Between Before and After by Maureen Doyle McQuerry

Author:Maureen Doyle McQuerry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blink
Published: 2018-12-26T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Eight

DRAKE BROTHERS BAKERY

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK—SEPTEMBER 1919

ELAINE

Elaine stirred a soup made from carrots, potatoes, and scraps of ham from the Gossleys’ kitchen. She’d said she was taking the scraps home for their dog. At the kitchen table, Stephen struggled to read while Elaine knew he really wanted to play in the vacant lot with the other boys. He’d been in school every day that week after she’d promised a visit to Pete and his pigeons on Saturday.

The potatoes were almost tender when the door burst open. Pop strolled in accompanied by a wiry little man who was hardly taller than Elaine.

“Pop!” Stephen exploded from the table so fast he knocked the chair over backward, then clamped on to Pop around the waist.

“Now isn’t this nice—a family to come home to.” The small man took off his cap and twirled it in his hands

Elaine didn’t move. Pop hadn’t been home in over a week. She was aware of the tick of the clock on the windowsill, the bubbles starting to rise in the soup, the way the window over the sink was steaming. Slowly, she added a pinch of salt. She didn’t turn. “How’s my big girl?” His words rolled over her like a breeze she could ignore. From the corner of her eye, she saw him look at his friend. “Did you know she’s employed by a rich family up Clinton Ave? Elaine and Stephen, this is Tim Meeks.”

Pop didn’t offer an I’m sorry I haven’t been home. Nor a How are you managing? There was no word of explanation. When she turned toward them and saw Pop’s face, Elaine prodded the empty space inside herself. She felt nothing.

“Nice to meet ‘cher. Smells like there’s soup?” Mr. Meeks looked hopefully toward the pot on the stove.

Elaine’s lips drew tight against her teeth. Did Pop expect they’d have enough for a guest? How could he assume they’d have anything at all when he hadn’t been home in two weeks? She turned back to the stove and stirred the soup until it splashed, burning her hand.

“Take a load off.” Pop offered Mr. Meeks one of the three chairs at the table. “We’ve something to celebrate tonight.” He rubbed his hands together, and Mr. Meeks dropped his cap onto the table, nodding. Elaine heard something hard also land on the table. She turned and rested one hip against the stove, sucking on her burned hand.

Tufts of hair bristled from Mr. Meeks’s ears. She focused on those. She would not cry.

“Don’t I even get a hello from my own daughter?”

“Hello, Pop.”

“She’s not much for talking, is she?” Mr. Meeks spoke as if she wasn’t in the room.

“Mr. Meeks, here, has gotten me a job at Drake Brothers. He’s a foreman, and I start in the morning.”

“The bakery?” Her voice was a whisper. She had walked past Drake Brothers earlier today. She would not let hope get a foothold. “You’ll have to be up early then.”

Elaine ladled out four bowls of soup. There was barely enough for a bowl each if she skimped a little on her own.

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