Lieberman's Folly by Stuart M. Kaminsky

Author:Stuart M. Kaminsky [Kaminsky, Stuart M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4804-0019-1
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
Published: 2012-12-14T20:09:00+00:00

8

LIEBERMAN WAS SURE THAT if the Committee to Select a Renovation Committee meeting went on for one more hour he would be calling Irving Hamel, Irwin Rommel. He would let it slip out accidentally once and apologize. Then it would happen again and he would, apologize again. Then, if God were watching as was His sacred duty, He would inform Irving Hamel that he should be quiet.

Irving was not a bad man, but he was an irritating one. He was also young, not yet forty, and a lawyer. He had all his hair and it was black. He wore contact lenses. He stood tall and worked out every morning at the Jewish Community Center on Touhy. His wife was beautiful. His two kids, a boy and a girl, were beautiful. Irving Hamel would one day be king of Denmark or at least the first Jewish mayor of Chicago or a Supreme Court chief justice, but right now he was a pain in the ass.

“People will not give for renovation,” he said. “They want their name on a rock wall, something.”

“The building committee has the rooms and the walls,” said Syd Levan.

The three men and a woman were seated in the little library and conference room around the oak table. Rabbi Wass smiled knowingly at everything that was said. Syd Levan was dedicated to proving that nothing was possible. Ida Katzman sat looking intently at whoever spoke. As the oldest person in the room and the wealthiest member of the congregation, which was why she was in the room in the first place, Ida had certain rights, among them the right to ignore the proceedings. Ancient Ida Katzman appeared to understand almost nothing of what was going on. Whenever young Rabbi Wass spoke, Ida looked at him through her thick glasses in the hope that divine guidance would come from his lips. She was always disappointed.

“The furniture!” Lieberman tried. “We can put plaques on the furniture. This table right here has a plaque.” He pointed at a bronze plate at the head of the table where he, as acting chair of the committee, sat looking glumly but hopefully at Irving Hamel.

“The building committee has asked for dedication rights for the furniture,” said Rabbi Wass.

“The toilets,” Lieberman said, looking at his watch and seeing that it was after ten and nothing had been settled.

“That’s in bad taste,” said Syd Levan.

“The toilets also belong to the building committee,” said Rabbi Wass.

“Las Vegas Night,” said Lieberman, who dreaded all fund-raising events.

“Last one lost two hundred dollars,” said Hamel. “I was treasurer.”

“Auction,” said Lieberman.

Syd Levan was shaking his head slowly. Ida Katzman’s mouth had dropped open.

“Lost money,” said Hamel.

“Show a movie,” Lieberman tried. “The Frisco Kid, Hester Street, a Friday the 13th marathon.”

“You know what it costs to rent a movie, get a projector, advertise?” said Hamel with a sigh. “And nobody comes. They have cable. Movies are a sure loser.”

“Bingo,” said Lieberman with little confidence.

“We’re Jews,” said Levan, shocked.

“I’m aware of that,” said Lieberman. “But we have a building to renovate.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.