Wednesday the Rabbi Got Wet (25 page)

“That you have to do because it’s your profession. This you didn’t have to do, and Aptaker asked you for the renewal before Safferstein made an offer for the property.”

“Sure but Safferstein told me he was interested in the property as soon as the terms of the will were made public. So naturally, where I’ve got a possible buyer, am I going to spoil it by giving leases?”

“And the rabbi is against it.”

“It’s a matter of interpretation of the law,” he said loftily. “You wouldn’t understand about that.”

“But how the Aptakers will feel toward you, that I can understand. I’d be surprised if they even came to the wedding.”

“So show me where it’s written that the parents of the bride have to be friendly with the parents of the groom,” her husband said. “The Schneursons and the Feldmans don’t even talk to each other, the Blackmans were in Florida all winter last year and Sidney Blackman told me that not once did his son’s in-laws invite them for even a cup of tea.”

“And if the boy feels the same way toward you?” Edie asked.

“Then we won’t be friends,” he said philosophically. “As long as he makes Leah a good husband. I can stand it, believe me.”

“But now that the rabbi has moved for reconsideration,” she pointed out, “you have a chance to make everything right.”

Her husband was shocked. “What are you saying? You want me to turn against my friends, the people who backed me, for my own personal interests? No, sir! I’ll fight the rabbi, and I’m going to beat him.”

Mrs. aptaker did not raise her voice, she was calm and controlled. But she was adamant. “I will not invite the Kaplans here and if they invite me to their house, I won’t go.”

Her son was anything but calm, he did not shout, but his voice shook with despair and frustration. “But, Ma, will you think of me? Will you please for one lousy second think where your refusal puts me? Mrs. Kaplan tells me she’d like you to come to dinner Sunday night. So what am I going to tell her? That my mother thinks she’s too good to eat with them?”

“I didn’t say I was too good. I just said I wouldn’t go, that’s all.”

“Yeah, but what am I supposed to tell her?”

“Why did she ask you in the first place, Arnold?”

“What do you mean?”

“If she wants to invite me to dinner,” his mother said, “why does she have to ask me by way of a third party? This is the way she always invites people? She sends around messengers?”

“I was there, so she mentioned it, that’s all.”

“No, Arnold. You know better than that, she asked you to ask me instead of calling me on the phone because she knew if she called, I wouldn’t accept. By going through you, she thinks maybe you could persuade me.”

He tried a new tack. “All right, let’s say you’re right. Let’s say Mrs. Kaplan is aware that you have a grievance against her or her husband. But I’m marrying her daughter. Doesn’t she have a right to meet her future son-in-law’s folks? And I should think you’d want to meet the parents of your future daughter-in-law.”

“I’ve met them,” said Mrs. aptaker. “I know who they are. When you carry on a retail business in a small town like Barnard’s Crossing for almost forty years, there’s not many people in town you haven’t met, and don’t worry, she knows who I am and she knows what your pa looks like, too.”

“Look, Pa offered me the store, didn’t he? So the store is like mine, isn’t it? So shouldn’t I have some say about the lease? I mean, if the store is mine, shouldn’t I feel sore if there’s been a dirty trick played on us on the lease?”

“But you it didn’t give a heart attack.”

“Well I don’t think it gave Pa one, either.” Arnold replied. “He told me that he’d had several other attacks that he thought were only indigestion. What happened on the lease is one of those things that happens in business, as far as Mr. Kaplan is concerned, he’s a nice man, he’s religious –”

“Oh, religious!”

“Yes, religious, and the letter he wrote to Pa was just what he had to write as president of the temple, the board voted on it and he naturally wrote to tell us the result, that’s all there was to it.”

“That’s all?” she challenged. “According to Kaplan’s letter, it was a unanimous vote, and the rabbi, who is a board member too, said he didn’t even know about it. You think the rabbi was telling a lie?”

“Look, Ma, the rabbi wasn’t there, the unanimous vote came from those who were there, as for the lease. I don’t give a damn. If it expires and Safferstein wants the store, that doesn’t mean we have to move out the next day. It can drag on for months, and we can get another store. I’m not crazy about the location anyway. What’s more. I don’t see why you’re so – so stubborn about it when Pa isn’t.”

“Oh; your father, he thinks the rabbi can do something for him,” she said scornfully.

“Maybe he can.”

“So when he does, I’ll accept Mrs. Kaplan’s invitation.”

There’s the accident and there’s the fire policies on the Kimberly Place property, and here’s a statement for the premiums,” said the insurance agent with a sheepish smile. “Saves a stamp.”

“Would you like me to pay you now, Murray?” asked Safferstein.

“Well…”

Safferstein reached for his checkbook.

“I can always use the money,” said Murray Isaacs, that was what was so nice in dealing with Bill Safferstein, anybody else would at least make him wait until the first of the month.

Safferstein passed the check across the desk. “You going to the board meeting Sunday?”

“You bet,” Isaacs assured him. “I’ll be there, the missus wanted us to run down to New York for the weekend to see my daughter. But I told her nothing doing, I had to be at the board meeting.”

Safferstein clasped his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. “Something special expected at the meeting?”

Isaacs stared at him. “We’re voting on the rabbi’s motion to reconsider the sale of the Goralsky Block. Didn’t you know?”

“Oh sure, but is there any question on it?”

“Well, you can never be too safe, I say, and every vote helps.” ‘

“But it was carried unanimous –”

“Yeah, but that was before the rabbi made his spiel.”

“And you mean that could change some votes? I didn’t think he was that convincing,” said Safferstein easily.

“It’s sort of funny about the rabbi, he’s such a low-keyed kind of guy, you know, never raises his voice. Even in his sermons, it’s like a professor lecturing to a class. So when he does get excited, it makes a special impression, like this is something that means a lot to him.”

“Yes, but –”

“And remember, Billy, not all the guys that voted for that motion were sold on the idea. I mean, everybody was anxious to sell the Goralsky Block, but not everybody was keen on using the money to buy the property up in Petersville. But where the two are tied together in one motion, they went along.”

“So you could always split it into two different motions, couldn’t you?”

“Well, of course, but some of the guys have been saying that maybe the board acted hastily, that if it’s against the Jewish law like the rabbi says – well, you know, and then there are the guys who weren’t at the meeting, and the past presidents. If the rabbi was to contact them.., see what I mean?”

“How does it look to you right now, Murray?”

“Oh, we’ll win, there’s no question about that.” But Safferstein detected doubt underneath the brave assurance, and for some minutes after the insurance agent left he sat staring gloomily out the window at the gray afternoon sky, then he reached for the phone and called Kaplan.

“Murray Isaacs is an idiot,” declared Chester Kaplan flatly. “Sure some guys will switch their votes, but I’m not worried.”

“He said the rabbi made a big impression with his speech at the meeting.”

Kaplan laughed. “Yeah, he really had them going for a minute or two. But then do you know what happened? The school bell rang, and it just petered out. Look, the rabbi is a rabbi. It’s his job to point out any little corner-cutting ethicswise. But the people on the board are practical men, and they’ve had a chance to think about it. I’m sure they’ll vote the right way Sunday.”

“Have you done anything about it, though?” asked Safferstein.

“How do you mean?”

“Have you spoken to each member of the board? Have you done any campaigning?”

“Oh sure. Bill, that goes on all the time. I’m always in touch with the membership. But I’ll tell you something that would really clinch it, make it a unanimous vote, in fact.”

“What’s that?”

“Well, the big thing appears to be Aptaker’s lease,” said Kaplan. “That’s what got the rabbi worked up in the first place. Now if you could give Aptaker a renewal –”

“No.”

“No?”

“No, I’ve got special plans for that store. Look, Chet, what you’ve got to do is call each and every member and make a real strong pitch.”

“There’s no time, Billy.”

“What do you mean, there’s no time. You’ve got tonight and tomorrow –”

“It’s the Sabbath. I don’t do business on the Sabbath.” said Kaplan stiffly. “I could make a couple of calls now and a few Saturday night –”

“If you pick the right ones that could help a lot.”

“All right. Billy, I’ll do what I can, and don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll win.”

Brave words, but the more Safferstein thought about it, the more it seemed that Kaplan was anything but certain of the outcome, he got up and paced the floor, trying to assess the situation, he felt hemmed in, he opened the door and, taking his hat from the rack, he announced to the receptionist that he was going home.

She glanced at the clock. “You all right, Mr. Safferstein?”

“Yeah, I’m all right. Just a little headachy.”

“Hadn’t you better take your raincoat? It’s hanging in the closet. You could be coming down with something.”

“No. I’m okay.” But Safferstein went back into his office and shrugged into his raincoat, automatically, he thrust his hands into the pockets and felt something unfamiliar in one of them, he drew out a bulky manila envelope and stared at it for a moment, and then he remembered: it was the envelope of pills, the original one that he had got for Mona. Curious, he went to the desk and opened the bottle and shook a couple of pills out on the desktop, then he reached for the phone and called Dr. Muntz.

“Bill Safferstein. You remember about somebody swapping coats with me at Chet Kaplan’s the other night, the night of the big storm? Well, the next day I got a refill on that prescription you wrote –”

“From Town-Line Drugs?”

“Sure from Town-Line, they had the prescription, well, I just came across the original pills. See, I got the coat back from Chet and the pills were still in the pocket. What I’m calling about is that they’re different from the ones I gave Mona. I mean they’re different from the refill, they’re the same size and shape, I guess, but these are a different color. So I wonder could it be because they were in my pocket and maybe got wet, or –”

“I’d have to take a look at them, Billy,” said Dr. Muntz. “I’m going to be tied up here for another half hour or so. Where are you calling from?”

“From the office, but I’m on my way home right now.”

“Suppose I stop off at your house when I get through here. I’d like to see them.”

As soon as he hung up. Dr. Muntz smiled broadly and strode into the office of his colleague, Dr. Kantrovitz. “I think I have the solution to the problem of our young friend, Dan Cohen,” he said, rubbing his hands, he then described the phone call he had just received from Safferstein.

“I don’t get it, Al. How does that help Dan?”

“Don’t you see?” said Dr. Muntz. “This is another mistake that Town-Line made on a prescription. But I can do something about this one because it’s my patient. Mona Safferstein, who was affected.”

“What are you going to do?” asked Kantrovitz.

“I’m not sure yet how I’ll handle it, the important thing is that now I can do something. Marcus Aptaker is a nice guy and I wouldn’t want to hurt him. But if it’s a choice between him getting hurt and Dan Cohen getting hurt, naturally my loyalties have to be with Dan.”

The board meeting began shortly after the morning weekday services, which on Sundays were held at nine o’clock instead of at the customary hour of seven. In the few minutes between the end of the service and the beginning of the meeting, the members stood around in the corridor gossiping, joking and arguing, then gradually drifted toward the boardroom. Today, all the conversations were related to the principal business of the meeting.

“If Bill Safferstein would just agree to extend Aptaker’s lease, there’d be no problem. Do you realize that? I don’t understand why he doesn’t, he’s a good tenant.” Oscar Levy had a high-pitched whining voice that made everything he said seem like a complaint.

“How do you know he won’t? Chet was supposed to ask him.”

“I know,” Levy replied. “At least I’m pretty sure from something Chet said the other night.”

“He won’t,” said Manny Levine flatly. Manny was never in doubt about anything. “He won’t give him a lease, because he’s sore at him. It’s as simple as that.”

“How do you know?”

“Remember a few years back, we had this membership drive,” Manny said. “Well, Billy drew Aptaker’s name. It was one of the names on his list, and he went to see him. Now Aptaker not only turned him down flat, but gave him a lot of lip. I remember Billy being sore about it.”

“Nah, Billy Safferstein is not that kind of guy,” said Marvin Kalbfuss. “He’s not one to bear a grudge, especially where it’s a matter of business that’s involved. What I think is that he’s planning to clear out the whole block and make one big store by knocking down the separating walls. It’ll be one of these big liquor stores; you know, a package store –”

“Where’d you get that idea?”

“Well,” Kalbfuss said, “there was an item in the paper about Lenox Corporation planning a unit on the North Shore. If Billy was planning to operate it as a regular block of stores, why would he pay so much more than the income warrants? And it would be to his advantage to keep the drugstore, wouldn’t it? A drugstore snazzies up a block, all right, so he might want to raise the rent, but I don’t think Aptaker would make a stink about that. So it stands to reason Billy has something else in mind, and it can’t be just some other store, because then he’d kick out one of the other tenants, none of whom, by the way, have leases, and remember, there’s a vacant store. So it must be something that involves the block as a whole. Right? Now, you ask yourself –”