The Leap Year Boy (32 page)

Chapter 26

Normally, Alex was awake and running around the house before Abe and Benjamin got out of bed, but on the Monday following his day at the zoo, Abe had to call him three times to get out of bed. He remained lethargic during the trolley ride to Hannah’s house, and Abe grew concerned that the boy was coming down with something; he’d been complaining off and on that his head hurt him, so, he needed to find him a good doctor, not that bastard Malkin. Maybe Hannah or the aunts could help him out, he didn’t care how much it cost, what the hell was money for, anyway.

After Alex went inside, Abe explained the problem to Hannah. She grasped his hands. “Of course, we’ll help, we know very good doctors, children’s specialists. My parents know everyone.”

“Your parents?”

Hannah blushed. “Oh, I meant, before they died they knew everyone, the best Jewish doctors. Just leave it to us and don’t you worry, all right? Here’s your lunch.” She handed a brown bag to him. Her hand lingered on his. “Yesterday was delightful, Abe.”

He shuffled his feet. “Yeah. Well, thanks about that doctor—listen I don’t care what it costs, all right? I gotta go.” He kissed her on the cheek and walked away.

Later that morning, as Hannah and her aunts were having a talk “just for the grown-ups,” Alex drifted up to the second floor. He went into Hannah’s room, crawled under the bed and found the adoption document exactly where he’d left it. Listening for Hannah’s footsteps, he read the story again, and this time he understood what had happened to MALE CHILD. He wondered why Hannah would make MALE CHILD an adoption, it didn’t make sense, even when he thought about what Delia had told him. There was only one way to figure it all out. He needed to show his father and Benjamin the paper, and Delia, too, so they would see he wasn’t just making it up. He folded it in quarters and put it in his pants.

He crept to the landing. He could hear Hannah say they really needed to ask her father about a specialist for Alex, didn’t they understand, the boy was in pain, he needed the best doctors in the city, that was the most important thing in the world, and then Lillie said that of course she was concerned about Alex, but what about Abe and his drinking, and Morris would be very upset, and then Hannah said how dare you bring that up at a time like this?

Alex couldn’t understand the rest because the three of them were yelling at the same time.

Morris. Alex remembered the name Morris from the paper that said Blood Money! Then he heard Hannah scream that she could care less that he was her father, he hates me, he doesn’t own me, and Lillie told her that wasn’t true, and to calm down.

Father. But Daddy had told him that Hannah’s mother and father died from The Dip, just like his mommy. His head began to hurt again. He went halfway down the stairs. Lillie and Belle were at the front door, with their purses over their shoulders. Alex called out to them. “Where are you going?”

Lillie turned around. Her face was red. “Oh hello, Alex.”

Alex said, “Why were you yelling?”

“Oh, it was nothing.” She turned to her sister. “Belle?”

“We just, we couldn’t decide where to go out to lunch.”

“Can I go, too?”

“Oh, not today, dear, today it’s only for grown-ups.”

“But we’ll bring you a treat,” Belle said, “since you’re such a good boy.”

Hannah came up behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders. “He’s a very good boy. The best. So anyway, have a grand lunch, ladies.”

After they left, she told him they’d have their own luncheon, a special one, that he could have anything he wanted, a hot dog, a baloney sandwich, pancakes, “or how about an egg in the hole?”

“Egg in the hole.”

“Coming up.” Hannah squeezed his shoulders again, harder this time.

“Ow.”

“Oh my goodness, I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”

She smiled as she apologized, but there was something in the tone of her voice and something about her smile that made Alex think she wasn’t sorry at all. He rubbed his shoulder.

Hannah hummed as she fried his egg. She put a glass of chocolate milk on the table. She tried to tuck a napkin on him, but Alex said, “I can do it.”

“All right, Mr. big shot.”

As he ate, Hannah sat across from him and nibbled at the corners of saltine crackers until they were round. She dabbed up the crumbs with her index finger.

Alex watched her stack the rounded crackers. “Why do you do that?”

“What? Oh, it’s nothing, just a game I used to do when I was a little girl. So what would you like to do this afternoon, after your special dessert?”

What he really wanted to do was go home and play with Benjamin, but Benjamin was at work, he had a summer job at the grocery story, delivering packages for Mr. Plotkin, and Daddy was at the shop. He looked at the dog, sleeping in the corner. “Play chase ball with Pudgy.”

“Oh, but Pudgy is tired.” She munched another cracker. “Alex, do you know the expression, ‘let sleeping dogs lie?’”

Alex shook his head.

“It means it’s better not to look for trouble. If you know what I mean. I wonder if you do.”

What Alex did know was that, from the way she said it, she was trying to get at something that involved him, and whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

She cleared his place and started to pace back and forth, staring at the floor. Every so often she’d look up at him. “Alex, do you know the Ten Commandments?”

“Grandma Murphy taught me them. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal.”

Hannah clapped her hands. “Yes, that’s it. You’re so smart. Thou shalt not steal. You know what that means, right, sweetheart?”

“Yes.” Alex thought about how angry Grandma Murphy was when Dr. Malkin caught him trying to steal the bracelet for her at the Billy Sunday show, and how she made him say “thou shalt not steal” over and over one hundred times until she was satisfied he had learned his lesson.

“Good.” She sliced a hunk of cheese from the wedge next to the crackers and held it on her knife. “Now, you would never steal from anyone in this house, would you, Alex? Because, and I’m sure you know this, it would be a very, very wrong to do that, to take something that didn’t belong to you. You understand this, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Because it would make the person you stole from very sad.” She leaned her elbows on the table and put her face on her knuckles “Or very angry. You see?”

“Uh-huh.” The folded edge of the certificate pressed against his stomach.

“Good.” She smiled. “Now of course, there is no good excuse for stealing, but there is a way to make up for it.”

Without thinking, he said “What?”

Hannah rubbed her hands together. “Well, if the person that
stole
put whatever it was they stole back where it belonged, then it wouldn’t be quite as bad. You see what I mean? And if the person stole something like, let’s say, an important paper, if that person put it back by tomorrow, then whoever the paper belonged to, she might be willing to forget all about it. Otherwise.”

Alex blurted, “Otherwise?”

“Otherwise, there’s such a thing as punishment. You know what punishment is, like when you’re a bad boy and your father gives you a spanking.”

“But he never did.”

“No? But all little boys, when they do something wrong, they have to get a spanking. Otherwise.”

There was that word again. He didn’t know what it meant. “What’s otherwise?”

Hannah pulverized the stack of saltines with her fist, driving them into the table, crumbs flying. She brushed the heel of her hand. “You know, Alex, once I had the sweetest little boy in the world. He’s gone now.”

Male Child. “Where did he go?”

“Oh, they took him, I mean, he had to go away for a while, but now he’s come back to me and I don’t want to ever, ever lose him again.” She dabbed at the tears collecting at the corners of her eyes.

Did she mean he was Male Child? But he wasn’t an adoption, or was he? His head began to hurt again. He wondered if the aunts had a bottle of Dr. Malkin’s tonic. He could look in the bathroom on the first floor. “Hannah, I have to go and make pee.”

He closed the door behind him. He dragged a stepstool to the medicine cabinet. Among the jars and pills was a bottle of what looked like tonic. It was Hostetter’s Bitters, and even on the top shelf he reached it easily with his long arms. He twisted the cap and sniffed.

*

Belle and Lillie felt so elated after their lunch with Morris that instead of taking the trolley home, they splurged on a cab. Things had gone incredibly well. Their normally dour brother even had a cocktail with them. Usually, he drank only on the high holidays.

Over spring rolls and chow mein, the sisters explained how Hannah had been acting like a mature adult, how taking care of the little boy had matured her—and what an engaging little boy he was, Morris would love him. He might need some medical care, but that was another issue that could talk about another time. They also mentioned that the boy’s father, Mr. Miller, was a hardworking, responsible Jewish man and homeowner. In fact, they added, there were even some not so subtle hints that Mr. Miller might be attracted to his daughter…

“Hold on a minute,” Morris had said between slurps of egg drop soup. “Hold on a minute. What has she told this Miller about her past?”

Lillie explained that Hannah hadn’t really said anything, but that Mr. Miller was such an understanding man that, if and when the whole truth finally came out, they believed his feelings for Hannah would override any concerns there might be.

Morris said that perhaps at some point he ought to meet this Mr. Miller, but not right away, give it another month or so, Hannah is so flighty. “What did you say he did for a living?”

The cab stopped at their house. Belle paid the driver as Lillie opened a fortune cookie. It read,
There is no wisdom like the wisdom of a child
. “Belle, you do realize this Abe Miller could be doing us all a big favor?”

“You mean by taking Hannah off our hands.”

“Yes, but don’t say it like that. Maybe she can have a happy life with him. Everyone deserves a happy life. Or at least a normal life, if not a happy one.”

“As long as Morris approves.”

“We’ll keep working on that. Of course, he’ll have a lot of explaining to do. It won’t be easy.”

“That’s his problem. He has a lot to atone for.”

“Well anyway. From now on, let’s be nicer to Mr. Abe Miller. Guide him in the right direction, for Hannah’s sake and Alex’s sake.”

“And our sake.”

“I love a late fall wedding, don’t you?”

Twenty feet from the door they heard Hannah’s screams. Arm in arm, they half walked, half ran to the door. Standing in the foyer, Hannah held Alex in her arms. His head lolled back and his eyes were closed.

“Hannah, what happened? My God.”

“I don’t know. He was lying on the bathroom floor when I found him. It wasn’t my fault. I would never hurt him. Please believe me. Is he going to die? Tell me he’s not going to die.”

Belle took Alex from her. “He’s breathing, Lillie. Help me put him on the sofa. Make some tea, Hannah. Now.”

Lillie leaned close to Alex’s face. “He smells like he’s been drinking.” She slapped his cheek. “Alex, wake up.”

Belle said, “I know what to do with a drunk.” She opened his mouth and put her finger down his throat until he threw up. She held his head until he was done.

A few minutes later, he was sitting up. After fifteen minutes, he was smiling again. Belle fed him sips of tea and bits of fortune cookie from the bag she’d brought home from the restaurant. Hannah stroked his wrist.

Lillie came out of the bathroom with the bottle of Hostetter’s Bitters. She sat down next to Hannah and told her it was a good thing she’d found him when she did. She took Alex’s hand. “Did you drink this, young man?”

“I wanted to see what it tastes like.”

“Now, you listen to me, young man. I don’t know what you thought you were doing, but no more of this for you. Do you understand?”

He stared at the bottle. “O.K.” He wished he could have another swallow.

By mid-afternoon, Alex had fully recovered. He played chase with the dog, ate three cookies and annoyed the aunts to no end by insisting that they listen to him play an off-key rendition of “Row Row Row Your Boat” on his recorder.

Hannah thought it best that no one report the tonic incident to Abe, since Alex was now fine and there was no earthly reason to worry Abe. After all, she didn’t want him to be angry at her for what had happened, even though it wasn’t her fault, and of course it would never happen again, and if Alex mentioned it, they would pooh-pooh the whole thing as a “boys will be boys” mistake, done out of natural curiosity, not even worth mentioning.

The aunts readily agreed, for they, too, wished to stay in Abe’s good graces, anything, really, to keep him on the straight and narrow path of matrimony to their niece.

So, when Abe arrived at the end of that eventful day he received a warmer than usual greeting—a long “how was your day” hug from Hannah, and a tall glass of chilled lemonade with just a hint of rum from the aunts.

Abe took a big swallow and tipped his glass toward Lillie. “A man could get used to this.”

“Hannah makes the tastiest lemonade, doesn’t she?” Lillie said, even though it was she that had made it.

Belle said, “Oh, it’s a Gerson family recipe, but no one makes it as good as our niece.”

Abe held his glass out for a refill. “Where’s my boy?”

“He’s in the kitchen, finishing a drawing he made especially for you.”

Belle took Abe’s elbow. “Would you like to stay for dinner? Lamb chops and roast potatoes.”

Now that was strange, he thought, usually Belle gives me the bum’s rush to clear me the hell out of here. Something was going on with these two birds. Belle kept smiling at him, and he thought maybe this was how the witch in the forest looked when she was trying to fatten up Hansel and Gretel.

Alex ran into the room with the picture he’d colored. It showed stick figures of a man and a woman holding hands.