In the Unlikely Event

Her three-year-old was still napping. If only she could get the baby to sleep, she’d be able to rest her back, which was killing her. She was pregnant with their third child, expecting in July. She and Tim were both secretly hoping for a boy after two girls, though neither would admit it. On Valentine’s Day they’d be moving into their new house down the shore, with enough room for three children, not to mention two full baths. She’d never had her own bath—well, she’d be sharing with Tim, but still—a grown-ups only bathroom.

Their apartment was already feeling cramped. Even though her parents owned this house and lived upstairs, which was a huge help, she was ready for the move. They’d worked on the new house all weekend while her parents watched the girls. She measured for curtains in the bedrooms, and lined the kitchen shelves with wallpaper in a pretty pattern left over from her cousin’s new kitchen, while Tim worked on building a cedar closet in the attic.

Before driving back they’d stopped for a shore dinner to celebrate their anniversary. She promised that next time she’d at least taste the lobster. Tim laughed. He was more adventurous than her in every way, but he didn’t seem to mind. Only a month ago he’d returned from Korean airlift duty. Then it was a round-trip to Tokyo. She was so proud of her husband. He’d seen the world. Someday, when the children were grown, she’d travel with him.

She’d already prepared a meat loaf for supper. Tim loved her meat loaf. She just had to pop it in the oven. The potatoes were peeled, sitting in ice water, ready for boiling. She’d take out the frozen peas at the last minute. Bird’s Eye vegetables were a godsend, never mind what her mother said. Of course, nothing beat her mother-in-law, Helen’s, cooking. She’d be at work now in the Osners’ fancy kitchen, watching over Dr. Osner’s little girl while preparing dinner for the family. Maybe someday, when Helen retired and had more time, she’d help out Laura, moving down the shore and taking care of the three kids. Then Laura could go back to school, get her degree in education and teach kindergarten or first grade. At the very least, Helen could show her how to fix those fancy meals she made for the Osners.

The baby jumped up and down in her arms until she started dancing again. She sang along with Patti Page. “I was dancin’ with my darlin’ to the Tennessee Waltz…”

Miri

Miri and Natalie rode the #24 bus from school, got off at the corner of Shelley and Magie, then walked down to the Osners’ house. In the kitchen Fern was dunking Oreos in milk while Mrs. Barnes prepared dinner. Whatever she was browning on the stove smelled delicious. The salad leaves were drying in a cloth towel, waiting to be torn into an ebony bowl with Corinne’s initials in silver. CMO for “Corinne Mendelsohn Osner.” Someday, when Miri was married with her own house, she would have the same salad bowl with her initials in silver. MAM for “Miri Ammerman McKittrick”—if she married Mason. But would Irene ever forgive her for marrying a boy who wasn’t Jewish? Maybe she would just spell out MIRI and leave her husband out of it.

“Will Tim fly over our house today?” Fern asked Mrs. Barnes.

“I expect so,” Mrs. Barnes said. “Any minute now, unless they were delayed by the weather.”

Fern pretended to feed an Oreo to her cowboy bunny. “Roy Rabbit might be a pilot when he grows up.”

“I hope he’s smart,” Mrs. Barnes said, “because you have to be smart to be a pilot.”

“Don’t worry,” Fern said. “Roy Rabbit is very smart.”

Natalie grabbed a bunch of green grapes and she and Miri headed for the den, where the windows looked down on a stand of Japanese cherry trees, bare now, but come spring she knew they’d be heavy with pink blossoms. She wished it could be spring now. Then she and Mason wouldn’t have to worry about where to go to be alone and warm.

Natalie tuned the television to the Kate Smith show, though it wasn’t quite four o’clock, while Miri made a quick phone call to remind Irene she was at Natalie’s for the afternoon. Then both girls settled on the floor. Miri popped a grape into her mouth. Natalie rested her head on Miri’s lap. “Play with my hair,” she said.

Miri lifted one soft curl, then another.

“What are you thinking?” Natalie asked, looking up at her.

“Guess,” Miri said.

“I’ll bet it’s about Mason.”

“Not really.”

“I’ll bet you think about him every minute of every day.”

“I think of him a lot but I wasn’t thinking of him just now.”

“Are you in love with him?”

“I’ve only known him thirty-eight days, not that I’m counting.”

“My mother says she knew from the minute she first looked into my father’s eyes she was going to be with him for the rest of her life. She says it came to her in a flash, like lightning.”

“I haven’t had that flash yet,” Miri said, which was a complete lie. Didn’t she know it the night they danced together in Natalie’s finished basement? And if not then, at the Y, the first time they kissed? Who was she kidding? But what went on between her and Mason was private. That’s how she knew it was special. Every other time she’d liked a boy she’d blabbed to all her friends about him. But not this time.

“Are we still best friends?” Natalie asked out of nowhere, winding a piece of gray wool she’d found on the carpet around her finger.

“I can’t believe you have to ask,” Miri said.

“It’s just that lately you’ve been so…” Natalie stopped, searching for just the right word. “Remote,” she finally said, looking satisfied.

Miri was stung. “You go to New York for dance classes three days a week and you’re calling me remote?”

Natalie sat up. “I didn’t think you even noticed I was gone. You’re always with Mason, or you’re babysitting with Suzanne.” Natalie smoothed down her curls. “Even at school you hang out with Robo more than me.”

“I do not.”

“You sit with her every day at lunch, laughing.”

“You’re at the same lunch table.”

“But nobody laughs with me.”

Miri looked at Natalie and realized it was true.

Christina

Mr. Durkee, who taught bookkeeping at Battin, asked Christina to assist with his late class. Christina was his star pupil. If she didn’t mess up, she’d be graduating first among the girls in the business program.

Today she’d be working late at Dr. O’s office. Mrs. Jones and her daughters were coming in for checkups. Daisy scheduled their appointments after hours because Mrs. Osner was afraid if Dr. O’s regular patients discovered Dr. O was treating colored people they might be upset, they might even switch to a different dentist. Dr. O, on the other hand, believed Mrs. Jones and her daughters deserved the best dental care. He had Daisy set up a plan for them with a sizable discount because, after all, she worked for the Osners and her girls were polite and doing well at school.

As long as she left school by 3:45 p.m. she’d make it to Dr. O’s office in time. While the students were at their desks, taking a test, Christina grabbed her raincoat and umbrella. She was glad she was wearing old shoes in this crazy weather. She heard a plane overhead but when she looked out the window she couldn’t see anything the fog was so dense.

Suddenly, the building rumbled. The girls looked up from their test papers, a few of them rushing to the windows in time to see a twin-engine plane thunder out of the fog, heading straight for them. One girl screamed. Another crossed herself and started a Hail Mary. Christina was sure the plane was coming through the window into the classroom.

“Get back from the glass!” Mr. Durkee shouted. “Duck and cover!” But there was almost no time. The engine of the plane went quiet as it barely sailed over the roof of the school. The first explosion caused the windows to rattle, the second, louder explosion shook the building.

“Oh my god—Jack!” Christina cried. “Jack…Jack…” She ran from the classroom with Mr. Durkee calling after her, “Christina—stay inside. Christina!”

She flew down the two flights of stairs, then used the white marble steps from the first floor to the street, steps the students were not allowed to use. Outside, she rounded the corner of South and Williamson streets and raced toward the flames, toward Mrs. O’Malley’s house, where Jack rented a room on the second floor.

Miri

Kate Smith hadn’t even sung “God Bless America” when the program was interrupted by an announcement, an announcement so horrible it left her and Natalie immobile. A second plane had crashed in Elizabeth, this time near Battin High School. Before they had time to digest what they’d just heard, the sound of a long, low wail came from the kitchen. Without a word the two girls were on their feet, racing down the stairs. They found Mrs. Barnes doubled over, holding on to the kitchen counter. “No…please, God, no!”

Natalie pulled open the door to the finished basement, closed it behind her and disappeared. Miri grabbed a plastic glass from the counter, filled it with water and tried to give it to Mrs. Barnes, but Mrs. Barnes, who had always seemed so in control, so calm, no matter what, knocked it away.