This Magnificent Dappled Sea: A Novel by David Biro

Author:David Biro [Biro, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-10-31T22:00:00+00:00

PART V: LETTERS

1992–1993

1

The noise woke him: voices, beeping, clattering. Rabbi Joseph opened his eyes and struggled to see. The mist again? No, more like a dense fog blocking out the light. He tried to get up, but his body felt heavy. “Where am I?”

“The recovery room,” someone answered.

The voice sounded familiar.

“You just came back from surgery. The marrow harvesting. Everything’s okay.”

Now he remembered. The surgeon looking down at him, the blinding lights, the fluid moving through the IV, into his vein, making him sleepy, sleepy, then out. Through the fog, a figure materialized. “Samuel, is that you?”

“It’s me, Dad.”

He could see him now, standing beside the bed, his big brown eyes staring at him. “Shouldn’t you be in school?” he asked.

“I came after classes ended.”

“How did you get here? Does your mother know?”

“I took the subway.”

Joseph noticed a tentativeness in Samuel’s voice, different from the aggressive tone he usually took with his father. “You were worried about me?”

Samuel shrugged.

Joseph regarded his son. Samuel was almost as tall as he was now, but still had that round baby face, a knapsack strapped around his shoulders: a schoolboy, his boy, his son. The question popped out of his mouth so fast he couldn’t stop himself: “Did you take the money?”

Samuel winced, then glanced at the woman standing next to him.

Joseph hadn’t noticed her before. “I’m sorry, I didn’t—”

“That’s quite all right, Mr. Neiman,” said the nurse, patting Samuel on the back. “The anesthesia can be disorienting when you wake up after surgery. Try to relax. Like your son said, everything went perfectly.”

Samuel was blushing.

“You’ll be here for an hour or so, and then you can go home. You’ll probably be a little tired and feel some pain, especially in the hip area. That’s where they took the marrow. But I’m sure you’ll be back to full speed in a few days.”

He thanked the nurse, and when she left, he reached for Samuel’s hand. “I’m glad you came.”

“I didn’t think you should be alone.”

He wasn’t alone, Joseph assured his son. Benny was coming to pick him up.

“He’s in the waiting area now,” said Samuel. “I got here a while ago. You were still sleeping, so I went to see Emily.”

“That was thoughtful. When I’m feeling better, we can visit her together.”

“She’s not on the fifth floor anymore. They moved her to another ward. She’s not doing well,” Samuel said. “She didn’t recognize me at first. Mrs. Nussbaum said she has a bad infection. It spread to her brain.”

“I’m sorry.”

Samuel nodded. “Mrs. Nussbaum couldn’t stop crying. She said Emily was dying.”

Joseph squeezed his son’s hand. He could see that today’s visit to the hospital had shaken him. “Sit down next to me,” he said. Joseph wanted to tell Samuel that he understood, that life was full of sadness and suffering, and that his father couldn’t always shield him from the sadness and suffering. Instead, he reached up and pushed the hair away from his son’s eyes.

“I did it,” Samuel said.

“What?”

“I took the money at school, Dad.

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