“Does Nana know about Dr. O? Does Uncle Henry?”
“No one knows. We’ve tried to be discreet to avoid hurting anyone we love.”
“Is this why Corinne and Dr. O have been fighting?”
“I can’t answer questions about their marriage.”
“He gave Corinne diamond earrings for Hanukkah. Did you know that?”
“No.”
“Well, he did.”
“I don’t need diamond earrings to prove he loves me.”
—
NATALIE PHONED Miri the following night. “I need to see you. Come to the house tomorrow right after school.”
“The house? You’re home?”
“No questions.”
“But what about—”
Natalie didn’t wait for her to finish. “Just don’t be late.”
Miri rode her bike to Natalie’s right after school. She was relieved Corinne’s car wasn’t in the driveway. She didn’t see how she could face Corinne.
Natalie was waiting at the door and rushed Miri up to her bedroom, closed the door behind them and blocked it with a chair.
Miri was surprised and uncomfortable. Should she be afraid? She didn’t know. “How long have you been home?” she asked.
“Since Lulu died.”
“Lulu died? That’s terrible.”
“Terrible things happen, in case you didn’t already know.”
“But it’s so sad.”
“A lot of things are sad.”
“Are you going back to Watchung Hills?”
“Not if I can help it. Sit down and stop asking questions. I have a couple of things I want to tell you.”
Miri wasn’t used to Natalie bossing her around but she did as she was told, sitting on the edge of the twin bed, the one she used to sleep in almost every weekend, the one she thought of as hers. Natalie sat on her own bed, facing Miri. “One—you can stop this from happening. And if you don’t I’ll never speak to you again.”
“Stop what?”
“Don’t go all naïve on me.”
“I thought you didn’t know…”
“Well, now I do and you have to stop my father from marrying your mother and ruining my life, my little sister’s life and my mother’s life.”
“How am I supposed to do that? They’re grown-ups. They do what they want.”
“Tell your mother she has to decide between you and my father.”
Miri shook her head. She didn’t think she could do that. Suppose she came out the loser?
“Two—refuse to go to Las Vegas.”
“Las Vegas! What are you talking about?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know. They’re going to Las Vegas together at the end of the school year and you’re going with them.”
“No I’m not.”
“If you don’t stop them, you are. You’re going to Las Vegas and you’ll never see me or your boyfriend again.”
“Stop!”
“Tell your mother to stop, not me. And just so you know, my father begged my mother to go with him. He was practically on his knees begging her to go. He promised Fern and me our own horses. But she said no. So my father found someone else to go with him. Your mother!”
“Why should I believe you?”
“I really don’t care who you believe. I’m just telling you what’s going on. And here’s something else you should know. My mother’s at her lawyer’s office right now. She’s going to take my father to the cleaners if they get divorced. There won’t be anything left for your mother or you. I hope you’ll be happy living on spaghetti.”
Miri liked spaghetti but she wasn’t getting into that now.
“I hate them!” Natalie shouted, pressing the sides of her head with her hands as if she were in agony. “I hate my father, your mother and I hate you!”
“What’d I do?”
“You found them.”
“Who told you that?”
“My father came clean. He told my mother everything last night, and she told me. She says your mother is no better than a whore.”
A whore! Her once-upon-a-time best friend was calling her mother a whore? Miri got a sharp pain in her chest. Maybe she was going to die, just like Lulu.
“What’s wrong with you?” Natalie said. “You’re turning purple. You can’t scare me if that’s what you’re trying to do.” Natalie grabbed her by the shoulders and shook, then slapped her across the face, which got her breathing again.
Miri jumped up. She had to get out of there, had to get fresh air into her lungs. She knocked over the chair blocking Natalie’s door, flung the door open and fled down the stairs, shouting at Natalie, who was right behind her, “Never say that about my mother again! You hear me? Never!” Then she was out the kitchen door, and onto her bicycle.
Natalie followed her, screaming, “You know what they do in Las Vegas? They drop A-bombs in the desert. That’s what they do for fun!”
Miri’s fantasy was coming true but not the way it was supposed to. Corinne was supposed to meet her demise quickly, painlessly. She and Natalie were supposed to be sisters. They were supposed to be one big happy family, living in the red-brick house on Shelley Avenue. Not in some godforsaken place called Las Vegas, where they drop A-bombs for fun.
Christina
She waited until Sunday dinner, when they were all together around the dining room table—her parents, her grandparents, Athena and her husband, Thad, who hardly ever spoke at family gatherings, and their toddler, Alex, who was playing under the table. She waited until the lamb, the eggplant and the salad courses had been cleared from the table. Then, as her mother passed around little dessert cakes, Christina said, “Mama, Baba—you know I love you.” She’d been practicing in her room. She hoped it wasn’t a mistake to bring this up in front of the whole family but she wanted to get it over with all at once and she figured her parents would be less likely to go cuckoo in front of her grandparents and little Alex.
She had their attention now. Mama and Baba looked from one to the other.
“I’ve got an opportunity,” she continued, “a wonderful job opportunity with Dr. Osner in another place—”
“What place?” her mother asked.
“Las Vegas,” she said.
“Las Vegas.” Her mother repeated this twice, then asked, “Where is Las Vegas?”
Athena said, “You don’t mean Las Vegas, Nevada? You’re not telling Mama and Baba you’re moving to Las Vegas, Nevada?”
She had hoped Athena would keep her mouth shut, for once. She should have known better.
“How far is this place?” Mama asked.
“Almost as far as California,” Athena said, holding her pregnant belly. She’d already gained close to forty pounds. Her maternity dress was snug across her middle.
Mama clutched her chest. “Nico,” she said to Baba. “Do something!”
“I’m not moving there.” Christina tried to reassure them. “Think of it as college. Two years of college but it won’t cost you anything. Instead I’ll be getting paid. And I’ll come home for the holidays.”
Baba said, “That Irish boy, he’s going, too?”
Now Mama screamed. “No!” She banged her fist on the table hard enough to make the glasses and the silverware jump. Alex climbed onto Thad’s lap and wrapped his fat little arms around his father’s neck.
“You’re breaking their hearts, Christina,” Athena said.
“You don’t understand,” Christina said to her parents. “Jack is 1-A—he could be called up at any time. You know what that means? He could be sent to Korea. Would you be happy then?”
Thad got up from the table and carried Alex, who had begun to whimper, out of the room.
Athena glared at Christina. “You have a way of ruining everything, even Sunday dinner. You do this and I’m the one who’s going to have to pick up the pieces around here. It will all fall on my shoulders. You are the most selfish person I’ve ever known.”
The grandparents began jabbering to one another in Greek.
Baba said, “Girls—you are sisters! Stop this fighting.”
But Athena didn’t stop. Her face heated up. “As if I don’t already have too many fish to fry, between the store and Alex and the baby I’m about to have and a husb—” Before Athena could finish she cried out, “Oh!” Then “Oh!” again.
“What is it?” Mama asked.
“I think my water broke. I think I’m in labor. Somebody get Thad. Somebody get my bag!”
Everyone jumped up from the table at once. Everyone except Christina and her grandmother. Yaya moved next to her and rested her hand on Christina’s. Christina put her head on the table and cried. She hadn’t even told them her biggest news. She didn’t see how she’d ever be able to tell them now.
Miri
Rusty and Dr. O wanted to take her out to dinner but Miri refused. She was not going to be seen with the two of them in public. “All right,” Rusty said, “we’ll eat here.”
“Does he know you can’t cook?”
Rusty smiled. “If you can read, you can cook.”