Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself (22 page)

“Hit and run …”

“Such a shame …”

“The poor child …”

“Getting his blood all over her dress …”

Mrs. Rubin put her arms around Andrea and cried with her. Andrea’s sister, Linda, became so hysterical her grandmother had to slap her and carry her upstairs.

“I’m sorry, Andrea,” Sally said, as Andrea walked by. “I know how much you loved him.”

“No one will ever know how much I loved him,” Andrea wept.

The phone rang. One long ring followed by two short rings. It was for them. Douglas answered. He’d been expecting Darlene to call. But it wasn’t Darlene this time, because Douglas said, “Yes … yes, this is the Freedman residence … just a minute, please …” He put the receiver down and called, “Mom … hey, Mom … hurry up … it’s long distance for you … person to person …”

Mom ran out of the bathroom, pulling her robe around her. “Oh, my God … oh, my God … something’s happened to Arnold …”

Ma Fanny rushed to her side and Sally and Douglas stood close by, waiting. Sally felt her stomach turn over. This is it, she thought. This is it. It’s Daddy. Something terrible has happened. She wanted to scream. Scream because she’d been praying so hard. And for what? Barabara was right. It didn’t help to pray. In that moment she knew she would never see her father again. Never feel his
arms around her. Never give him another treatment. She let out a small cry, then clapped her hand over her mouth.
Bad
things always happen in threes, she thought. First, Omar … and now, Daddy …

“Yes, this is Louise Freedman,” her mother said into the telephone. Then, “Bette … Bette, is that you?” She covered the mouthpiece with her hand and told the three of them, “It’s Bette.” They nodded. “Yes,” Mom continued, “yes, I can hear you … yes, yes … what is it?”

Sally tried to swallow but found she couldn’t.

“Oh, thank God,” Mom said. “Thank God everything’s all right.” She covered the mouthpiece again and told the family, “It’s all right.”

Sally tasted the beans she’d had for supper.

“Yes, I’m okay now,” Mom said, sounding stronger. “I was just so worried getting a person to person phone call … oh, it’s good to hear your voice, Bette … I miss you, too … how are you?… you do?… you are?” Mom turned to Ma Fanny. “It’s an addition,” she said. Ma Fanny slapped her hand against the side of her face. “Oh, God … that’s wonderful,” Mom said into the phone. “I’m so happy for you …” She started to cry and handed the phone to Ma Fanny.

“Bette …” Ma Fanny said. “So tell me the good news … I want to hear it straight from the
horse’s mouth … I couldn’t be happier … for all the money in the world I couldn’t be happier … When?… August?… I’ll be there with bells on … mazel tov, my darling …” She handed the phone back to Mom.

“Jack …” Mom said, “Jack, is that you? Congratulations! It’s wonderful news … the best.”

An addition, Sally thought. What does that mean? It’s got to be something good, they’re all so happy. An addition. Maybe Aunt Bette has passed some kind of arithmetic test. No, that’s silly … it has to be something else. I’m so sick of secrets! Why doesn’t anybody ever tell me what’s going on!

When Mom and Ma Fanny were off the phone, Douglas said, “That’s great news for them but personally, I wouldn’t want one.”

“I should hope not, at your age,” Mom said and she and Douglas and Ma Fanny laughed together.

So, Sally thought, Douglas understood about the addition too. So, she was the only one who didn’t know. Well, she wasn’t about to admit it. Then Douglas would make fun of her, saying her mind was a blank, or that she was just a baby. “What will the addition look like?” Sally asked, figuring she could find out what it was by playing twenty questions.

“Who can say?” Ma Fanny answered. “As long as it’s healthy we won’t complain.”

“I still can’t believe it,” Mom said. “Just when I was expecting the worst it turned out to be the best.”

“And she’s already four months?” Ma Fanny asked.

“Yes, I guess she didn’t want to get our hopes up until she was sure … remember the last time?”

“How could I forget?”

“The last time, what?” Sally asked.

“The last time Aunt Bette was pregnant she lost the baby after two months,” Mom said.

“Oh … she’s going to have a baby.” Suddenly it all made sense.

“You dummy!” Douglas said. “What’d you think she was going to have, an elephant?”

“No!” Sally said. “An addition!”

“It
is
an addition,” Mom said, “an addition to the family.”

“Oh … an addition to the family,” Sally said. “Now I get it.”

Mom gave Sally a hug. “You’re so funny sometimes …”

Later, while Mom was setting her hair, Sally asked, “How does a woman get pregnant, anyway?”

“Oh, you know …” Mom said.

“But I don’t …”

“Well,” Mom began, “the husband plants the seed inside the wife …”

“I know about
that
,” Sally said. “But how does he get the seed and where does he plant it?”

“Well …” Mom said. She made three more pin curls before she spoke again. “I think you need a book to explain that part. Tomorrow I’ll go to the bookstore and see what they have on the subject.”

“Tomorrow’s Sunday.”

“Oh … you’re right. Well, I’ll go first thing Monday morning.”

“But Mom … I want to know now!”

“I can see that, Sally. But you’ll just have to wait until Monday.”

“You mean you don’t know either?”

“I know,” Mom said, “it’s just that I don’t know how to explain it to you … if Daddy were here he would, but I’m not very good at those things …”

Dear Aunt Bette
,

Congratulions! I’m very glad to hear that Uncle Jack got the seed planted at last. It will be nice to have a baby cousin. I hope it’s a girl and that you name her Precious, which is what I would like my name to be. Monday, Mom is getting me a book explaining how you got the baby made. I’m really curious!

Love and other indoor sports
,

Sally J. Freedman, your friend and relative
.

Monday morning, on her way to school, Sally called, “And Mom … don’t forget about that book!”

That afternoon, Sally found a brown bag on her day bed. Inside was the book and a note from Mom saying,
Don’t show this to Douglas!

Andrea refused to leave her room. Mrs. Rubin was worried about her. She came to Sally’s house to discuss the situation with Mom.

“Promise her a movie …” Mom suggested.

“I’ve already tried that.”

“A new dress?”

“That, too …”

“A record album?”

“Even that …”

“Hmmm … what about a sundae at Herschel’s every night for a week?”

“I know what she needs,” Sally said, and Mom and Mrs. Rubin looked up, as if remembering for the first time that she was sitting at the table too.

“What’s that?” Mrs. Rubin asked.

“Something to love … like a kitten.”

“What a nice idea,” Mrs. Rubin said. “I wonder if it would work?”

“It will … I just know it,” Sally said. “And I’d like to be the one to give her the kitten.”

“I must say, Sally … that’s very generous of you, considering the way Andrea’s been treating you this week.”

“She had a right to be mad at me.”

“Maybe so … but she’s carried it too far,” Mrs. Rubin said.

“In a way I don’t blame her though,” Sally said.

Sally and her mother went to the pet shop next to the movie theater, where
The Outlaw
, starring Jane Russell, was playing. “Can we go see it?” Sally asked.

“No.”

“Not today … maybe Friday night or Saturday, I mean …”

“Absolutely not,” Mom said.

“But why … it looks good …”

“Never mind why.”

“Because you can see down Jane Russell’s blouse when she bends over?” Sally asked.

“Who told you that?”

“Douglas … he’s going to see it.”

“Over my dead body!”

“Oh, please, Mom … don’t tell him I said anything about it … he’ll kill me.” Why did she have to go and open her big mouth? She’d promised Douglas she could keep his secret.

“I won’t tell him how I found out,” Mom said.

“Anyway, I don’t see what’s so bad about looking down Jane Russell’s blouse … when Vicki bends over you can do the same thing.”

“Sally!”

“Well, it’s true. That night I sat next to her at The Park Avenue Restaurant I could look down her dress and see everything.”

“Sally!”

“What?”

“Stop talking that way.”

“What way?”

“You know very well what way!”

Sally chose a ginger kitten for Andrea and Mom didn’t say one word about it having worms. Ma Fanny lined a basket with blue velvet and tied a matching blue ribbon on the handle. Sally put the kitten in the basket and went across the hall, to Andrea’s.

Mrs. Rubin said, “She’s still in her room.”

Sally walked through the livingroom, past the kitchen, to Andrea’s room. It was no bigger than the foyer closet in Sally’s house in New Jersey but at least it was all Andrea’s. Andrea was lying face down on her bed.

“Hi … it’s me … Sally.” She put the basket on the floor. “I’m sorry about Georgia Blue Eyes … I should have told you before … and I’m sorry about Omar … I didn’t love him as much as you but I did love him.”

“I know you did,” Andrea said, into her pillow.

“Will you be my friend again?” Sally asked.

“Yes.”

“Good … I’ve got something to show you.”

“What?”

“You can’t see it that way.”

Andrea rolled over and sat up. Sally was surprised at the way she looked, with dark circles under her eyes and her hair matted to the side of her face. Sally picked up the basket and put it on the bed, next to Andrea.

Andrea looked into the basket. “Oh no …” She shook her head and began to cry.

“But …”

“Did they think I’d forget about him just like that?” She buried her face in her hands.

“No,” Sally said, “and anyway, it was
my
idea, not
theirs
.”

“Take it away,” Andrea cried. “Take it far, far away …”

“You’re impossible, Andrea Rubin … you know that? You’re really impossible! It’s hard to even like you sometimes …” Sally picked up the basket and stomped out of Andrea’s room. She was shaking all over. She went home.

Mom said, “What a shame … I guess we’ll have to take the kitten back.”

“Please, Mom … can’t we keep him?” Sally asked.

At first Mom didn’t answer and Sally took her silence to mean
maybe
. “Just feel how soft he is,” Sally said.

Mom stroked the kitten. “He is soft, isn’t he?”

“Yes … and I’d take care of him … really … you wouldn’t have to do a thing …”

“I know, honey … but we can’t take a chance on a kitten … we have too many allergies …”

“Name one person in this family who’s allergic to cats …”

“It could be dangerous for Douglas.”

“Baloney!” Sally said, holding back tears.

“I’m sorry,” Mom said. “I really am.”

“If you meant that you’d let me keep him.”

“We shouldn’t have bought him in the first place … not without asking Andrea …”

“But I wanted to surprise her.”

“Sometimes surprises don’t work,” Mom said.

They sat down to a dairy supper. “What’s this about going to see
The Outlaw?
” Mom asked Douglas.

Sally put her spoon down. “Don’t look at me,” she said to Douglas, before he’d even glanced her way.

“I want you to stay away from that movie,” Mom told him.

“It’s a cowboy story,” Douglas said. “What’s wrong with cowboys all of a sudden?”

“Nothing.”

“Then why can’t I go?”

“We both know the answer to that, Douglas!”

“It’s not like I’ve never seen a breast … you know.”

“Douglas!”

“Suppose I want to be a doctor … I’m going to have to see plenty of them then.”

“This has nothing to do with being a doctor,” Mom said.

“You act like there’s something wrong with the human body.”

“There’s a time and a place for everything.”

“I think I’ll ask Dad about it when he calls on Sunday … I’ll bet he’ll let me go!”

“Children …” Ma Fanny said, holding up a bowl, “have some more carrots … they’ll make you see in the dark.”