The Two-Family House: A Novel by Lynda Cohen Loigman

Author:Lynda Cohen Loigman [Loigman, Lynda Cohen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781466888883
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2016-03-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 34

NATALIE

(September 1956)

Natalie’s favorite day of the week was Thursday. Most of the kids in her third-grade class liked Friday best. The teacher was easier on them and more likely to forgive them if they forgot their homework or fooled around. If you forgot homework on any other day, Miss Murray would take out her red pen and mark you ten points off in her grade book. But if you forgot homework on Friday, Miss Murray would just tell you to bring it in on Monday.

Friday was also kickball day at recess, which most of the kids loved. The boys would line up to pick teams and the girls would stand on the side of the field and cheer. Natalie hated cheering and she didn’t like watching the boys, mostly because Teddy was always the last one picked for teams. She knew the other boys wouldn’t tease him (she had put an end to that in first grade when she punched Jerry Adler in the nose for calling Teddy a “scrawny weirdo”), but she couldn’t force them to choose him. Besides, if she punched Jerry again, the principal would call her mother to pick her up, and Natalie worried that her mother wouldn’t be as forgiving the second time.

“What did you do to that boy?” her mother had asked on the way home that day. “Did you know his nose might be broken? Even your mashugana brothers never broke anyone’s nose.”

Natalie didn’t respond.

“Honestly, what got into you?”

“He’s a jerk,” she answered.

“What makes him such a jerk?”

“He was teasing Teddy.”

“So you punched him to make him stop?”

“Yup.”

“Did it work?”

“I’ll tell you tomorrow.”

“Let me know what happens.” Was her mother smiling?

All in all, Natalie didn’t think Fridays were so great. But Thursdays—those were terrific. First of all, Thursday was library day at school and she was allowed to take out as many books as she could carry. Second, Thursday was her day to go to Teddy’s house. Ever since the night Teddy locked himself in his room, Tuesdays and Thursdays had become their days together. Their mothers knew they couldn’t take them on errands or to dentist appointments, and Natalie’s mother always baked something special for Tuesday afternoons.

One of the reasons Natalie liked going to Teddy’s was that it was peaceful. Her house was too noisy. Harry was gone most of the time, but Joe and George were always yelling or fighting or messing around. Sam was even worse—always teasing her or hiding her schoolwork. But at Teddy’s house, Aunt Rose left them alone. She didn’t make Natalie sit at the table and talk about her day or her week the way Natalie’s mother did with Teddy.

When Teddy came over to her house, Natalie’s mother couldn’t stop herself from hovering. The older Natalie got, the more annoyed she became with it. Her mother fawned over Teddy, making his favorite foods for dinner and forcing him to take seconds. Once, after a particularly irritating day, Natalie accused her mother of liking Teddy better than her own children.

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