All Three Stooges by Erica S. Perl

Author:Erica S. Perl
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2018-01-09T00:00:00+00:00

At dinner that night, Karen told me she wanted to take me shopping at Mr. Maxx.

“We can go after school tomorrow,” she suggested. “That way, we can find something for you to wear to Gil’s unveiling this weekend. Plus, you’ll probably need more clothes for all these bar and bat mitzvahs that are coming up.”

“Gil’s unveiling?” I asked nervously.

Enid clearly understood my tone. “His grave marker,” she explained, helping herself to some salad.

“Right,” said Karen. “It’s a tradition—a little service at the cemetery to display the headstone after it’s installed. Stacey sent an invitation, it’s on the bulletin board. Didn’t Dash mention it?”

“Sure,” I lied. It felt easier than explaining that Dash was no longer talking to me.

“You know,” added Jenny, reaching for the salad dressing, “if you want to ask Dash to come over afterward, that would be fine with us. You guys could even have a sleepover, if you want.”

“We might even consider getting soda,” added Karen.

“Duht-DUH!” teased Enid.

Jenny leaned over and tried to grab Enid’s nose with the salad tongs.

“Yeah, maybe,” I said, pushing my food around my plate. My family was too busy joking to notice I wasn’t eating or to hear how dejected I sounded. I appreciated the soda offer, but I didn’t have the heart to tell my moms that not even the brilliant Dr Pepper had the skills to resuscitate my friendship with Dash.

When we went to Mr. Maxx, Karen bought me a whole bunch of clothes. Two pairs of pants that weren’t jeans and didn’t have a drawstring, plus one pair of “nice” sweatpants that she agreed could be worn in public as long as they were clean. I also got a pair of shoes that were not sneakers, two shirts with pointy collars, and exactly one tie. The tie was a compromise. I got to pick it out, as long as I was willing to wear it to services each and every Saturday. And to the unveiling.

I agreed, even though I had no intention of wearing my new tie to the unveiling. That was because I didn’t plan on going to the unveiling. I knew Dash didn’t want me there. And I figured the day would be hard enough without me showing up and making things worse for him. I was totally planning to talk to him, like I told Rabbi Fred. Just not yet and not there. Of course, I couldn’t explain this to my moms, so I ended up pretending I didn’t feel well. I was relieved when they bought it.

The following weekend was Eli Webb’s bar mitzvah, so at nine-thirty in the morning, Enid actually got up early to do me a favor and tie my tie. She’s explained the whole thing about the rabbit running around the tree to me several times, but it still comes out better when she does it. Facing me, yet not meeting my eye (due to her tie-tying responsibilities), Enid quizzed me on whether the phone had been returned to Dash.

“Not yet,” I replied.

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