Good Harbor
“Well, so far so good,” she said, smiling.
Hal smiled back. “Do you do a Torah study session on Saturday morning? I’ve been going lately. Not services so much, but the study sessions before.”
“You have?” said Kathleen.
“It was Josh’s doing. Josh and Sarah,” Hal said to his mother, then explained to the rabbi, “That’s my roommate and his fiancée. Sarah isn’t Jewish, but the two of them took an Introduction to Judaism class together. I went with them once because they were raving about one of the rabbis who taught there. Now I go to her shul, sometimes.”
Michelle Hertz, it turned out, knew the California rabbi, who had been two years ahead of her in school. “Did Debra ever cut her hair?” she asked.
“No.”
“Wow. We used to call her ‘Cousin It,’ and that was years ago.”
“Behind her back, I hope,” Hal said.
They laughed as Kathleen looked on. There was a pause in the conversation.
“San Francisco is almost as beautiful as Gloucester,” Michelle said finally.
“Yeah,” Hal agreed. “I’ve been there for nearly six years. At first, I thought I’d stay, but the fact that I never got rid of my winter clothes was probably a sign. It’s a drag being so far away from your family, and since my mom’s, um, well, I’m thinking about coming back East.”
“You are?” Kathleen said.
“I was going to talk to you about it over lunch.”
“I’d better let you two catch up,” Michelle said. “And we do have a Torah discussion group on Saturday morning. Nine o’clock. I’d love it if you could come. Both of you.”
Kathleen watched Hal’s eyes follow Michelle out the door. When he turned back to her, she waited for him to say something and finally asked, “Are you really moving home?”
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while, actually. The Bay Area is way too expensive. Josh and Sarah will probably move to L.A. Besides, I thought you’d want me near you,” he teased.
“Nothing would make me happier.”
Hal squeezed her hand. “Can I get a good fish sandwich here?”
During lunch he entertained her with details of Josh and Sarah’s wedding plans. Then he asked how she’d met Joyce. Kathleen recalled the scene, and Hal smiled. “At temple, eh? Aren’t we all becoming frimme yidden.”
“Translation, please?”
“It’s Yiddish for ‘religious Jews.?
??”
“Do you go to temple every week?”
“Almost. I like the Torah study. I like knowing that at least once a week I’ll have a conversation that’s about something important.”
“Like about God?”
“Sometimes God. Not always. Sometimes ethics, sometimes politics, sometimes family dynamics. It depends who shows up that Saturday — and on the parashah, the portion for the week, you know.”
“I know what a parashah is,” Kathleen said. “I was there for your bar mitzvah, if you remember.”
“Yes, you were.” Hal kissed her hand. “And I appreciate it.” After they ordered he said, “When we’re done here, I’ll drive you over to Good Harbor, but I wonder if you’d mind my just saying hello to Joyce and then maybe she could drive you home? I have something I need to do.”
“Sounds like you’re not going to tell me why, right?”
“You’ll know everything soon enough,” he said, hinting at big news. “Just not today.”