In the Unlikely Event (43 page)

That afternoon kids walked out of school without going to class, without waiting for bells or for teachers to dismiss them. They took off alone, or in groups. Some of the girls flirted with the boys, who flirted back by knocking their books out of their hands or snapping jackets at them. Suzanne wanted to go to Pamel’s, the sweet shop on Broad Street, and celebrate with a banana split. But Miri wasn’t in the mood to celebrate. It still felt all too real to her. It could have been another plane, it could have been anything.
Was this how it was going to be? Always waiting for the next disaster?

She walked home alone, forgetting that Irene had gone to New York for the day with Ben Sapphire. She would have welcomed Irene’s warm embrace. Instead, she headed upstairs to her room, where she would lie on her bed with the kaleidoscope, losing herself in its beautiful patterns and colors.

Upstairs, something felt wrong. Rusty’s bedroom door was closed and it sounded as if she was sick. Rusty had never missed a day of work in her life—but now she was mewling. “Mom…” Miri opened the door to Rusty’s room and wasn’t sure at first what she was seeing.

Rusty looked over the shoulder of whoever was on top of her. “Ohmygod, Miri!”

Miri couldn’t breathe, let alone speak. A man, naked, with a white backside, turned to look at her and Miri let out one cry, then covered her mouth with her hand and ran down the stairs, out of the house, up the street. That was Dr. O on top of her mother, and he wasn’t checking her teeth.

Then Rusty was running after her, a raincoat thrown over a black lace negligee. “Miri, wait!”

Miri turned for a minute, in time to see Rusty trip over the negligee, too long for her raincoat to cover, her bare feet in her weekend moccasins. Miri didn’t want anyone to see her mother this way. Didn’t want the neighbors to gossip and ask each other what Rusty Ammerman was doing home in the middle of the day, wearing a black lace negligee and chasing her daughter down Sayre Street toward Morris Avenue.

Miri stopped, letting Rusty catch up with her. “You look ridiculous!” Miri told her.

“I guess so,” Rusty said.

“Go home, Mom.”

“Not unless you come with me.”

Rusty tried to put her arm around Miri but Miri backed away, repelled. “Don’t touch me!”

—

DR. O WAS GONE
when they got home.

“I’m sorry this is the way you found out,” Rusty said, wrapping the raincoat around her middle and tying the belt. “We were waiting until the divorce to tell you.”

“What divorce?”

“Arthur and Corinne’s.”

“They can’t get divorced. That will make Natalie sicker than she is now.”

“Natalie knows,” Rusty said.

“You told her but not me?”

“She doesn’t know about her father and me. She only knows they’re separating.”

“I’ll never forgive you for this. And I’ll never trust you again, either.”

“Honey—”

“Don’t
honey
me…and don’t act like everything’s going to be okay, because it’s not.”

“I know this is a shock. I wish I could have told you sooner. I don’t expect you to understand right away. But I hope—”

“What happened to honesty is the best policy? What happened to trust? All those things you told me when you accused me of betraying you? You probably lied about my father, too.”

“I never lied to you about your father. And I’m not lying to you now.”

“Did you tell him you were pregnant? Did he leave because of that?” How did this turn into a fight about Mike Monsky?

Rusty sat down. “He enlisted before I knew. Later, Irene wanted to tell his family but I wouldn’t let her.”

So that’s how it was.

“I didn’t want to marry him, Miri. It never would have worked, and by then he’d shipped out anyway.”

“Does Nana know about Dr. O? Does Uncle Henry?”

“No one knows. We’ve tried to be discreet to avoid hurting anyone we love.”

“Is this why Corinne and Dr. O have been fighting?”

“I can’t answer questions about their marriage.”

“He gave Corinne diamond earrings for Hanukkah. Did you know that?”

“No.”

“Well, he did.”

“I don’t need diamond earrings to prove he loves me.”

—

NATALIE PHONED
Miri the following night. “I need to see you. Come to the house tomorrow right after school.”

“The house? You’re home?”

“No questions.”

“But what about—”

Natalie didn’t wait for her to finish. “Just don’t be late.”

Miri rode her bike to Natalie’s right after school. She was relieved Corinne’s car wasn’t in the driveway. She didn’t see how she could face Corinne.

Natalie was waiting at the door and rushed Miri up to her bedroom, closed the door behind them and blocked it with a chair.

Miri was surprised and uncomfortable. Should she be afraid? She didn’t know. “How long have you been home?” she asked.

“Since Lulu died.”

“Lulu died? That’s terrible.”

“Terrible things happen, in case you didn’t already know.”

“But it’s so sad.”

“A lot of things are sad.”

“Are you going back to Watchung Hills?”

“Not if I can help it. Sit down and stop asking questions. I have a couple of things I want to tell you.”

Miri wasn’t used to Natalie bossing her around but she did as she was told, sitting on the edge of the twin bed, the one she used to sleep in almost every weekend, the one she thought of as hers. Natalie sat on her own bed, facing Miri. “One—you can stop this from happening. And if you don’t I’ll never speak to you again.”

“Stop what?”

“Don’t go all naïve on me.”

“I thought you didn’t know…”

“Well, now I do and you have to stop my father from marrying your mother and ruining my life, my little sister’s life and my mother’s life.”

“How am I supposed to do that? They’re grown-ups. They do what they want.”

“Tell your mother she has to decide between you and my father.”

Miri shook her head. She didn’t think she could do that. Suppose she came out the loser?

“Two—refuse to go to Las Vegas.”

“Las Vegas! What are you talking about?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know. They’re going to Las Vegas together at the end of the school year and you’re going with them.”

“No I’m not.”

“If you don’t stop them, you are. You’re going to Las Vegas and you’ll never see me or your boyfriend again.”

“Stop!”

“Tell your mother to stop, not me. And just so you know, my father begged my mother to go with him. He was practically on his knees begging her to go. He promised Fern and me our own horses. But she said no. So my father found someone else to go with him. Your mother!”

“Why should I believe you?”

“I really don’t care who you believe. I’m just telling you what’s going on. And here’s something else you should know. My mother’s at her lawyer’s office right now. She’s going to take my father to the cleaners if they get divorced. There won’t be anything left for your mother or you. I hope you’ll be happy living on spaghetti.”

Miri liked spaghetti but she wasn’t getting into that now.

“I hate them!” Natalie shouted, pressing the sides of her head with her hands as if she were in agony. “I hate my father, your mother and I hate you!”

“What’d I do?”

“You found them.”

“Who told you that?”

“My father came clean. He told my mother everything last night, and she told me. She says your mother is no better than a whore.”

A whore!
Her once-upon-a-time best friend was calling her mother a
whore
? Miri got a sharp pain in her chest. Maybe she was going to die, just like Lulu.

“What’s wrong with you?” Natalie said. “You’re turning purple. You can’t scare me if that’s what you’re trying to do.” Natalie grabbed her by the shoulders and shook, then slapped her across the face, which got her breathing again.

Miri jumped up. She had to get out of there, had to get fresh air into her lungs. She knocked over the chair blocking Natalie’s door, flung the door open and fled down the stairs, shouting at Natalie, who was right behind her, “Never say that about my mother again! You hear me?
Never!
” Then she was out the kitchen door, and onto her bicycle.

Natalie followed her, screaming, “You know what they do in Las Vegas? They drop A-bombs in the desert. That’s what they do for fun!”

Miri’s fantasy was coming true but not the way it was supposed to. Corinne was supposed to meet her demise quickly, painlessly. She and Natalie were supposed to be sisters. They were supposed to be one big happy family, living in the red-brick house on Shelley Avenue. Not in some godforsaken place called Las Vegas, where they drop A-bombs for fun.

Christina

She waited until Sunday dinner, when they were all together around the dining room table—her parents, her grandparents, Athena and her husband, Thad, who hardly ever spoke at family gatherings, and their toddler, Alex, who was playing under the table. She waited until the lamb, the eggplant and the salad courses had been cleared from the table. Then, as her mother passed around little dessert cakes, Christina said, “Mama, Baba—you know I love you.” She’d been practicing in her room. She hoped it wasn’t a mistake to bring this up in front of the whole family but she wanted to get it over with all at once and she figured her parents would
be less likely to go cuckoo in front of her grandparents and little Alex.

She had their attention now. Mama and Baba looked from one to the other.

“I’ve got an opportunity,” she continued, “a wonderful job opportunity with Dr. Osner in another place—”

“What place?” her mother asked.

“Las Vegas,” she said.

“Las Vegas.” Her mother repeated this twice, then asked, “Where is Las Vegas?”

Athena said, “You don’t mean Las Vegas, Nevada? You’re not telling Mama and Baba you’re moving to Las Vegas, Nevada?”

She had hoped Athena would keep her mouth shut, for once. She should have known better.

“How far is this place?” Mama asked.

“Almost as far as California,” Athena said, holding her pregnant belly. She’d already gained close to forty pounds. Her maternity dress was snug across her middle.

Mama clutched her chest. “Nico,” she said to Baba. “Do something!”

“I’m not moving there.” Christina tried to reassure them. “Think of it as college. Two years of college but it won’t cost you anything. Instead
I’ll
be getting paid. And I’ll come home for the holidays.”

Baba said, “That Irish boy, he’s going, too?”

Now Mama screamed. “No!” She banged her fist on the table hard enough to make the glasses and the silverware jump. Alex climbed onto Thad’s lap and wrapped his fat little arms around his father’s neck.

“You’re breaking their hearts, Christina,” Athena said.

“You don’t understand,” Christina said to her parents. “Jack is 1-A—he could be called up at any time. You know what that means? He could be sent to Korea. Would you be happy then?”

Thad got up from the table and carried Alex, who had begun to whimper, out of the room.

Athena glared at Christina. “You have a way of ruining everything,
even Sunday dinner. You do this and I’m the one who’s going to have to pick up the pieces around here. It will all fall on my shoulders. You are the most selfish person I’ve ever known.”

The grandparents began jabbering to one another in Greek.

Baba said, “Girls—you are sisters! Stop this fighting.”

But Athena didn’t stop. Her face heated up. “As if I don’t already have too many fish to fry, between the store and Alex and the baby I’m about to have and a husb—” Before Athena could finish she cried out, “Oh!” Then “Oh!” again.

“What is it?” Mama asked.

“I think my water broke. I think I’m in labor. Somebody get Thad. Somebody get my bag!”

Everyone jumped up from the table at once. Everyone except Christina and her grandmother. Yaya moved next to her and rested her hand on Christina’s. Christina put her head on the table and cried. She hadn’t even told them her biggest news. She didn’t see how she’d ever be able to tell them now.

Miri

Rusty and Dr. O wanted to take her out to dinner but Miri refused. She was not going to be seen with the two of them in public. “All right,” Rusty said, “we’ll eat here.”

“Does he know you can’t cook?”

Rusty smiled. “If you can read, you can cook.”

“Are you quitting your job?”

“Not yet.”

“When?”

Rusty shook her head. “Would you like pizza or deli?”

“Pizza from Spirito’s. No sausage. Will Nana and Uncle Henry be eating with us?”

“No.”

“Do they know?”

“Not everything. Not yet. We wanted to talk to you first.”

“This sounds like fun.”

“Sarcasm doesn’t become you, Miri.”

“Well, sorry about that, Mom.”

“Look, I know how you feel…”

“No, you don’t know!”

Rusty gave up. “Okay. Fine. Pizza from Spirito’s. Tonight. Six-thirty.”

Miri turned and walked out the door.

“Miri…”

“I’ll be late for school.”

“It’s not even seven-twenty,” Rusty said.

“Don’t you have a train to catch, Mom?”

—

SHE WOULD HAVE
to tell Mason about this. They had no secrets from each other. But what could she say? That she’d found her mother and Dr. O
doing it
? That Dr. O and Corinne were getting divorced?

These were her thoughts as she walked home from school that afternoon. She never expected to run into Mason, standing in front of a small apartment house on Cherry Street. They hadn’t planned to meet. Fred was staying with a friend so she didn’t need to drop him at the Steins’ today. She ran toward Mason, taking him by surprise, dropping her books to the ground and throwing her arms around him. “I’m so glad to see you!”

“Whoa…” he said.

“I have something to tell you,” she said.

“I have something to tell you, too,” he said.

“You go first,” she said.

“Okay. The good news is, I’m going, too.”

“Wait—going where?”

“Las Vegas. Isn’t that what you wanted to tell me?”