The Get by Dietrich Kalteis

Author:Dietrich Kalteis [Kalteis, Dietrich]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

. . . timekeepers of the world

A stack of payables to the left, receivables to the right. Paulina’s mind drifted from the entries and updating the books. What had she been thinking, marrying a guy like Lenny? Bad enough she got in bed with him way back when, not sure what she’d been thinking. Living with his lies and neglect for two long years. She came back to work after the lunch with Gary Evans, writing checks and licking envelopes and stamps, sitting at the desk in the rear. Feeling guilty about it.

Watching her poppa up front behind the glass case, dealing with his customers. Thoughts going from Lenny to Gary, then back to the weight of Lenny. Paulina looking at it from all sides. She was right asking for the Get. And Gary was a good-looking guy, not from the tribe, but for a goy he was one of the good ones. Knowing Gary had more than lunch on his mind, the way he’d been looking at her over dessert. Paulina tasting the chocolate, pushing away thoughts of the two of them in bed. Then smiling to herself, hoping he could do it without clicking his teeth.

She’d slow things down, tell Gary she needed to be sure. Tell him she had to be done with Lenny first. Wondering how her poppa would take the news.

Seeing him talking to a handsome couple, heading for their first anniversary, showing them a black onyx daisy necklace on a gold chain, a design by Mary Quant, the one who designed the miniskirt. Mentioned the lay-away plan, letting them decide. Paulina betting the young hubby had been hooked at “miniskirt.” But, her poppa wasn’t a hard-sell — had a way of making folks feel easy, a man you could trust. Amazing how he remembered customers by name, even years later.

And the referrals and repeat business just kept coming like the tide. A kind and gentle man in spite of the dark years he’d lived through. She wondered if he ever thought about those awful times when he lay alone in his bed at night — if he had nightmares about it.

Trusting, but careful too, Poppa having the mantrap installed, two ugly doors with the switches behind his glass counter. Red for the outer door, black for the inner. Isaac Levine explaining to anyone who asked, the mantrap kept his honest customers safe, and the lower insurance helped keep the prices down. Paulina had to smile, Poppa sounding like his friend Edwin Mirvish, except unlike Ed, he didn’t go around telling everyone he was honest.

Watching him ring it up, selling the young couple the necklace, along with the matching stud-earrings at cost, Isaac pressing the black button, then the red, wishing them a good day and letting them out. Paulina back to thinking about Gary when the elderly gent came in and picked up an inscribed Cartier, a retirement present for years of service. Doing a few entries, she tried to recall the last time

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