While We're Far Apart (46 page)

“So you think they might be dead? Like Mama and Mrs. Mendel and Uncle Joe?”

Penny had read the accounts of the deportation camps in the newspapers. She held only a slender thread of hope for Mr. Mendel’s family. And after attending so many meetings with government officials, Mr. Mendel surely knew the chances of their survival even better than she did. She struggled to form an answer for Esther. “Remember how we were all ready to give up hope with Woofer? But she came home safe and sound, didn’t she?”

Esther looked up at her and smiled, nodding silently.

Peter’s team won the game by two runs. He looked hot and sweaty and exhilarated as he and his teammates thumped each other on the back. “Good job, Peter,” the coach said. Peter needed a bath and a change of clothes, but Penny didn’t want to go straight home to the apartment. “We need to go to the duplex first,” Penny told them. “I need to check on my parents. And your grandmother. They really suffer in this hot weather.”

“Can we buy a newspaper on the way home?” Esther asked.

Penny hesitated. Esther hadn’t seemed as obsessed with the news now that she spent so much time with her music. But deadly battles still raged all around the world, and Penny always feared news of a catastrophe. “I guess so,” she finally replied.

They bought one at a corner store, and the three of them divided up the various sections to read on the bus ride. Peter asked for the sports section, of course. Penny ended up with the front page and nearly missed their stop, engrossed in the news that the Allies had liberated Paris. She read every article and studied every picture, trying to imagine Eddie over there, taking part in this drama. She did the same thing when she read an article about the Marines fighting in the Pacific, picturing Roy fighting bravely alongside his comrades. In the battle for Saipan, twenty-five thousand Japanese soldiers had been killed. Penny couldn’t imagine that many people dying. She folded the paper closed and climbed off the bus, thinking of Mr. Mendel’s family and Esther’s question as they walked to Grandma Shaffer’s house.

The moment Peter opened the back door, Woofer rushed forward to meet him. Penny had to smile. “I think you’re feeding Woofer too much,” she said. “She’s getting so fat! Look at her, waddling around like a penguin.”

Penny went inside to see if Mrs. Shaffer needed anything, then went home to check on her parents. Her mother began to scold Penny as soon as she walked through the door.

“Look at your face! You got too much sun today. You should wear a hat. Your father should, too. Every day he stands out there, fussing over that ridiculous garden you coaxed him to plant – in the hot sun!”

Penny went to the kitchen window and watched her father putter around outside. “He looks content, Mother.” The garden had been a big success. Peter’s plants had blossomed and flourished just as he and Esther had this summer.

“And all these tomatoes,” Mother grumbled. “I don’t know what he thinks we’re going to do with all of them.”

“I’ll take some to work with me. The other drivers loved the last batch I brought to the station. Do you want a salad for supper? I’ll cut everything up for you.”

“Somebody has to start eating all of these vegetables.”

Penny got out a chopping board and a knife and began to work. A year ago she hadn’t understood her mother’s bitterness or why she hid inside the house like a hermit, terrified of strangers. But the secrets that had grown beneath the surface all these years had been unearthed like a crop of potatoes, giving Penny a new understanding of her parents.

They had never mentioned Hazel again. Nor did they know that Penny had visited her or that Hazel hadn’t been raped after all. Perhaps that truth would come to light in the future, but for now Penny was content. She and Hazel wrote letters to each other, sharing all their news. But Hazel mailed them to Eddie’s apartment to avoid more arguments.

Penny saw her parents differently now. She would help them and be kind to them, but they no longer held her hostage with guilt. She had broken free from all the things that they feared: She drove a public bus and talked to strangers – and Jews. Penny smiled again as she remembered sitting in the bleachers at Peter’s baseball game.

“What’s so amusing about cutting up tomatoes?” Mother asked.

“Nothing. I was just thinking of something else.”

Her parents had raised her the best that they could. Rearing children was a daunting task – as Penny had discovered with Esther and Peter. Penny hadn’t had any idea what she had volunteered for nearly a year ago when she’d naively told Eddie she would take care of his children while he was away. She never could have done it alone. Mr. Mendel, Grandma Shaffer, even her father had helped Penny raise them. And now the children’s Jewish grandmother. Penny smiled again, thinking of how God was always at work behind the scenes.

Mrs. Shaffer’s screen door slammed shut with a
bang
, jarring Penny from her thoughts. Mother clucked her tongue. “I wish those kids wouldn’t slam that door all the time. They never listen.”

A moment later, Esther pounded on the kitchen door. “Penny, come quick! Something’s wrong with Woofer. I think she’s dying!”

Penny dropped the knife and wiped her hands on her apron. Her father came up the porch steps behind Esther with two green peppers in his hands. “What’s wrong?” he asked before Penny had a chance to.

“Woofer is just laying on the kitchen floor, panting! She won’t get up.”

“She’s probably overheated,” Father said. “All dogs pant when they get hot.”

“No, something’s really wrong, I can tell! She’s whimpering, too.”

Penny didn’t know what to do. The children didn’t need any more sorrow in their lives, especially now that they were finally happy. “Will you come with us, Dad?” she asked.

“I don’t know anything about dogs.” But he set down the peppers and followed them into Mrs. Shaffer’s kitchen. Woofer lay in the corner on one of Mrs. Shaffer’s old rugs. Her tongue lolled from her mouth like a long, pink sock, and her sides heaved up and down like a bellows. She did, indeed, look as though she was dying. Penny knelt down and stroked the dog’s head.

“What’s wrong with her?” Esther asked. “Should we call a doctor?”

Penny looked up at her father for advice and saw his shoulders shake as he began to chuckle. He tried to cover his mouth to hold it inside, but his laughter grew louder and louder until he was laughing out loud. She couldn’t recall the last time he had laughed this way. “Dad? What is it?”

He wiped his eye with the heel of his hand, grinning. “There’s nothing wrong with that dog. She’s having puppies!”

And much to everyone’s surprise, she did – four of them, sleek and squirming and beautiful.

C
HAPTER 42

S
EPTEMBER 1944

J
ACOB TURNED OFF HIS RADIO
, too disheartened to listen to any more news. He gazed out his living room window, staring at the trees that lined the street. Summer had ended, the children had returned to school, and now the trees were changing with the seasons. Today the vivid orange and scarlet leaves reminded Jacob of flames. Flames rising from American ships in the Pacific after Japanese Kamikaze pilots smashed into them. Flames in the cities of Europe as the Americans battled to liberate them. Smoke and flames rising from Nazi death camps.

A year had passed since the shul across the street had burned, a year since Ed Shaffer went away. And more than two years since Miriam Shoshanna died. The shul had now been restored. They would hold services there for Yom Kippur soon. How could time pass so quickly yet seem to stand still?

Jacob glanced at the clock. Soon the children would arrive home from school. And sure enough, a moment later he saw Peter hurrying up the street, walking alone with his head down, his hands in his pockets. He ran up the porch steps and through the front door and up the stairs to his apartment. Why the rush? A moment later, Jacob understood why when he saw Esther walking with the boy from next door.

He closed his eyes in dismay. Not again. He had hoped that Esther’s continuing lessons at the conservatory would leave no time for that boy. He watched as they approached the porch, hand in hand. He could see by the way Esther laughed, the shy way she looked up at him, that she was enamored with him, flattered by his attention. With her father so far away, she must hunger for a strong arm around her shoulders, someone to hold and protect her. She was vulnerable to the boy’s advances, and her father wasn’t here to protect her from them. Should Jacob step forward and protect her?

He put on his jacket and hat and left the apartment for a walk just as Esther waved good-bye to the boy and came up the porch stairs. “Hi, Mr. Mendel.”

“Hello, Esther. Who is your young friend?” Although he knew very well who the Hoffman boy was. Everyone in the neighborhood knew. He remembered how Esther’s mother had once referred to him as a hooligan or a ruffian or some such word. Should he remind Esther of her mother’s opinion?

“That’s Jacky Hoffman. He offered to walk me home from school.”

“Hoffman? . . . His family lives in the building next door, yes? Was he one of the boys who got into trouble a few years ago for vandalizing some garages in the neighborhood?”

Esther looked away, embarrassed. “He’s changed a lot since then, Mr. Mendel. Jacky has a job now. He delivers groceries for the A&P on the next block. People should give him a chance.”

He could see that she was becoming defensive, unwilling to listen to what a nosy old man like Jacob had to say. But he cared enough to continue, just the same. “I have seen you with him on several occasions, but why is it that I never see you with any other friends?”

“I don’t know,” she said with a loose shrug. “Jacky’s my best friend now.”

“You must be careful not to let him monopolize all of your time. You are too young to limit your friendship to only one person, especially a boy. What do you suppose your father would say if he saw you with him?”

“We’re just walking home together, that’s all. And he’s been protecting Peter. Jacky won’t let any of the other kids make fun of him.”

“Peter does not seem very grateful. I have noticed that he does not seem to like him.”

“That’s Peter’s problem. Jacky is always nice to him.” She looked angry and uneasy, shifting from one foot to the other as if in a hurry to leave. “I have to practice piano now. See you later, Mr. Mendel.”

“Good-bye, Esther.”

Maybe he was wrong, he thought as he continued on his walk. Esther had a good head on her shoulders, didn’t she? And maybe the boy really had changed since the war began, becoming more responsible. Jacob walked to the end of the block, then crossed the street and walked another block, trying to shake off the uneasy feeling he got whenever he thought of them holding hands.

The smell of fall filled the air – decaying leaves and bonfires, the scent of change. As he neared the A&P, he decided to go inside and talk to the store manager, just to ease his mind. Jacob knew the man slightly. They both attended Congregation Ohel Moshe.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Shapiro,” he said, extending his hand. “Jacob Mendel. I am wondering if I could ask you about one of your delivery boys. I would like to know something about his character. His name is Jack Hoffman.”

Shapiro’s pleasant smile faded. “He no longer works for us.”

“I am surprised to hear that. I was told very recently that he delivered groceries for your store.”

“I had to fire him about two weeks ago. To be honest with you, we suspected him of stealing from some of our customers. We had been getting complaints all summer of stolen money and missing ration books, and everything pointed to him.”

“Are the police involved?”

“They said we didn’t have enough evidence. It was all circumstantial. But we let Jacky go, just to be sure.”

“Thank you for your time.”

Jacob strode from the store as if it were on fire, furious that such an unsavory boy would come near an innocent, vulnerable child like Esther. He needed to do something, but what? As he walked home, deep in thought, he saw Jacky leaning against a car that was parked along the street in front of his apartment, smoking a cigarette. “Excuse me – Jack Hoffman? I would like to have a word with you, please.”

“I don’t talk to kikes.” He tossed his cigarette butt at Jacob. It bounced off his chest and landed, smoldering, at his feet.

The action startled Jacob, but he didn’t retreat. He took another step forward, snuffing out the flame beneath his shoe. He wondered what the boy would say if he knew that Esther’s mother was Jewish. Jacky stood up and folded his arms across his chest, meeting Jacob’s gaze with a look of defiance. “What do you want, old man?”

“I want to talk to you about Esther Shaffer.”

“I’m her boyfriend.”

“No. You are not. She is much too young to have a boyfriend.”

“What business is it of yours?”

“I am looking out for her while her father is away. Protecting her.”

“You’re making that up. Esther would have told me if she had a dirty Jew for a bodyguard.”

Jacob pressed on, determined to remain calm. “I just talked to your former employer and have learned that you have been fired. He says that you are not a very trustworthy person. I plan to tell Esther this fact, as well. So from now on, I do not want you to walk home from school with her or to have anything to do with her. Stay away from her. I will be watching to make certain that you do not come near her.”

Jacky’s arms dropped to his sides. His hands tightened into fists. “Who do you think you are, telling me what to do?”

“And if you ever do anything to hurt that girl or take advantage of her, I will make certain that you regret it.”

For a moment Jacky looked as though he might take a swing at Jacob, but there was too much traffic on the street. Instead, he unleashed such a nasty string of curses and ethnic slurs that Jacob turned his back and walked away. Such hatred, especially in one so young. Jacob had been right to intervene.

“You’ll be sorry you ever interfered, old man!” Jacky called after him. “You hear me?”