The Tribe by Bari Wood

Author:Bari Wood
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Valancourt Books
Published: 2019-06-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

She ordered invitations, and bought a copy of Bride’s magazine, but it was so insipid she lost her temper, tore it to pieces, and shoved the pieces into the dispose-­all. It wasn’t used to slick paper and it jammed and she had to dismantle it and pull the pieces out again. The sky and the Sound lost their gray look; the air was warmer, but damp and still sharp.

The invitations came, and she felt as if everything was settled. Her life, the neighborhood, the town. She thought of mammoths in ice, of insects in amber, of any creature trapped, settled, done for.

Everyone else seemed to like the settling.

Golda brought Rachel vacation brochures to plan her honeymoon, but all Rachel could think of was Labrador, some place cold and silent that would make her happy to come home to Laurel. Willa said she’d never been as comfortable any place as she was in Laurel, except for the busing issue in Claremont. Stupid, Rachel thought, because the kids were bused anyway, but the parents painted placards and carried them. A cross was burned on a black family’s lawn in Port Jefferson, and fistfights broke out at the high school. Willa said it was nothing. But Tom Jr. was upset, and the Saturday after the fight, he wouldn’t come to Rachel’s house. Leah waited for him. When he didn’t come, she carried her stuffed seal from room to room like a little ghost. She wouldn’t eat dinner, wouldn’t watch TV.

Rachel called Willa. “What are we, Honkies now?”

“Sure, sugar . . .” Then Willa said, “Let it alone, Rache. He misses her, too . . .”

She was too busy to think much about it. Passover was coming and this year Rachel vowed to do everything right. Two weeks before the first Seder, she unpacked the special dishes and even though it was far too early, she went to the cabinets and separated the containers of cereal, flour, and all the starches so she wouldn’t miss any when the time came. The market in Port Jefferson had a whole section of Passover foods, and she and Golda filled four shopping bags. When she got home, Allan was waiting; he’d just finished preparing a big case, and he was so tired his skin looked gray. She made him lie down on the couch and he fell asleep. His eyes rolled under the lids, his pale eyelashes looked golden in the lamplight, and she wondered if he was dreaming; she stood back and looked at his body, then came close to him, leaned down, and kissed his neck. He didn’t move and she left him alone to sleep.

Their Seder plate was chipped and she bought a new one; she washed the windows, waxed all the floors, and took the flour and barley and the rest over to Willa’s. She scoured the stove, and she cleaned the refrigerator to be sure there were no crumbs left behind. She washed the cabinets, put the regular dishes away, and stacked the Passover dishes in their place.

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