A Good Man by Cynthia Holz

Author:Cynthia Holz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dundurn Press
Published: 2014-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

7

ALL THROUGH OCTOBER and into November there was one thunderstorm after the next. It got so Izzy couldn’t go outdoors for days on end. As if he were trapped in a bomb shelter, he lived on canned and dry foods and frozen TV dinners, excited at first, then bored, peering out his windows at the turbulent world behind the blinds.

Trees toppled in strong winds and power lines went down; roads flooded, cars stalled. One time the weatherman reported six inches of rain in just over two hours. Muddy Creek, at the end of his street, usually a dry ditch, filled in only one night, swelled and overflowed its banks for the first time in many years—though Izzy hadn’t seen it himself but heard about it from Pat, who spoke to their neighbor Frank, who walked his dog beside the creek and saw it rising, saw it flood.

In December the riverbed was dry again. The sun shone often and the weather was surprisingly mild. Izzy resumed his routine of Tuesday banking, Thursday shopping, as well as frequent trips to the Bay View Mall.

One Friday evening, when he was feeling sociable, he phoned Klaus Hauptmann to meet for dinner at Mallory’s. Klaus got there first, and when Izzy arrived, he grabbed him unexpectedly in a suffocating hug, as if they were long-lost brothers reunited. Or else a couple of faygeles swooning in each other’s arms. Feh! How it must look! Everyone was watching as Izzy tore himself free.

After that they bought food and sat in a booth at the back, where no one could see them. Izzy’s plate was piled high with fried chicken and vegetables, while Klaus nibbled a salad. He wasn’t much of an eater. But his bald head was flushed and his smile broader than usual. Something was up. Maybe he’s happy to see me again, Izzy thought. But that wasn’t it at all.

“I’m going back to Berlin,” he said. “I’m going for good this time.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“The Wall’s coming down, Izzy. Don’t tell me you haven’t heard!”

“Naturally I saw something…”

“The border’s wide open now and people are pouring across, the guards aren’t stopping them. I saw it all on TV—East Berliners coming by the thousands to see the West; West Berliners greeting them with hugs and flowers, food and drink. Bells ringing, horns honking, everybody singing—it’s a great big party.”

“What’s that got to do with you?”

“I want to be there. Don’t you?”

“Why should I want to be in Berlin?”

“Because it’s united again! People are chipping away at the Wall and I want a piece too, something with graffiti or a painting, something colorful. Don’t you feel an urge to go home? A sense of adventure?”

“I feel nothing.” Izzy sniffed. “In halves or in one piece, Berlin is the city that threw out my parents, that took away my citizenship, and sent my sister Rosa and her children to the gas chambers. Wall-shmall, it’s nothing to me.”

Klaus shook his head. “That was very long ago, Izzy. Can’t you forget a little?”

“No! They won’t let me.

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