crowded here,” Ruth said. “Let’s meet by that brown bench.”
“Okay,” Edek said. “You think I won’t see you if you are not next to this brown bench. I will find you.”
“We’ll meet next to the bench,” she said. “Dad,” she said, “can you believe we’re in Poland, together?”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “I got to go to the manager’s office.”
“I love you, Dad,” she said.
“I love you, too,” he said as he rushed off.
Ruth heard him ask a guard for directions, in Polish. The two men ges-ticulated for two minutes. The guard pointed to the right, then to the left, and then waved his arm in a motion that indicated distance. Edek thanked him with several short bows. Ruth watched Edek running across the airport. He took the quick little steps she was so familiar with. One small, swift step after another.
He always ran like this. As though everything was an emergency. He ran to the corner store, if he ran out of milk. He ran to answer the phone. But there was an enthusiasm as well as desperation in his urgency. He looked happy when he was running. If Ruth needed anything bought or picked up and shipped to her, in New York, from Australia, she called Edek. Edek bought, packed, and shipped Australian face creams and body lotion, Australian raincoats and Australian boots, for Ruth. He did administrative tasks and chores such as renewing her Australian driver’s license, and making sure that her name was still on the electoral rolls.
She called him for small things and big things. Things that had to be done were irresistible to Edek. Ruth knew that her request would be executed with ruthless efficiency. The boots or the creams or the documents
[ 4 0 ]
L I L Y B R E T T
would arrive in New York in record time. She knew that her father would drop everything to run an errand.
He used to run errands for Henia, endlessly. Henia was a New York woman Edek had known in Lódz before the war. “We should be together,”
she said to him on one of his visits to Ruth. “I knew your Rooshka and you knew my Josl. If we get together, I can talk about my Josl and you can talk about your Rooshka.”
Ruth had encouraged her father in this liaison. Edek had been so depressed since her mother died. And Henia seemed to have a liveliness and sparkle to her. “It wouldn’t be like with Mum,” Edek had said to Ruth when he finally agreed to leave Australia and move in with Henia.
“Of course it wouldn’t be the same as your marriage to Mum,” Ruth had said.
In order for Edek to stay in the United States, he needed a green card.
Edek and Henia had had to get married. Josl had left Henia a wealthy woman. Her two grown sons were not about to let the wealth be diluted.
They didn’t want this marriage. But Henia wanted Edek, and she overrode their objections. The sons prepared a thirty-page prenuptial agreement for Edek to sign. “I find that very objectionable,” Ruth had said to Edek. “I wouldn’t sign it.” “What’s the big deal?” he said, and signed the documents. The marriage lasted four years.
Henia’s seduction of Edek lost some of its gloss after the wedding.
When Henia was in full pursuit of Edek, she smiled at him and laughed at everything he said. She patted him on the hands and on the head. She blew him kisses in the street. She didn’t play her cards as well once they were married. She criticized Ruth, endlessly. “She is not married. She doesn’t have any children. What sort of life is this?” she said to Edek every time Ruth rang. Edek never answered her.
Edek and Henia had dinner regularly with her sons and their wives and children. They ate at the older son’s house every Wednesday and Sunday, and with the younger son on Tuesdays. If Ruth invited them out, Henia developed a toothache or a stomachache or a headache. “I make her ache,”
Ruth said once to Edek. “It is not so funny,” he said. He looked miserable.
“Look at her,” Henia had said to Edek, the
“Okay,” Edek said. “You think I won’t see you if you are not next to this brown bench. I will find you.”
“We’ll meet next to the bench,” she said. “Dad,” she said, “can you believe we’re in Poland, together?”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “I got to go to the manager’s office.”
“I love you, Dad,” she said.
“I love you, too,” he said as he rushed off.
Ruth heard him ask a guard for directions, in Polish. The two men ges-ticulated for two minutes. The guard pointed to the right, then to the left, and then waved his arm in a motion that indicated distance. Edek thanked him with several short bows. Ruth watched Edek running across the airport. He took the quick little steps she was so familiar with. One small, swift step after another.
He always ran like this. As though everything was an emergency. He ran to the corner store, if he ran out of milk. He ran to answer the phone. But there was an enthusiasm as well as desperation in his urgency. He looked happy when he was running. If Ruth needed anything bought or picked up and shipped to her, in New York, from Australia, she called Edek. Edek bought, packed, and shipped Australian face creams and body lotion, Australian raincoats and Australian boots, for Ruth. He did administrative tasks and chores such as renewing her Australian driver’s license, and making sure that her name was still on the electoral rolls.
She called him for small things and big things. Things that had to be done were irresistible to Edek. Ruth knew that her request would be executed with ruthless efficiency. The boots or the creams or the documents
[ 4 0 ]
L I L Y B R E T T
would arrive in New York in record time. She knew that her father would drop everything to run an errand.
He used to run errands for Henia, endlessly. Henia was a New York woman Edek had known in Lódz before the war. “We should be together,”
she said to him on one of his visits to Ruth. “I knew your Rooshka and you knew my Josl. If we get together, I can talk about my Josl and you can talk about your Rooshka.”
Ruth had encouraged her father in this liaison. Edek had been so depressed since her mother died. And Henia seemed to have a liveliness and sparkle to her. “It wouldn’t be like with Mum,” Edek had said to Ruth when he finally agreed to leave Australia and move in with Henia.
“Of course it wouldn’t be the same as your marriage to Mum,” Ruth had said.
In order for Edek to stay in the United States, he needed a green card.
Edek and Henia had had to get married. Josl had left Henia a wealthy woman. Her two grown sons were not about to let the wealth be diluted.
They didn’t want this marriage. But Henia wanted Edek, and she overrode their objections. The sons prepared a thirty-page prenuptial agreement for Edek to sign. “I find that very objectionable,” Ruth had said to Edek. “I wouldn’t sign it.” “What’s the big deal?” he said, and signed the documents. The marriage lasted four years.
Henia’s seduction of Edek lost some of its gloss after the wedding.
When Henia was in full pursuit of Edek, she smiled at him and laughed at everything he said. She patted him on the hands and on the head. She blew him kisses in the street. She didn’t play her cards as well once they were married. She criticized Ruth, endlessly. “She is not married. She doesn’t have any children. What sort of life is this?” she said to Edek every time Ruth rang. Edek never answered her.
Edek and Henia had dinner regularly with her sons and their wives and children. They ate at the older son’s house every Wednesday and Sunday, and with the younger son on Tuesdays. If Ruth invited them out, Henia developed a toothache or a stomachache or a headache. “I make her ache,”
Ruth said once to Edek. “It is not so funny,” he said. He looked miserable.
“Look at her,” Henia had said to Edek, the
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