“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?”
“What do you mean, you’re going to Las Vegas?”
“Jack’s been talking it up. He says I can finish high school there, then come to work for him. He’s going to teach me to be an electrician.”
“Jack is going to Las Vegas?”
“Yeah, with Christina. Daisy’s going, too. They’re going to work for Dr. O in his new office.”
“What else do you know?” Her mouth felt dried out. Her skin felt clammy.
“If you mean about your mom and Dr. O, yeah, I know about that, too.”
“Does everyone know?” She steadied herself against a tree. “Only the important people.” Was he making a joke? He looked at her. “Why aren’t you happy?”
Why wasn’t she happy? She should be happy, shouldn’t she? “I didn’t want to leave you,” she said. “I didn’t want to go.”
“So now you won’t have to leave me because I’m going, too.” He hugged her.
She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Irene was right—some things were bashert, meant to be. Out of all the places in the world, she and Mason were going to wind up in Las Vegas together. She started to laugh. “But are you sure Jack is going?”
“Everything depends on Dr. O. If he goes, then Christina is going, and if Christina goes, Jack will go, and if Jack goes…” He lifted her off the ground and swung her around. Then he turned serious. “So long as Jack doesn’t get called up. He says if he does, he could try to claim me as a dependent but he’s not sure if that’ll work or not. Christina wants him to try. We’d have to go to court.”
“You mean Jack might have to go to Korea?”
Mason nodded. “He’s 1-A.”
“But Eisenhower says if he’s elected he’ll end the war.”
“That’s only if he wins. We don’t even know if he’s running yet. The election’s not until November. He’s not sworn in until January. And it could be somebody else. Joey Pol says it could be Adlai Stevenson.”
“Joey Pol?”
“The guy from the bowling alley. Joey Politics. He says Stevenson’s an egghead. Who knows what he’d do?”
“Uncle Henry says Stevenson is brilliant.”
“Don’t take this wrong, but your family leans to the left.”
“Are you calling my family Communists?”
“Nothing like that. They’re the best family I know.”
“Then please take that back, about leaning to the left.”
“Okay. I take it back.”
They were interrupted by a little boy who ran at Mason, grabbing hold of his leg.
“Come see new house.”
“I will,” Mason told him. “Later.”
“No, now!”
“Later, Stash. Okay?”
The door to the apartment house opened, and Polina came out, holding Fred on a leash. “Sorry so late,” she told Mason. Her lipstick was bright red and her dress didn’t leave much to the imagination, as if she were trying to look like Marilyn Monroe on the recent cover of Life magazine, beauty mark and all, one she didn’t have when she was making pancakes for the kids at Janet.
“We are very happy here,” Polina said. “A beautiful place.”
“You should thank Miri,” Mason said. “It’s because of her you got the apartment.”
“Mr. Ben’s granddaughter?” Polina asked.
“I’m not exactly his granddaughter.”
“But close to it,” Mason said.
“Thank you and thank Mr. Ben,” she said to Miri, right before she threw her arms around Mason. “Oh, this wonderful boy. I don’t want to lose. I’ll miss too much. Maybe we should go, too. What you think, Stash? Should we go with Mason, far away?”
She knew, too?
Stash said, “No, Mama. I like it here.”
“He loves new apartment. But I love this handsome boy!” She squished those big breasts against Mason and was headed for a kiss on his mouth, but Mason turned his head at the last minute and the kiss landed on the side of his face, leaving a big red lipstick splotch.
Mason untangled himself, never taking his eyes off Miri, as if to say, It’s not my fault, I don’t know what’s going on here…don’t blame me…
For a minute Miri’s eyes questioned him, while Polina went on and on. “This wonderful, strong, brave boy.”
Polina must have noticed the look on Miri’s face because she said, “Oh no! Mason, you have girlfriend and you didn’t tell me?” She pretend-slapped the side of her head and tried to laugh, not a genuine laugh, a nervous laugh. “I love him like mother,” she told Miri, recognizing her mistake. She could probably get fired for having a thing with one of the boys at Janet. “You understand? Like mother loves son.”
Miri never saw a mother kiss her son that way.
“I hope my Stash grows up strong and brave like Mason.”
Miri didn’t say anything. She and Mason just looked at each other while Polina dug herself in deeper.
Stash tugged on Mason’s arm. “Come for sleepover so we can play. Mama has big new bed. I have new bed.”
Come for sleepover? Mama has big new bed? Miri felt the panic rising, her heart pounding, the urge to run too strong to resist. She took off, running for her life, leaving her books behind, leaving everything behind.
“Miri, wait!” Mason chased after her. “It’s not what you think.”
She stopped abruptly and faced him, this boy she loved totally, absolutely, this boy she’d trusted with all her heart, with all her soul. She was crying now, she couldn’t stop, and she didn’t care. She swiped her hand across her nose.
“She’s the friend I was telling you about,” Mason said, breathless from running after her. “She cooks at Janet.”
“I know who she is.”
“That kiss, it didn’t mean anything. That’s just the way she is. That’s how it was in Poland when she was growing up. They kiss everyone on the lips. It has nothing to do with us.”
“Really? That’s what you expect me to believe?”
He waited too long to answer. “I never meant to hurt you. Why would I hurt you? You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“Stop! No more lies.”
“Miri, please, listen…I wanted to tell you but I didn’t know how. I tried to end it…and now it’s over…I promise, it’s over.”
“I never want to see you again.”
“Miri…don’t do this.” He reached out to grab her but she was faster. She stopped only once before she got home, to see if he was following, but he wasn’t.
Mason
He couldn’t stand the idea of losing her. And losing her because of what—some stupid kiss he didn’t even want? Damn! He’d screwed up. He’d screwed up big-time. He should have told Polina he had a girlfriend a long time ago. Lately, Polina expected too much of him. She expected him to be the man of the family. She wanted him to quit school and get a job and move in and be a dad to Stash. But he wasn’t ready for that.
In another month he’d be seventeen. He’d be able to get his license. He had enough saved for a used car. He just wanted to be a seventeen-year-old guy with a girlfriend, a dog and a car. And he wanted to get out of here, away from Polina. He wanted to go to Las Vegas with his brother, who would teach him not only to be an electrician, but a man. Sure, it was exciting to be with her at first. It was like a fantasy. This grown woman who knew what she wanted and wasn’t shy about showing him. At first she made no demands. But now—now she wouldn’t leave him alone. Stashie misses you. I have big new bed just waiting. You come fill me up. I need you fill me up, Mason. And what guy wouldn’t want to fill her up? That was the problem. But he was done with her. Finished. Kaput.