The Two-Family House

A few weeks after they had moved in, Mort met Rose. He didn’t tell them much about her, but Helen knew he was in love. Nothing else could explain the way he looked at Rose that day on the steps. Helen had met them coming up as she was walking down with Abe, on a cloudless Sunday afternoon in the middle of spring. She would never forget Rose’s sweet smile, the way she congratulated them on the baby, complimented them on the house. She was beautiful and gentle, and Helen wanted to be her friend. She remembered thinking that if Rose married Mort, sharing the house wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Abe snapped his fingers, shattering her reverie. “That’s it! A ‘foyer.’ I told the real estate agent I would only buy a house with a nice big foyer because that’s what my wife always wanted.” Abe walked over to Helen and tried to put his arm around her, but she moved to the sink, turned the glass over and slammed it down, hard. A tiny crack ran its way up from the rim.

“Does it have a television?” Sam interrupted.

Abe laughed. “That’s what you want to know? Any house can have a television, Sam. We could have a television here.”

“Then can our new house have a television?”

“We’ll see. Stop asking about televisions. The big news is that we’re moving!”

“I don’t want to move!” Natalie announced loudly. “I don’t want a new house. Everyone will be strangers.”

“They won’t be strangers once you know them,” Sam scolded her. “Besides, at least you don’t have to worry about changing schools. You don’t even go to school yet!” He turned to Abe. “Jeez, Dad. I was gonna have Mr. Ketterer next year—he’s the best teacher in the whole school! And now we’re gonna have all new teachers and have to make all new friends.”

“What if no one likes me at the new school?” George wailed, panicking.

“They’ll like you fine, George,” Abe insisted.

“This whole thing is a bunch of crap!” Joe got up from the table, eyes flashing. “You didn’t even ask us if we wanted to move. This is crap!”

“Joe!” Helen shouted. “Don’t speak to your father that way! This conversation is over. Go to your room. In fact, all of you go to your rooms. Now.”

“I didn’t even say anything,” Harry muttered.

“Now,” Helen repeated. The five of them filed out of the kitchen, worried looks on their faces.

Abe was deflated. Everyone was upset and Helen wouldn’t even look at him. He knew the kids would take some time to get used to the idea, but why wasn’t Helen more excited? How many times had she told him they needed more bedrooms and closets? How many nights had she complained about car horns and truck engines waking her up? For Chrissake, hadn’t he specifically told the realtor he would only look at houses with foyers just to make her happy? And even if you took away the foyer, the space and the yard, he couldn’t believe she wasn’t excited about not having to live in the same house as Mort, for once! He would have thought she’d move anyplace just for that privilege alone!

Was she angry that he hadn’t spoken to her about the move beforehand? Did she have reservations about living closer to Sol? If she wouldn’t even look at him, how was he supposed to figure it out?

“Look, Helen, if you’re angry because I haven’t shown you the houses yet, I’m sorry. I wanted to surprise you. But I didn’t buy one yet. There are three or four of them we can look at and then you can make the decision. We’ll get the one you like best.”

Helen was standing at the sink with her back to him. When she turned on the faucet, he could see that her hand was shaking.

“Helen? Look at me. Please.”

Helen mumbled something, but he could barely hear her over the running water.

“Helen, I can’t hear you. Turn off the water, sweetheart, and talk to me.”

When she finally did turn around, Abe barely recognized her. Her eyes were swollen, her cheeks were flushed and her lips were twisted tight in a grimace. She forced her mouth open to speak, but the only sound that emerged was a high-pitched wail. He had never seen her like this.

Abe tried to take her into his arms but she pushed him away, her back up against the sink, her arms wrapped around herself as if she were trying to get warm. “I don’t understand,” he told her, “Why are you so upset? Please, honey, tell me.”

“I can’t explain.…” She choked out the words in a tangle of sobs.

Abe softened his voice. “I promise you,” he said, “I promise you it will be all right.” He put one hand on her shoulder. “I know it’s a big change, but we’re going to have a wonderful new house for our family.” She let him take her in his arms then, and wept like her heart was breaking. His shirt was soaked through in moments.

After a few minutes Helen lifted her head. “What about Mort and Rose?” she whispered.

“Mort is telling them tonight,” he told her. “He already picked a house. But there’s nothing else for sale on that street so we’ll be a few blocks away.” He tried to make his voice sound playful. “So cheer up—at least they won’t be next door!” He thought this would make Helen smile. He wanted to hear her laugh. But the tears only fell faster and her grip on him tightened.





Chapter 29





HELEN


Helen was still shaken the next day. After she got the boys off to school, she was unable to follow her usual morning routine. The dirty breakfast dishes nauseated her. The unmade beds gave her chest pains and the globs of toothpaste on the bathroom counter left her head aching. She needed fresh air, an escape from the drudgery of the morning cleanup. So she left it all—the dishes, the beds, the bathroom—and got Natalie ready to go to the park.

Once there, Helen showed Natalie how to feed the ducks with the stale bread they brought from home. Natalie watched the birds and mimicked their gait. They had been there for half an hour when Helen spotted Rose and Teddy walking through the park gates. Teddy saw Natalie and ran over. Rose had no choice but to join Helen.

“You must have gotten out of the house early this morning.” Rose brushed a few leaves off the bench and sat down.

“I couldn’t face the breakfast dishes,” Helen admitted. It had been a long time since she and Rose had sat together in the park like this.

“That’s not like you.”

“I know. Did Mort tell you about the move?”

Rose nodded, and Helen’s eyes filled with tears. She searched for a tissue in her handbag. “I can’t believe it. I don’t want to leave the house.”

“I do.” Rose’s voice was hard.

“But it’s perfect. The kids can see each other every day. Look at them. They’re like brother and sister! Living in the same house makes it so much easier. I can see Teddy and you can see Natalie whenever we want. Why do you want to leave?”

“Do I really have to list the reasons for you? It’s too small, for one. You and your family are literally on top of us every minute of every day.”

“We’ll switch. You can take the top apartment. I’ll convince Abe, he won’t mind—” Helen was pleading with her. Desperate.

“Listen to yourself, will you? Even if we moved to the top floor it wouldn’t solve anything. It wouldn’t change the situation.”

“What situation?”

“Stop it!” The children looked over from their spot on the miniature bridge that crossed over the pond. They had gotten tired of chasing the ducks and were dropping their crumbs now from the bridge into the water. Rose lowered her voice. “Stop acting like you don’t know what I’m talking about. This move will be the best thing for all of us. If we have more breathing room we’ll all get along better. Abe and Mort too.”

It was warm for April, but Helen pulled her sweater over her shoulders. She was shivering. “But we won’t even be on the same street. You and I won’t see the children. Days could go by without us seeing them … weeks.”

“I know.”

“I can’t stand the thought of not seeing Teddy every day. Don’t you want to see Natalie?” Helen beseeched her, but Rose was unmoved. After a few moments she took Helen’s hand, just like she used to, back before the babies were born, back when they were still like sisters. “I need to do this, Helen,” she said. “I don’t know how much longer I can continue on this way, all of us in one house. Some days I feel like I’m losing my mind. Please don’t try to stop this. Please.”

Helen nodded then—a barely perceptible movement. Still, she knew Rose had seen it because the next instant, Rose let go of her hand. She dropped it swiftly, with complete disregard, as if it were the hand of a stranger or of someone unclean.





Chapter 30





JUDITH

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