In the Unlikely Event (29 page)

Rusty paraded around the shoe store in her peep-toe heels, admiring them in the mirror. “What do you think?” she asked Miri.

“Nice,” Miri said.

“They’re for dress, not work. I might leave them at the office for special occasions.”

How often did Rusty wear dress shoes? Maybe to the theater. Maybe to a holiday party.

Miri wasn’t listening as Rusty went on about the shoes, until Rusty surprised her by asking, “How about it, honey? Would you like a new pair of shoes for Passover?”

“Passover? That’s not until April this year.”

“I know…but look at these patent-leather slingbacks. Aren’t they cute?”

Rusty was acting strange today, but if she was offering new shoes, Miri wasn’t going to argue.

Mrs. Kolber, who had fitted Miri for shoes as long as she could
remember, brought out the slingbacks for Miri to try. “They’re expensive,” Miri said, eyeing the price on the box.

“You know what Nana says,” Rusty told her. “They’re your feet. You’ll need them for the rest of your life. Treat them well.”

Irene was proud of her pretty, well-shaped, well-cared-for feet. She massaged them with Pond’s cold cream every night. No bunions for her from wearing shoes that didn’t fit. Mrs. Kolber didn’t have to pad Irene’s shoes, like she did with some of her friends, to make sure she’d be comfortable in her everyday oxfords and her black pumps.

“You only live once,” Mrs. Kolber sang. That was probably how she got customers to shell out money for expensive new shoes.

Miri got out of her saddle shoes, pulled off her thick white socks and pulled on the peds Mrs. Kolber offered. When she slipped her feet into the new shoes and stood up, Mrs. Kolber pressed on her toes to see how close they came to the toe box, then told her to walk around to make sure she wasn’t slipping out of the slingback. She’d never had slingback shoes. They made her feel like dancing.

While the shoes were being wrapped, Rusty wrote a check to pay for them. Instead of biting her lip the way she usually did when it came to parting with money, she was humming to herself. She hummed in the elevator all the way to Dr. O’s office on the third floor. Miri wasn’t sure about this happy-go-lucky Rusty. It made her nervous. On the way down the hall they passed the medical lab and Miri poked her head in the way she always did, to see the fat white rabbits in their cages. Natalie told her they had something to do with finding out if you were pregnant. Something about urine was involved. But neither of them understood how it worked. Once, Miri had a blood test at the lab to see if she was anemic. She wasn’t.

In the waiting room of Dr. O’s office, a little boy played with a small dog on the floor while his mother sat on the sofa and leafed through a magazine. As soon as Miri entered, the dog ran to her. “Fred!” Miri picked him up. “What are you doing here?”

“You know Fred?” the mother asked. Her English was heavily accented and she was good-looking, with big blue eyes, blond baloney curls hanging down her back, big breasts and just plump enough to make the boys whistle.

“Fred belongs to my friend Mason,” Miri said, trying to talk slowly, pronouncing every syllable in every word, in case she didn’t understand.

“Very nice boy, Mason. I know from Janet. Always making us laugh. I’m Polina and this, my son, Stash.”

Oh. Polina. Miri got a pang, thinking that Mason was friends with her.

Rusty looked up from the magazine she’d been flipping through. “I’m Rusty Ammerman, and this is my daughter, Miri.”

“Very nice meeting,” Polina said.

“Mason told me you live…” Miri began. “I mean
lived
in one of the houses that was hit but you were lucky because you weren’t home.”

“Very lucky. And lucky Miss Daisy took us home to stay. Miss Daisy so wonderful. Like mother to us. But we need find new place to live.”

“Maybe we can help,” Rusty said. “We have a family friend who owns apartment buildings.”

Miri looked over at Rusty. Was she talking about Ben Sapphire?

“Would be so good,” Polina said.

“How did Fred get here?” Miri asked.

“Fred!” Stash said, clapping his hands. Fred barked.

The door to the inside office opened and Christina stepped out. “I’m sorry,” she said, “but we can’t allow pets in the office, not even in the waiting area.”

“Fred!” Stash said again, but Fred didn’t bark this time.

“I know it’s Fred,” Christina said. “But even Fred can’t be in the waiting room. It’s against the rules.”

Polina stood up. “Come, Stash. We take Fred for walk now.” She turned to Christina. “Please tell Miss Daisy we come back later, for ride home.” To Rusty she said, “Very nice meet you.” And to Miri, “Very nice meet you, too.”

Before Miri could say anything else Christina ushered her into the office. “We’re ready for you, Miri.”

Christina was professional around her. She clipped on the white towel over the cape, and prepared the little pleated paper cup. How
did they get the pleats into the paper? Miri wondered. Was it someone’s job or was there a machine that did it? How come she’d never seen pleated cups anywhere but at Dr. O’s office? She supposed other dentists also used them. But she’d never been to any other dentist. Christina poured a small amount of Lavoris mouthwash into the cup. Miri rinsed and spit before Dr. O came in, asking, “How’s my favorite patient?” He probably said that to everyone but Miri liked hearing it anyway.

He began to poke around in her mouth, with Christina assisting. “What music would you like to hear today, Miss Mirabelle?”

Dr. O could whistle any tune, from the Top 40 to classical. Miri thought he’d surely win if he went on Arthur Godfrey’s talent show. “Surprise me,” Miri told him. And he did, whistling “How High the Moon.” Miri relaxed, closed her eyes and thought of Mason. She cringed a couple of times during the drilling of the small cavity but it wasn’t that bad. Just as Dr. O promised, she didn’t need Novocain.

When the tooth was filled and Miri had rinsed, Dr. O said, “So how are you doing, Mirabelle?”

“Okay.”

“Not worried about anything?”

“What would I worry about?”
Only everything
. Was he going to ask her about Natalie, and if so, what would she tell him?

“Does your jaw ever ache in the morning?”

“Sometimes.”
How did he know? Please don’t tell my mother if I have a terrible disease
.

“Looks like you’re grinding your teeth.”

Grinding?

“Understandable, given what you’ve been through. We can make you a device to wear at night to prevent the clenching and grinding.”

“What kind of device?”

“Just something that fits over your teeth.”

“Suppose I don’t want a device?”

“Grinding can damage your teeth.”

Damage?

“We carry anxiety in different ways.”

Anxiety?

“Tell you what. We’ll recheck in a month to see how you’re doing. Okay with you, Miss Mirabelle?”

“Okay.”

“Good.” He smiled at her. “How come I haven’t seen you around our house lately?”

“I was there on the day of…on the day of…”

“Yes, I know.” He paused. “Well, I don’t want to spoil Natalie’s surprise. She’ll want to tell you herself. She’s in New York today, at dance class.”

“But I’ll see her tonight at bowling.”

“Since when does Nat bowl?”

“She’s our scorekeeper.” Natalie couldn’t take the chance of dropping a ball, or having someone else drop a ball on her foot.

“Ah, the scorekeeper,” Dr. O said.

—

AT THE BOWLING ALLEY
that night, Mason was tender, making sure her shoes fit, squeezing to check for enough toe room, just like Mrs. Kolber, choosing exactly the right bowling ball for her weight. She’d always been hopeless at bowling but now, with a few pointers from Mason, she was improving. Robo was the best in their group, gliding to the line, right foot behind her left, with a follow-through every time. Miri was paying attention to Robo’s form, keeping a picture of Robo in her mind when it was her turn and it was starting to pay off. But soon Robo would be moving and Miri would have to find someone else to follow.

When Mason stopped by their station he ruffled Miri’s hair, making the other girls sigh. Mason called her new haircut “cute” but Miri knew he didn’t really like it. She assured him it would grow quickly, an inch a month, she’d heard, and just to be sure she’d already started to gently tug it, the way she did a pair of dungarees that had shrunk in the wash. She expected to be halfway there by summer, by the time of Henry and Leah’s wedding. She was waiting until invitations went out to ask if she could invite Mason to be her date.

Mason pointed to a barrel-chested man, bowling in the next lane. “Joey Politics,” he said. “He knows everybody and everything.”

The girls looked over for a minute but really, what did they care about somebody called Joey Politics.

She told Mason about meeting Polina at Dr. O’s office. “My mother’s going to ask Ben Sapphire if he can find her and Stash a place to live.”

“That’d be good.” And just like that, he leaned in and kissed her, the first time they’d kissed in public, in front of Suzanne, Eleanor, Robo and Natalie. Then he kissed her again, until his boss called, “Enough, lover boy. You got a line waiting for shoes and I need a pin boy in lane six.”

The girls teased her, humming the wedding march. “Have you set the date yet?” Robo asked.

“Stop!” Miri shouted, louder than she’d meant to, and they laughed, all but Natalie.

“It’s freezing in here,” Natalie said, wrapping a wool scarf around her neck. She was swathed in sweaters, and had her coat draped over her shoulders.

“If you bowled you’d be boiling,” Suzanne told her, stripping down to a cotton shirt with her name embroidered across the pocket, like the ladies who played in leagues.

Miri threw her first strike that night, which she took as a sign that every day something good can happen. And today was a bonanza—new shoes, Mason’s kisses and a strike.

Later, before Eleanor’s father picked them up, Natalie took her aside. “Come to my house tomorrow morning. I have something to show you.”

“Is it the surprise your father talked about?”

“He told you about the surprise?”

“Only that you have one. So what is it?”

“If I tell you it won’t be a surprise. And don’t say anything to the other girls, okay? I’m not ready to tell them yet.”

Miri remembered the last time she’d gone to Natalie’s, just her, and it turned out to be the worst day of her life.

—

THE SURPRISE WAS
the finished basement. It had been transformed into a dance studio, with a mirrored wall, a barre and a wood floor. The jukebox still stood in the corner but instead of Nat King Cole and Patti Page, it held the kind of music you hear in movie musicals.
Blue skies smilin’ at me…

“Isn’t it fabulous?” Natalie asked. “The floor is genuine maple, the best for tap.” She hummed and did a couple of warm-up steps, then stopped and looked at Miri. “Say something.”

“All the furniture is gone.” Miri knew that wasn’t what Natalie wanted to hear but she couldn’t hide her disappointment.

“That’s it?” Natalie asked, annoyed.

“No…I mean, it’s great. But…”

“But what?”

“I’ll miss the parties.” This is where she and Mason met and danced for the first time. She’d been hoping Natalie would host another get-together soon. Maybe for Valentine’s Day.

“We can still have parties,” Natalie said. “The furniture is in the garage. Daddy and Steve can bring it back in anytime. Not that I have time for parties these days.” Natalie pulled off one sweater, then another, and tossed them across the room. She stepped out of her dungarees and kicked them to the corner. Then she stood in front of the mirrored wall, in her long-sleeved black leotard, black tights, white little-girl socks trimmed in lace and black tap shoes with small heels and a Mary Jane strap. It had been ages since Miri had seen her without layers of clothing. The size of her took Miri’s breath away.

“Why are you staring that way?” Natalie asked.

“What way?”

“Like you’re in shock.”

“Well, I am, sort of. You’re so thin.”

“I know. Isn’t it great? Ruby’s been coaching me. I eat green grapes and drink a ton of water. Dancers have to stay hydrated.” Natalie posed. First position, second position, fifth position. “You know what I see when I look in the mirror?”

Miri was almost afraid to hear her say it.

“I see Ruby.” She didn’t wait for Miri’s reaction. “I’m never alone now. She’s given me the greatest gift a person can give. She’s given me her life.”

Miri felt something roiling inside her. She looked away, angry at Natalie for not eating, angry for acting crazy, angry for throwing away their friendship. But she was scared, too. Scared there was something really wrong with her. Scared that she and Natalie would never be friends again. That they’d never know what the other was thinking, that Natalie would never rest her head in Miri’s lap while they watched television. Inseparable. That’s what everyone said about them back in seventh grade.
Come back!
she wanted to shout.
Come back and be my friend
.

Natalie misunderstood Miri’s expression. “You’re jealous of Ruby?”

“Why would I be jealous of Ruby? She’s dead.”

“She’s not dead,” Natalie said. “Why can’t you understand? Why won’t you even try?”

“I don’t like the way she’s changed you.”

“You’ve changed, too, since Mason. And just so you know, you’re not the only one in love. I’m in love with this, with dance. Dance is my life. There is nothing else.”

“Yes, there is. There’s school and friends and your family. Some people would give anything for your family.”

Natalie shook her head. “You don’t know anything.”

Miri didn’t like the way Natalie said that, as if maybe there was something Natalie knew that she didn’t. It hurt to think she had a secret she couldn’t share with Miri. Not that Miri had shared her secret about Mike Monsky, but there was a difference between having a secret no one suspected and having one you dropped hints about, wasn’t there?