldn't help laughing over that rule, and when they did, Rusty laughed, too.

The present was wrapped in layers of tissue paper and tied with red and white bakery string. Miri opened it carefully, stealing looks at Mason. But he was looking down at the floor. At first she wasn't sure what it was except it was made of wood. Beautiful polished wood. A spyglass? She held it to her eye. No, it was a kaleidoscope with exquisite pale stones, regrouping into intricate designs as she turned it. This was nothing like the toy kaleidoscopes she'd had as a child. She'd never seen anything like it. She couldn't put it down. Finally, he took it out of her hands. “It was my mother's.”

His mother's
. “It's beautiful. Thank you.” She wanted him to tell her more but she sensed he wasn't going to.

When Rusty knocked from inside her bedroom door, signaling their fifteen minutes were up, Miri walked Mason downstairs to the front door. “This is the best present anyone has ever given me,” she told him.

“It's the only thing my mother had to leave me.”

“I'll keep it safe for you,” she said. “If you ever want it back—”

“Don't say that.” He kissed her goodnight. Then he whispered, “Don't ever say that.”

Rusty

Fifteen minutes, Rusty thought. They couldn't get into trouble in fifteen minutes, not with her just a room away. Besides, she could hear them talking softly the whole time. They'd known each other what—a month?—but she knew it felt like much longer to them. Everything was heightened when you were young and in love. And she could see they were in love. And so sweet together. It was that sweetness that got to her. She wasn't going to warn Miri that it couldn't last. She wasn't going to warn her they were too young, like the song. Why spoil it? There would be heartache when it ended but Rusty would help her through it. Maybe it was better for Miri to experience first love now than in a few years, when
she
wouldn't have as much control over them. Fifteen minutes. Plenty could happen in fifteen minutes when no one was watching and you were in a Nash with a seat that folded back to make a bed.

She picked up the copy of
From Here to Eternity
she'd checked out of the penny library at the confectionery on Morris Avenue. It was a thick book. She'd better get in more reading time. At the rate she was going, she might as well have bought it.

Miri

It snowed again overnight on Friday, so Miri awoke to more fresh snow on the day of her slumber party, a birthday celebration planned with her girlfriends before she'd met Mason. That afternoon she went sledding on Wyoming Avenue with Suzanne, Robo and Eleanor, while Natalie was in New York at dance class. Donny Kellen and his brothers were their usual obnoxious selves, steering their sleds into the girls, trying to knock them to the ground, where they would wash their faces with snow if they got the chance. Miri hated the Kellen boys. She hated them even more since she'd read
Ethan
Frome
in English class. Suppose they forced her to crash her sled into a tree and she wound up like Mattie Silver in the book? What would Rusty do then? Quit her job and spend the rest of her life taking care of Miri, or would Irene have to “step up to the plate” again? Both scenarios filled her with dread.

But Miri and her friends survived and arrived cold, wet and happy at Miri's house, where Natalie joined them. They changed into their nightgowns, leaving on their underwear since they weren't going to sleep for hours, and enjoyed pizza from Spirito's, thanks to Uncle Henry, who brought three large pies home for them. Only Natalie resisted. She'd given up sweets and bread for dancing. “Something every dancer has to do,” she told them. “And I don't mind. I've never had a sweet tooth and bread just leaves me feeling bloated.”

Robo told them her mother goes to a diet doctor every week, Dr. Kalb, who gives her pills. “It's like a candy shop at his office. Except instead of candy the bins are filled with different-colored pills. He scoops them into a brown paper bag and tells my mother how many she should take a day, and what colors. Some of them give her diarrhea.”

“Ew…” Suzanne said. “Not while we're eating.”

“I don't need pills,” Natalie said. “I have willpower.”

“Too bad you can't bottle that,” Eleanor said. “You could make a fortune.”

“Mmm…” Natalie said, concentrating on her salad of iceberg lettuce and green grapes. Miri prayed Natalie wouldn't act weird tonight, and she didn't, except for not even tasting Irene's delicious birthday cake, Miri's favorite, dark chocolate with mocha frosting. Miri wrapped a piece for Mason. She would bring it to him Monday after school.

Later, they went down to Irene's to watch
Your Hit Parade
. Eddie Howard sang the number three song, “It's No Sin.”

“Now, that's a beautiful song,” Natalie said. “If we're lucky we won't have to hear ‘Slow Poke' or ‘Shrimp Boats' again.”

Miri agreed. She imagined dancing with Mason to “It's No Sin.” The thought was enough to give her shivers.

Back upstairs in Miri's room, the girls gave her their present. Her first cashmere sweater from the cashmere sweater lady, in a beautiful shade of aqua.

“It's from my mom, too,” Natalie said.

Miri understood. Corinne had shelled out whatever extra the sweater cost after the girls had pooled their money.

“Try it on,” Robo told her.

“Now?” Miri asked.

“Yes, now!” the other girls sang.

She stepped behind her closet door, let her nightgown drop from her shoulders, pulled the sweater on, then gathered the nightgown around her waist so she could model the sweater for them. They whooped and cheered. Robo and Suzanne whistled. She couldn't wait to wear it for Mason.

“Wait until Mason
feels
how soft it is!” Robo said, as if she knew what Miri was thinking. It used to be Natalie who knew what Miri was thinking, but not anymore. Natalie was distant now, living in her own world. The other girls laughed until Robo switched gears. “I have something to tell you.”

They could see from the look on her face it was serious. Miri pulled off the sweater, rebuttoned her nightgown, and sat on the floor with her friends, waiting for Robo's news. She hoped it wasn't serious, as in someone was going to die. She didn't want to hear anything bad on her birthday.

“We're moving,” Robo said. “To Millburn.”

They gasped.

“But why?” Suzanne asked. “You already live in a beautiful house.”

“My parents say it's because of my father's job. He's building one of those new shopping centers nearby…but I think it's because of…” She trailed off.

“Let me guess,” Eleanor said. “The crash.”

“Well, yes, even though they won't admit it. Instead they say things like the schools in Millburn are really good.” Then, embarrassed, she added, “Not that there's anything wrong with the schools here.”

“But the crash is over,” Suzanne argued.

“I know, but what can I do?” Robo wouldn't look at them. Her friends. They'd been together for almost three years. At Battin they'd have three more.

“I thought you have to be really rich to live there,” Suzanne said.

“Only on some streets,” Robo said, growing defensive. “You'll come visit. It's not that far away. Just twenty minutes or so by car.”

“Only another planet,” Eleanor said.

“There's a Lord & Taylor,” Robo said, trying to find something positive to say. “We can go shopping.”

“You can go shopping.” Eleanor didn't add that Natalie was the only one of their crowd who could afford to shop at Lord & Taylor. Until now. Who knew Robo's parents—Milton and Pamela Boros—were rich enough to move to Millburn?

“You sound angry,” Robo said to Eleanor. “Are you angry?”

“No. Yes.” Eleanor shook her head and shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Because it's not my fault.”

“I know it's not your fault,” Eleanor said. “I'm just…I don't know…disappointed because I always thought the five of us would be together all through high school.”

Miri never would have guessed Eleanor cared so much. She had her whole life planned out, including winning the Nobel Prize in math or science.

“I can't control my parents,” Robo said. “If you want the truth, they didn't even ask me. They took me and my sister for a ride last week and pointed to a house. ‘This is our new house,' my father said. We're moving before Lincoln's birthday.”

“Now?” Suzanne said. “You're moving in the middle of the school year?”

Robo flushed. “I have no choice.”

Natalie said only, “We'll miss you.” Just that. Just the perfect thing to say.

“Thank you, Nat.”

They set their hair in pin curls, or socks, depending on the length, spread out their sleeping bags on the floor of Miri's room and turned out the lights. Then, on cue, her four friends serenaded her in the dark.

They try to tell us we're too young
.

Too young to really be in love…

Something about that song, something about the tender way they sang it to her, made Miri tear up. She loved her friends. She loved her family. She loved Mason. She couldn't bear the idea of losing any of them. Ever.

MUSAN, KOREA, JAN. 16—Truce negotiators kept tempers in check today as they wrangled fruitlessly over terms of a Korean armistice. The only outburst came from a Chinese delegate who referred scornfully to America's allies as “running dogs.” U.S. casualties to date total 104,084, with 15,950 killed, 75,374 wounded and 12,760 missing or held as prisoners.

On the home front, facing a budget deficit because of the Korean War, President Truman has again proposed increasing taxes, the fourth time since the hostilities began. “We have to be fiscally responsible,” a presidential spokesman explained. But Congress seems more intent on finding ways to cut spending, especially in an election year.

11

Steve

On Thursday, January 17, Steve Osner and his father flew to Boston for college interviews at Brandeis and Tufts. Steve had been to Syracuse with Phil Stein and
his
father, a Syracuse alum, a fraternity man, who was treated like the BMOC he must have been. Steve already knew Syracuse was his first choice but his father insisted he look at other schools, too. “Keep your options open, son.”

He'd applied to the two Boston-area schools and he liked what he saw, but not enough to change his mind. His father took him to lunch between interviews at a Harvard Square restaurant. It was
good to be alone with his father when he wasn't
on
, singing to his patients or telling jokes. Even at home his father was always performing for Fern and Natalie, making them laugh at the dinner table. His mother was more proper, more concerned with doing things the right way, which was
her
way. Deep down he knew he was more like his mother, even though there were times when he wished he could be more like his father.

“Nice-looking coeds,” his father said of the college girls at the restaurant.

Steve agreed. Nice-looking coeds. But none so nice as Kathy Stein.

He knew it had been very different for his father, who had grown up poor but strong-willed, working his way through college, then dental school. He knew he was supposed to feel grateful that life was easier for him, though sometimes he wasn't so sure it was. Sometimes he felt he was carrying a heavy load, that he'd never be able to be a good enough person. His parents' expectations for him were too great.

Is that why he'd shouted at Mason McKittrick the night of his sister's party? Phil wanted to know what had gotten into him. He remembered only that he'd been filled with rage when he saw Mason dancing with Miri. He would have killed Mason if he could have, but he didn't know why. What made him feel that way?

By midafternoon it was snowing pretty hard. At the airport they learned their plane back to Newark had been canceled due to the weather. “This isn't good,” his father said. “I have to get back. I have a full day tomorrow.”

“And I have a test in chemistry,” Steve told him.

“Let me see what I can do,” his father said. “Wait here and watch our stuff.”

What stuff?
Steve wondered. They had no bags, except for one with college scarves for Natalie, who collected them, and another with a little wool hat in Tufts colors, blue and brown, for Fern.

His father was gone for half an hour and came back looking pleased, waving around two boarding passes. “Snagged two tickets,” he said. “We board in fifteen minutes.”

It wasn't until they'd taken off and reached their cruising altitude that his father leaned close and said, “You can never tell your mother we flew on a non-sked.”

Steve looked at him. Was he kidding?

“She'd never forgive me,” his father said.

“We're on a non-sked?” Steve asked.

“You didn't know?” his father said.

Steve shook his head.

“It's not a C-46,” his father said. “I'd never fly with you on a C-46.”

Was that supposed to be reassuring?

“Even so, you know how your mother is, so this has to be our secret.”

When Steve didn't say anything, his father gave him a playful punch in the arm. “Man to man. Agreed?”

“Sure,” Steve said. “Agreed.” But he couldn't believe his father had risked
his
life, the life of his only son, because he had to get back to the office, back to his precious patients. You'd think, after spending night after night trying to identify burned and dismembered corpses, his father would never fly again, let alone take a non-sked.