The Takeaway Men by Meryl Ain

Author:Meryl Ain
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781684630479
Publisher: SparkPress
Published: 2020-08-14T23:00:00+00:00

Ever since the day her daughter arrived, Faye hoped she could foster a friendship between Becky and Lenore Mandelstern. Since her scrape with the law, Lenore had lost some of her airs and was friendlier. With her new job, she stayed closer to home. Lenore was about Becky’s age, and she had a social life, as was evidenced by the young men who occasionally parked their cars in the Mandelsterns’ driveway. Faye had no idea that these dates provided a subterfuge for Lenore’s ongoing relationship with Irv Rosen. She reasoned that Lenore might agree to bring Becky to a dance or go on a double date with her. She worked in a hospital; perhaps she could even introduce her to a nice young doctor. She told herself that a boyfriend or a husband would provide Becky with the stability she needed. As progressive as she was, part of her agreed with Izzy when he said, “The most important degree a woman needs is an MRS.”

As they were cleaning up from the party, Faye said to Becky, “How was Lenore? Did you like her?”

“She was okay.”

“Did she discuss her social life?”

“Not really; she just said that she plays the field.”

“Anything else?”

Faye was now hanging on her every word.

“Yes, she mentioned that she would work on finding someone for me, so we can double date.”

“That’s great,” said Faye, feigning surprise, pretending the thought had never occurred to her. “How was the food at the party? What did you eat?”

“I just had some turkey,” Becky said.

“That’s all?”

“I had a piece of cake.”

“I know you love hamburgers. Didn’t you have one?

“No, I was afraid to.”

“Why? We got the chopped meat fresh from Morty’s this morning. People told me they were delicious. Izzy grilled them just perfectly.”

“I heard that Hitler poisoned the hamburgers.”

“Hitler?”

“Yes, and I also heard that he’s looking for Aron. He’s going to come after him.”

“That’s ridiculous, Becky. Hitler has been dead since 1945.”

“I know what I heard,” Becky insisted.

Faye had been living six thousand miles away from her daughter for years, and the respite from Becky while she was off in Israel had dimmed her concerns. Now she found herself shocked by these kinds of comments, which had become increasingly frequent over the last few days. She scoured her memory to see if Becky had behaved like this before Israel. She recalled now that Becky had been troublesome as a teenager, with mood swings and angry outbursts. After a particularly nasty breakup in college, she’d lost thirty pounds, been hospitalized, and even had to drop out of school for a semester. But she was able to return to school, do her work, and graduate. So she’d convinced herself that her daughter had recovered. Faye did not think she remembered these types of bizarre comments, which had no basis in reality. Although she recalled that when Becky broke up with her boyfriend right before she moved to Israel, she told Faye that she had heard on authority that he was cheating on her. Faye had never questioned it at the time, but now she wondered.

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