The War of the Rosens by Janice Eidus

Author:Janice Eidus
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Behler Publications, LLC

17

Annette, in the bathroom, on her knees, swallowing, retching, sweating … vomiting into the toilet, her migraine ritual. Her temples throb. Her throat is dry. Her hands smell. Her daughters will never come to see how she is. They, and Leo, when he’s home, avoid her when she’s sick like this. Do they detest her for this weakness? Maybe. Worse than that, she detests herself. She flushes the toilet, stands, splashes cold water on her face, and then feels the urgent need once more to vomit.

At the counter, Leo rings up a customer, an elderly Puerto Rican woman who comes in every now and then, always dressed in a long black skirt, shapeless black coat, and a thick black scarf wound around her head. He rings up three bags of caramels, two Jawbreakers, and a copy of a Spanish-language newspaper. “Gracias,” she croaks, as Leo comes from behind the counter, to help her to the door. Crookedly, she leans against him, taking small, hesitant steps in her bulky shoes.

“Gracias,” she says again, as Leo watches from the doorway to see that she crosses the street safely. He refuses to think any more about Annette’s call concerning May. It’s already old news, ancient history. Annette, for her own sake, should never again bring up to him May’s need for a psychiatrist.

The old woman, safely across the street, waves and gives him a toothless smile. He waves back, and closes the door, suddenly wondering when, if ever, Cookie will return. He hasn’t seen her since the day she told him he reminded her of her late husband. Once, when the store was empty, he’d found himself looking up her phone number and dialing it, not knowing what he would say, not knowing what he wanted, but, like a shamefully nervous suitor, he’d hung up before it rang. It occurs to him that he could call her again right now, since he’s got no customers. Instead, he busies himself straightening some magazines on the shelf, then sits behind the counter and takes out his notebook. He has decided that the time has come for him to write a novel, loosely based upon his own life, as he has always wanted to do. It will start in the present, with many flashbacks to the hero’s childhood. He’s already written a few paragraphs of description of the store that the hero owns, changing it from a candy store in the Bronx to a magazine and newspaper shop in Manhattan, but keeping the left-wing politics of the owner, and the modest décor of the store. There will be a character based on Cookie, so transformed that Annette won’t recognize her. His desire for Cookie will be channeled into the realm of imagination, and he’ll be blameless, following the direction his art leads.

Hoping that no customers show up for a while, he picks up his pen and writes: A beautiful woman, born in Madrid, enters the store, searching for newspapers from home.

Emma adjusts her witch’s hat and cape and waits for the elevator on the 11th floor to take her downstairs.

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