Welcome to my on-going novel, Hada’s Fog. A couple of times per week, I will post, beginning with Chapter One. The first scene/chapter you see will be the most recent installment, with previous scenes/chapters below it. The postings will be labeled by chapter and scene numbers for easy access to where you left off.
Chapter Five: Scene Two
By ten minutes after five o’clock, Hada and Lev had showered and dressed for dinner. Hada sat at the little round table with Lev. “He said five o’clock, he’s late, and I am hungry. Not surprising with no lunch.” She opened the Fig Newton package on the table, took a cookie, and bit into it. Then she pushed the package closer to Lev, who shook his head.
“Has your stomach settled since breakfast?” she asked.
“It’s all right, but I have no appetite.”
“Samuel is making a nice gesture to treat us to dinner, so you eat. You cannot afford to lose any more weight. You and Abe, one would think I starved you both.”
“Abe has been on his own for a long time, Hada, it’s not your fault if he’s thin.”
Hada shook her head, “Familial metabolism, it doesn’t allow more than a thin layer on those bones.”
“You complain, but I know you love these bones.” He grinned at her for the first time that day.
She patted his shoulder and smiled back. Then a knock at the door startled her. She stepped into her worn fur-lined scuffs and shuffled to the door. When she opened it, she saw only an outstretched arm and a hand holding a bouquet of yellow roses.
“Oh, how beautiful! And who might these be from?” She giggled like a schoolgirl.
Samuel leaped into the doorway with a big smile, stepped inside, and gave her a strong hug.
“Flowers for M’lady, for her belated birthday and for being the best mom.” He took one of her hands, held it as he searched her face, and then he placed the flowers in both of her hands.
“Oh, Samuel, they are lovely. You bring summer to autumn as always.” She laid the flowers in her arm like a blanket-wrapped baby and pulled him with her free hand to the seating area. Then she called housekeeping to bring up a vase and took the flowers to the bathroom sink. When Hada returned, Samuel was sitting on the bed next to Lev, not in the chair she’d offered. She sat down in the empty one and listened to their talk about the flight and how crowded the Oakland Airport had become.
Hada had not seen Samuel for a year. As he talked with Lev, she checked her son’s face and figure. He looked the same: youthful and fit. Years of playing tennis made him look as if he had an invisible racket in his hand even when he was dressed up. She smiled remembering how he resented being s few inches shorter than Abe in high school. Older brothers should be taller than younger siblings was his frequent complaint. He wore his hair trimmed shorter and styled slicker than Abe’s. Hada admired Samuel’s appearance in tan Dockers, a muted green shirt, and a tie with a geometrical design. She recognized the diamond tie clip Bira had asked her about as a gift to him for their fifteenth wedding anniversary.
“It’s close to a thousand dollars, Mother Hada.” Bira had said over the phone in a skeptical voice. “Do you think he will like it for that amount of money?”
Her daughter-in-law often asked Hada’s advice when she considered a large purchase. Bira’s parents had lost their jewelry business during the Depression and although Samuel and Bira had more than enough money to buy whatever they wanted, Hada understood Bira’s reticence to spend large amounts of money.
Samuel had told her many times that they would be financially stable even if the country suffered another depression. Hada beamed with pride that her handsome son was successful enough for his wife to buy him a thousand dollar diamond tie clip.
“Mom? Mom? What are you thinking about?” Samuel asked her.
“Oh, just how wonderful you look and how good it is to see you. We must never let a whole year go by without one of us visiting the other. Promise?” She squeezed his knee. All the complaints she had about being in California vanished.
“Of course, I promise. It’s great to see you too. Both of you.” He leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees. “So, Abe drove to the office and found the locks had been changed. I didn’t expect him to break in, and, not a clean break, I might add. Luckily, no one came inside after you left. I had to put a padlock on the door until I can get the lock fixed.” Samuel sat up straighter. “Brother or not, no one is allowed to take patient files. I’ll get ‘em back.”
Lev cleared his throat. “Samuel. The patient folders….”
“What, Dad? I suppose you think I should let him get away with taking patient files in the deranged state he’s in. Oy Gevault, he is ruining my reputation as it is. I don’t want him harassing the patients.”
“Are they his patients’ files?” Lev asked.
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean they continue to be when he leaves the office. I brought him into my thriving business when he got his license to practice. I was responsible for giving him patients over the years, for God’s sake.”
“Do not take the name of the Lord in vain.” Lev’s tone was stern.
“He’s in the middle of a nasty lawsuit. The school board up north said he and his sidekick from New York have hurt children. Children—with the neurological garbage they practice. I thought about letting him go when this legal mess started, but I was a good brother and let him stay—until he’s pounding on walls while I’m treating patients. Every time his attorney phones to update his case, he pounds the walls. I keep apologizing for the noise. I have to lie and say we’re remodeling his treatment room. How long am I supposed to be remodeling? I had to get rid of him. He’s losing it, I’m telling you.”
“He did pound the door when he figured out you had changed the locks.” Hada said, looking at Lev to agree, but he ignored her.
“See, I knew it. I was worried about you both staying at his house. I wish you had let me pick you up from the airport. You know Bira and I would love to have you stay at our house.” Samuel looked at Hada with the expression he used to plead with her for a cookie after school.
“When Abe called us in New Jersey, your father told him we were invited for Thanksgiving so he offered to pick us up and to stay at his house until the feast. He sounded lonely and your father agreed.
“When we planned this trip, I forgot to suggest that you stay with us, an oversight on my part. And, look what he’s done to you—kicking his parents out of his house. What kind of son does that? No matter how angry I would be, I’d never send you away, you know I wouldn’t.”
“I know, Samuel, but it is all done now and we are here.” She smiled and took a deep breath. Yes, she was here and maybe the trip was worth it—to be able to touch him, to feel him close, to hear his voice in the same room. He is such a dear.
There was a knock at the door and Hada rose. “Must be housekeeping with the vase I requested.” She patted Samuel’s shoulder on the way and greeted the maid. “Thank you. This is a perfect size.” She closed the door and took the vase to the bathroom where the roses waited. She listened to the men talking as she placed each stem into the water.
Lev asked, “What is the status of the lawsuit? Whenever I inquire about it over the phone and even today, Abe says he has no worries. Everything is fine.”
“The opposition has witnesses. To make matters worse, Abe consults this dunce of a lawyer who is no longer in practice, but is coaching him. Where does he find these people? Did you ever hear anything so stupid? Abe doesn’t know beans about the law and he asks a retired attorney for legal help. This lawsuit will ruin his reputation if he’s found guilty.”
“And what about his financial responsibility to Nissa?” Lev asked.
“They’ve reached a settlement. The alimony and child support payments are set, but he’s already behind with them. I’ve flown to Los Angeles to give her some support. She’s with her parents but she’s stressed out. She says Abe calls her to talk to Jacob, but won’t send her any extra money. He says he agreed to her moving away because she convinced him it would save money by living with her parents, but since she took their son from him, he’s not going to give her any more than what he is legally responsible for. He hasn’t gone down there to visit Jacob at all. The poor kid thinks his father doesn’t love him anymore. I brought the little guy some new toys and a couple of outfits Bira picked out for him. Jacob needs to know that our family is still in his life. The divorce isn’t the kid’s fault.”
“If he is behind in payments, you have made it harder for him by cutting him out of the business, Samuel.” Lev’s voice shook with anger.
Hada interrupted as she placed the flowers on the table. “Now, are these not the most beautiful flowers you have ever seen, Lev?” She patted the bouquet but suddenly pulled her hand away. “Oh! The florist forgot a thorn.” She held her hand and blood oozed from the tip of her finger, a deep red-colored bead of blood congealed over the pierced hole. She went back into the bathroom. Tears collected in her eyes, not from the thorn—something stirred in her that she didn’t wanted to avoid. She focused on her hand and forced the wound to cleanse.
Chapter Five: Scene One
Hada didn’t like hotels—not even the Hilton where they went after leaving Abe’s house. She pulled back the bedspread and stuffed it into the closet. She sprayed the sheets with an essence oil blend she had prepared that was supposed to protect against possible germs, bedbugs, or other unwanted living things. She sprayed the two chairs by the little round table and the muted flowered carpet. She wiped the doorknobs, cabinet handles, and light switches. She sterilized the bathroom sink, toilet, and shower. Finally, she sighed and plopped into one of the chairs. Brothers fighting, Lev sick, swollen ankles, trouble walking, why did they bother to come to California?
Her feet and ankles hurt more than they did earlier and she was out of breath from all the cleaning. Maybe she should have gone to the doctor for that checkup before they left New Jersey. She didn’t feel like her energetic self; but maybe it was the weather. Sometimes the dampness in the Bay Area chilled her more than the snow in New Jersey. Whenever she thought of home, she wanted to get back on the plane and leave all this chaos behind. Grown sons should be able to handle their problems by themselves. We are too old to get involved in this dispute.
The bellhop arrived. Lev tipped him and closed the door. He lifted the suitcases onto the luggage racks, stood up straight, put his hands onto his lower back, and took a deep breath.
“Your back again? First your stomach, now your back. Oi, we were healthier in New Jersey.
“I finished the spraying so you can open the suitcases. I want to take out some clean clothes. I’ll take a shower after you call Samuel.”
Lev opened each suitcase for her and then sat on the newly sprayed sheets to take off his shoes. He turned and stretched out on the bed, folding his hands over his chest.
“Lev, this is not the time for a nap. Samuel, remember? We have to call him.” His sense of time is frustrating.
“You call him,” he muttered.
“But you can talk man-to-man. You said a man sees this situation differently than a woman. I’m sure he wants to hear from you about Abe’s reaction.” Hada rose from the chair and sat next to Lev on the bed.
“No. He knows I did not like it from the start.” Lev kept his eyes closed but reached for Hada’s warm hands that rested in her lap. “He is your chosen one. You tell him, if you can do it without judgment. Abe handled it well under the circumstances.”
“But he could have closed the back door to that office. It’s wide open. Anyone can walk in and take Samuel’s equipment.” She moved from the bed and called Samuel.
When Samuel answered, she smiled. “Hello, darling. It’s your mother.”
“What happened? Is Abe angry?” His voice sounded as if he were out of breath. Had he been playing tennis or was he worried and nervous? She couldn’t tell.
“Yes, Samuel, he’s angry. He drove us to his house to get our things and said he did not want to see us there when he returned. So we took a cab to this Hilton.” She tugged at her shoes to try to get them off, but she needed both hands since the swelling made a tighter fit.
“He what?” Samuel yelled. Hada put the receiver a few inches away from her ear. “He turned you out on the street? Are you all right? He’s insane.”
“No. Samuel. He did not seem crazy—angry, but not insane. We’re fine. He broke into the office and he left the back door open. You should go close it and fix the lock right away.”
“He left the back door open?” Samuel shouted again.
Hada pushed the receiver further away from her ear and talked louder so he could hear. “It did not look too damaged. He’s good with tools, as you know. I told him to at least close the door.”
Hada didn’t interrupt Samuel’s long exhale and his pause before he said, “I’ll take care of the door and then I’m coming to get you. You can’t stay at a hotel when I have plenty of room for you both with us.”
Hada shook her head even if he couldn’t see her. “No, your father thinks we should remain here at the Hilton.”
“Trying to stay neutral, is he? Will he allow me to come to your room?”
She sighed. “Of course you can come to our room.”
Samuel’s voice turned silky smooth, like a movie star’s as she always described it. “I’ll take you both to dinner at the hotel, without Bira and the girls, so we can talk about this lunatic brother of mine.”
“Dinner here, the three of us?” Hada nodded and smiled. “That would be lovely, dear. Yes, it is probably better to talk without Bira.” Maybe the worst was over. Finally, she could see Samuel. It had been too long since their last visit.
“See you soon then,” Samuel said in his suave tone again.
“Yes, yes, see you soon.” She hung up the phone, pulled off her shoes, and rubbed her ankles. Then she stood up to unbutton her dress.
“He is coming here?” Lev asked opening one eye to look at her.
Hada walked over to his side of the bed. “Yes. He is as surprised as I am with Abe breaking in. As you heard, I did not tell him about the files Abe took, but I had to inform him about the open door. I don’t want anyone to steal him blind. On his way over here, he’s going to the office to lock up. Maybe he’ll notice the files gone. Maybe he won’t.” She bent down and kissed Lev’s check. She loved his skin on her lips even now when his face was no longer as smooth as it was in their youth.
Lev took her hand. “Come lie down with me for a minute so I can fall asleep.” He moved over to make room for her.
She lay down and he wrapped his arms around her. His warmth was comforting after all the previous arguments. Maybe life could be normal again. “Samuel wants to come alone. Bira and the girls will stay at home. Did you hear me?”
“I heard.” Lev said snuggling his face between her neck and shoulder.
“We will talk for a while and then he will buy us dinner in the restaurant downstairs.” She welcomed the coolness of Lev’s nose on her skin.
“I suppose.”
She could feel Lev sinking into sleep and hoped she wouldn’t wake him when she slipped out of his arms to shower. For fifty years, they fell asleep together, with Lev’s arms around her. Only when she knew he was in a deep state, did she turn on her side to sleep in her favorite position. Many nights as his body relaxed, muscle-by-muscle, she thought about the goodness of this husband and father.
Today, when Lev’s breathing changed to peaceful slumber, she thought about how much Abe was like his father. Samuel…well, Samuel was not like them at all. He was impetuous, decisive, and full of action and drive. He wanted to run up the ladder of success and stay on the top. If he said Abe had a difference of opinion in business and would not see Samuel’s point of view, it didn’t surprise her. With the stress of a divorce and a business lawsuit pending, Abe could be close to a breakdown as Samuel claimed. Being with Abe every day, he would know. If he thought Abe’s stress was bad for business and he needed to leave the office, then it must be true. Abe’s temper flare-ups, pounding the walls in frustration, scaring the patients, people thinking there was a crazy man in the office…that was bad for business.
Hada wriggled out of Lev’s arms, rose from the bed, and removed her dress. In the bathroom, she looked in the mirror. She turned seventy last week and there were wrinkles, of course, on her face, upper arms, and thighs, but she tried to keep a good figure. She frowned at the extra weight in her middle, but she wore clothes that hid it.
She ruffled her short hair thinking she should let it grow again. After Abe was born, two little sons only two years apart, she cut her hair to below the ear lobes making it easier to keep neat. But from the back, she wondered if the look was too masculine. In the airport, Annabel Lee had encouraged her to try something new with her hair, and after thirty-eight years of the same style, that sweet girl might be right—it was time for a change.
Chapter Four: Scene Two
Abe stopped the car and said, “We’re here. Let’s go in the back door. I’ll give you a quick tour so you can see the new equipment Samuel bought in order to be up with the times—an extravagant expense in my mind, but…then I’ll get to work on both of you.” Abe turned off the engine and swung his long legs out of the driver’s seat.
Before he rose, Hada said, “Abe, dear. Would you go ahead of us and turn up the heater for me? I am not used to the low indoor temperatures you keep here in California and you probably have it turned off for the holiday? It is nice and warm in the car with the sun shining. Come and get us in a few minutes so I do not have to walk into a cold room.” Hada’s request sounded innocent, but Lev knew she was concerned about more than the temperature.
Abe rose to his full six-foot height, turned around and bent over so he could peek back into the car. He winked at Hada. “Okay, Mom. I’ll be right back. You won’t have time to take a nap though.” He closed the car door and walked to the back entrance of the office building.
“Oi vey.” Lev’s heartbeat filled his chest and reverberated into his throat. Abe stood about five yards away at the office’s back door.
“Now, Lev. It will be all right. He’ll be upset, but we’ll let him blow off steam for as long as it takes and then we’ll help him plan the next step.” Lev heard Hada hum; the unconscious random singsong was her way to disconnect from unpleasantness. At least her humming meant she realized things were not going to be smooth from this point forward.
“No, Hada, darling. It is not that simple among men. This is wrong.”
“You just hush now. Do not let Abe hear you talk that way or he will think you are taking his side. Samuel is the eldest, he knows what’s best.
“And you don’t think it’s taking sides to say the eldest knows best, Hada?” Lev wanted to turn around and challenge her at eye level, but he chose not to see what he knew would be her smug face, a mask to cover up her fear of the situation getting out of hand
“Samuel has his reasons. Solid business reasons.” Her humming continued as they waited in the car.
Abe turned away from the back door, looked at them in the car, and shrugged his shoulders. He held his keys up in the air to indicate he was having trouble with them. Then he tried to get the key to work again. He pounded on the door with enough force to hurt his hand. He stopped, stood still with his back to them for what seemed a long time. When he turned again, he glared at them, and then ran around the side of the building where they couldn’t see him. He probably would try the useless keys in the front door.
Lev bowed his head. Hada, for once, was quiet.
After a few minutes, Lev raised his head and saw Abe rounding the corner of the building, running toward them. He opened the car door and bent down to look at them. “I’m locked out! Did you know about this? What’s up with Samuel locking me out? He told you, didn’t he? I thought it was strange that he was in no rush to see you. How long has this charade been planned? You knew the keys wouldn’t work.”
Lev lowered his eyes and thought he would vomit. The good thing was that Hada didn’t answer.
Abe slammed the car door and Lev heard the trunk open. A minute later, Abe ran to the back door of the office with a toolbox. “He is going to break in.” Lev said.
Hada didn’t comment or hum. Lev turned around to look at her, but she stared straight ahead. As well as he knew her, he couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Was it anguish? She gave birth to this son too. She had to see how wrong this was.
Lev faced forward and closed his eyes. He didn’t open them when Hada reported, “He got in.”
“I am not surprised.” Lev and Abe had spent many hours together in the basement of the family home where Lev taught an eager-to-learn son everything he knew about engineering, how to fix things, and how to make things out of practically nothing. Abe could assess any situation and know what to do.
After about a half an hour, Hada tapped Lev’s shoulder. “What is he doing? What does he have in his arms?”
Abe passed the car with not so much as a glance at them, his arms filled with legal-sized folders. Lev looked in the rear-view mirror but the opened trunk blocked his view. Then Abe ran past them again toward the office, his arms free.
“I think he is taking patient folders.” Lev answered Hada. “Probably going for more.”
Abe, with folder-laden arms, rushed past them three or four times, and finally he shut the trunk, slid into the driver’s seat, and started the engine. As he pulled out of the parking space, Lev cringed as Hada said, “Abe, you left the back door to the office wide open.”
Abe didn’t answer but continued to drive uncharacteristically speeding, and arriving back at his house in record time. He kept the engine running as he unlocked the front door, left it open for them, and then disappeared inside. Lev got out of the car and helped Hada. Together they made their way into the house.
When they entered and sat down in the living room, they waited for Abe to stop pacing in the hallway. Finally, he stood in the archway and with a shaking voice said, “I’m leaving now and I want you both gone by the time I come back. Call a cab, call Samuel, do whatever you want for transportation, but I don’t want to see you or anyone else here when I return.” He stormed out of the room, slammed the front door, and was gone.
Hada turned a surprised face to Lev who sat in the large armchair, his hands folded, resting on his stomach. “One night we’ve had here and now what?”
“Now what, you ask?” Lev stared at the fireplace. “She asks ‘now what’ when the damage could have been prevented.”
“Well, I thought we three could talk this over, but he has kicked us out of the house.” She had a little-girl look on her face, but Lev had no sympathy.
“It is what we deserve, Hada. I’ll call a cab to take us to the nearest Hilton. Pack our things.” Lev rose, went to the telephone table, and pulled his glasses out of his coat pocket. He put them on, paged through the phone directory, and then paused when he noticed that Hada did not get up. He looked at her above his reading glasses. “So why are you not packing?”
“Maybe we should call Samuel first.” She pushed herself out of the couch, limped over to Lev, and put her hand on his shoulder.
“Why?” He asked her. “So he comes here and then how do we get him out of this house before Abe returns and they have fist-o-cuffs? No, Hada, we call him from the hotel.”
“Oi” Hada shuffled down the hall to the guest bedroom.
Lev took a deep breath before he called the cab company. He looked around the living room at Abe’s minimal decorations. Nissa made sure she left no sign that she and Jacob had a home here.
In the sparse room, Lev spoke aloud, “It is enough already for Abe to deal with a pending divorce, a business lawsuit, and now this.” He put his arm up in an exasperated gesture to the fireplace as if it could understand.
Chapter Four: Scene One
From the passenger side of the Honda, Lev looked out of the car window and focused on the passing Berkeley street scene. It hurt too much to see his youngest son happy. Abe’s body made slight movements of what seemed like barely-contained excitement as he drove, his eyes sparkled, and his broad smile held an innocent quality. Lev knew Abe was proud of his business success and that he was eager to take them to the office for treatments. In a few minutes, all that would change.
Lowering his head, Lev regretted Samuel’s master plan and Hada’s insistence it was the only way to handle the situation. He felt like a traitor. She said it would get this mess over quickly. She liked simple solutions—to be done with whatever issue was up, make necessary changes, and then go on with life. No long drawn-out arguments, no hurt feelings, accept and move on. Her parents’ unyielding control made her adopt a simple philosophy while growing up. Painful feelings were buried in order to survive. The tough fiber that covered the delicate petals of a blooming soul was what attracted Lev to Hada years ago.
But today, that soul was hard to find. Lev listened as Hada answered Abe’s question about how often her feet and ankles swelled.
“Only if I sit or stand too long. At home, it helps when I rest them on the foot stool.” She sighed.
Lev turned to see Abe’s response. He wanted to tell him that the swelling was more frequent than Hada admitted.
Abe shook his head, “It’s not good to have all that congestion, Mom. We’ll have to find out what’s causing it.”
Lev had confidence in Abe’s abilities to help his mother. If this swelling predicted a serious health problem, Abe would find it. He had followed in Samuel’s professional training, but unlike Samuel, who specialized in sports injuries, Abe had added a muscle testing technique to assess the body. However, would Abe choose not to help Hada once they arrived at the office and the plan became obvious?
Hada chatted as if nothing was amiss. How could she pretend that everything was normal? Lev knew she would ignore Abe’s devastated face when he realized that his parents had betrayed him too. As the stress increased in Lev’s stomach, the reflux burned his throat and he swallowed the need to moan.
Hada sounded sincere. “Look at those brilliant copper and gold leaves. I always think California has only palm trees, but you do have lovely autumn colors here too.”
Lev squinted his eyes as another sour taste rose in his throat.
“You okay, Dad? Is it your stomach again?” Abe asked. “We’re almost at the office. I’ll give you a treatment before I work on Mom. I want you both in good shape for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Just like the old days, the four of us together for kosher turkey, right, Mom?”
Abe’s enthusiasm for a family get-together created more pain for Lev. If Abe came to a family Thanksgiving dinner after he discovered what your brother had done, it would be a miracle.
Lev remembered the boys growing up and how Samuel tortured Abe and called him a weakling. He made sure their mother never heard any of it, but if she did, she wouldn’t believe it anyway. She would chalk it up to brothers teasing each other.
Lev had tried to harness Samuel’s energy and lead him down a path of higher integrity and compassion, but Samuel disregarded his father’s authority, his advice, and his views. Since Samuel was able to convince Hada of anything, he had full range of manipulation and at times he grinned at Lev as if to say, “She even prefers me over you.” When did the take-over for head of the family happen? Lev had not seen it coming—a forty-year old son taking over the father’s position as if he were dead already.
Chapter Three
With Lev on one side of her and Abe on the other, Hada climbed the four cement steps up to Abe’s front door.
“We need to fix those feet of yours, Mom.” Abe unlocked the door and held it open for his parents.
“Yes, of course, you and Samuel can take care of this problem for me.” Hada’s body demanded more oxygen. She tried to hide the deep breaths she needed to take. Abe led her into the hallway and helped her off with her coat. When she trudged into the living room, it looked sparser than the last time she was there.
“Where are all your pictures and paintings? This room is bare.” Hada dropped her blue leather purse onto the cocktail table and plopped down on the sofa. She put her hand on her chest in the hope that her lungs would breathe normally and her heart would calm down. The room looked like she felt—worn and gloomy.
Abe sat on the edge of the sofa and faced her, “Nissa took most of everything…,and, of course, she took our Jacob too…when she moved to Los Angeles.”
Hada’s throat felt thick when Abe’s eyes watered. Swallowing didn’t clear it. “Oh, of course, I forgot. Is the divorce final yet?”
“Hada, I told you it was final before we left New Jersey.” Lev frowned at her from where he sat near the red brick fireplace.
Hada turned her head away from him and brushed her flushed forehead with the back of her hand. She’d been with Abe for only an hour and already had caused him pain in reminding him of his broken family. “Oh, yes, yes, I remember now. I just had…what do they call it now, a senior moment?” Hada’s mind-chatter repeated, coming here is overwhelming, too overwhelming.
Wrinkles had developed under Abe’s eyes, and he looked grayer and thinner. It must be terrible for him to have his only son Jacob so far away, and what about the child? A son needs his father around. Then there were Nissa’s parents having to adjust to an adult daughter returning with a young son, disrupting their peaceful home. Nissa only thought of herself, but that wasn’t new. She was self-centered, not at all like Samuel’s wife who put everyone else first.
Nothing to be done about that now. Hada’s mother would say that Abe had to make the best of it. Ma always said that the trouble with younger sons was all the fortitude and ingenuity are bred into the first-born. Abe would have to suffer until he learned to be like his brother. Samuel was the model of success and Abe needed to pay attention to how his brother made it.
For now, father and son chatted about the flight from New Jersey. Abe’s voice sounded excited, like a little boy having friends over to his house for the first time.
“Are you both hungry? What can I get for you?” Abe’s brown eyes twinkled; the same brown eyes as his father’s. They were the kind of eyes that sent a ray of light through her old bones and warmed them. Samuel’s eyes were brown too, but they were small and, she had to admit, they lacked the depth of the eyes that glowed now.
When they arrived in California less than an hour ago, Hada was hungry, but she somehow lost her appetite. “No, thank you, dear, no food, and I had enough coffee on the plane. I think I would like to lie down and put my feet up, maybe get this swelling down.”
“Sure, Mom. What about you, Dad, hungry?” Before Lev could answer, the phone rang and Abe excused himself. He stretched the phone’s long cord out of the room and into the hall as he answered.
Lev started to speak to Hada, but she shushed him so she could overhear Abe’s conversation from the hallway.
“Yes, I just brought them home from the airport. Mom wants to lie down for a while before dinner. We’ll go to the office tomorrow and I’ll treat her feet. They’re swollen from the plane ride.”
There was a long silence as Abe listened to the other person on the line.
“Okay. Then we’ll see you on Thanksgiving.”
When Hada heard Abe say good-bye, she asked Lev to help her take off her shoes to disguise their eavesdropping. Abe returned with that distant look that Hada had learned was his way of processing what he just heard or his feelings about it. “So, Abe, what’s wrong?”
“That was Samuel. He asked about you and Dad and said he’s going to be busy tomorrow with his friend, Dario. He’ll see you both at noon on Thanksgiving.”
“So? That’s fine. We all have our own lives to live,” Hada said, knowing why Samuel made an excuse. He didn’t want to be at the office tomorrow when Abe found out what he had done.
“It seems strange, that’s all,” Abe said. “He can see Dario anytime. He hasn’t seen you for a year. I would think he’d be at the door right now to give you both a hug.” Abe smiled but the ray of light in his eyes was missing. Hada felt a familiar pinging in her chest. She’d have to control her feelings.
Lev paced the floor, but Hada ignored him. She hoped he wouldn’t give the plan away because he didn’t agree with it.
She sighed, “Oi, Abe. It’s just as well. I am tired. After you treat my feet tomorrow, and if I am up to it, maybe we could go to that wonderful garden up on the hill where you took me some years ago?” Hada reached for Lev to help her off the sofa, but seemingly unaware of her, he kept pacing.
Abe stepped closer and boosted her to a standing position. She flinched and he let go. She looked away from his questioning eyes and brushed her skirt as if there were invisible crumbs.
“Okay, dear, help me to the guest room.” She clasped his arm for support—the only closeness she could offer while Samuel’s whispers repeated in her ear, “Loyalty, Mom. Remember your loyalty to me.”
Chapter Two: Scene Two
The automatic doors opened to a sunny outside. The cool Oakland air cleansed the conflict debris from Lev’s lungs. He welcomed the joy he felt for the first time since they left home. And soon they would be with Abe.
Lev heard a car horn and a gray Honda Accord pulled up to the curb. Abe hopped out with a big grin, gave them both a hug, and opened the car doors.
With a loud voice, Hada directed them. “Thank you, dear. It’s good of you to pick us up. I’ll sit in the back. Lev, with your long legs, you sit in the front.”
Before entering the Honda, Lev checked his son the same way he did when he was young—looking for bruises, cuts, or signs of stress. At forty, Abe had graying hair that was thinning on top but he still had a boyishness about him. Six feet, five inches tall and yet so innocent. He didn’t look like a son gone crazy. Lev squared his jaw but a pain gripped his stomach. Just as he thought, Samuel was the crazy one, crazy with greed, with jealously, with a bloated ego.
How had he been coerced into taking part in Samuel’s secret plan that would crush Abe?
Holding open the door on the passenger side of the car, Abe asked, “Ready, Dad?”
Lev clung to the love he saw in his son’s eyes, yet his heart panicked at the thought that Abe’s love might turn to hate tomorrow when the first step of his brother’s plan unfolded.
Chapter Two: Scene One
When the plane landed at the Oakland Airport, Lev expanded his chest with breaths of fresh air and exhaled the tension from the arguments with Hada. She continued to be too biased to listen—always had been. As she limped alongside him to the baggage pick-up area, his concern for her swollen feet and ankles mounted. He motioned to a row of seats near the baggage carousels.
“Sit here, Hada, I’ll bring the luggage to you.” He held her elbow as she lowered herself into one of the plastic chairs..
Hada tilted her head in the direction of a girl two chairs down who wore a tight, short skirt. The girl’s cropped hair stuck up in red, pink, and black spikes that looked as if someone had painted the Statue of Liberty’s crown and glued it to her head. She talked on a pink cell phone and giggled often.
Lev smiled his forced-patience smile. “A sign of the times in the fashion world, my dear. Are you comfortable?”
“Oi, Lev, comfortable you ask? No, I’m not. I told you the plane ride would be too long for me. My ankles and feet are swollen and painful, just as I predicted. But never mind. Abe or Samuel will help all that. Just run along now and get our bags. I’ll be fine. It’s better than being on the plane, and I even have entertainment.” She jerked her head in the girl’s direction.
As he walked to the baggage carousel, Lev knew Hada would make conversation with the girl. They could be the best of friends by the time he came back with the luggage. If Hada was curious, there was no stopping her. He loved that about her.
Passengers had lined up three deep for their luggage. Lev picked a spot behind a mother and her child and thought about the decision to come to Berkeley. Maybe he should have let Hada stay in New Jersey. But at her age, it wasn’t wise to leave her home alone, and with Samuel’s sabotage tactics, he had to do something to protect Abe. Worst of all, Lev worried about Hada’s anger against him for the first time in all the years of their marriage. Was he sacrificing their relationship to save Abe? Maybe it had been a mistake to come to California.
Lev counted the pieces of luggage as he took them off the carousel, stacked them neatly on a wheeled cart, and then pushed the load toward Hada. He couldn’t help but grin. There she was on the edge of her seat in animated conversation with the girl who had moved to a seat closer to Hada. It looked as if the girl was describing how she styled her hair to make it stand up in spikes. She waved one hand up the back of her head and made a twisting motion at the top of the red point. Hada had an enthusiastic smile. Thankfully, the girl provided a diversion from the serious nature of this trip. He parked the cart to one side of the seats.
“Oi Vay, what a lot of work you do with your hair,” Hada said to the girl. Then, with sparkling eyes, she acknowledged Lev. “Darling, this is Annabel. This is my husband Lev, short for Levi.” She motioned to him with a sweep of her hand and a proud expression that made him feel warmer under his cashmere sweater.
“How do you do, Sir? I’m Annabel Lee…you know, from Poe’s poem.” The girl stood up and tried to pull her short skirt down, but it wouldn’t budge. She held out her right hand, with black polished fingernails. Lev shook her hand, “What a lovely name. I surmise you like poetry?”
Hada nodded several times and answered for Annabel. “She is in the creative writing program at the university.”
“UC Irvine,” Annabel said. “My boyfriend and I are reincarnations of Poe and Annabel. Characters in written work are real, you know. I’m living proof of it. This time I won’t die because I won’t let highborn people in power take me away…you know, like in the poem. This time around, Edgar and I can continue our lives in love with each other.”
Lev thought her face looked like a young child who was thrilled to be playing house but, at the same time, she seemed like an accomplished actress ready for her next performance.
Hada smiled at Lev. “Edgar Allen is on his way to pick her up now.”
As Annabel bent over to retrieve her backpack from the floor, Lev looked away to avoid what he feared would be an embarrassing sight. Girls were naive about short skirts these days.
“Edgar’s late because he wanted to finish the poem he’s writing for my Thanksgiving visit with him,” she said, drawing back Lev’s attention. “We’re going to spend four glorious days in bed like John Lennon and Yoko Ono did. Edgar’s friends will bring us food, even some leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. Isn’t that romantic?” Annabel swooned into the chair.
Hada’s eyebrows rose higher than Lev had ever seen them, and her back stiffened. He sensed one of her lectures was forthcoming, so he said, “I am sure you will have a wonderful time, Annabel Lee. As Hada probably told you, we are meeting our son, Abe, as in…you know…Abraham, and we should be going out to the sidewalk where he might be waiting. Please excuse us.” Lev helped Hada up from her seat. She pulled away from him to pat Annabel’s arm.
“It was wonderful to meet you, dear. Have a nice visit, but remember to study too. Even creative artists need diplomas.”
“Yes, Hadassah, I will. And try that new style for your hair, I’d bet you’d love it.” Annabel stood and gave Hada a hug. “When I saw you both walking over here, I knew you would be wonderful characters to add to my list for future stories. So pleased to meet you both.” She hugged Lev hard enough that he grabbed onto the railing of the cart to steady himself. “Oh, sorry, Sir. I’m just so excited to know you. Bye.”
“Good-bye,” Lev and Hada said at the same time.
“Shalom…Shalom.” Annabel called to them as they left the baggage department. “Shalom.”
Lev pushed the cart with Hada’s arm around his. All was well with them, at least for a while. “Shalom. I haven’t heard that word in a long time.”
Hada laughed, “A sweet girl really. She’s bright and respectful. And…” Hada stopped and tugged Lev’s arm until he bent down so his ear was closer to her level.
Hada whispered, “She suggested I change my hairdo. What do you think, dear?”
“No need. You always look beautiful to me.”
“Oi, I thought you would say that. Thank you, but you spoil me with compliments. It might be time for a change in my appearance after all these years.” Hada squeezed his arm.
Chapter One Scene Two:
A few minutes later, in first class, Lev asked, “How did you manage this?”
“Never mind. Enjoy it.” Hada pursed her lips and searched for a good magazine in the stack the flight attendant had given her. “After what you said about Samuel, I considered coming here alone and leaving you in row 36.”
“I’m sorry the truth angers you.” His smile looked as tired as his eyes.
Her friends in New Jersey would say a good wife sympathizes with her husband’s worry, but his insistence that he was right sent a rush of fire up her throat to her tongue. “Truth? Truth, you say? Truth from your perspective is not truth from mine.” In Hada’s ears, her heartbeat competed with the hum of the plane’s engine.
“We have two sons. Will you consider what Samuel might be doing to his brother?” Lev’s tone had a softer sound, but Hada resolved not to let him get his way. ”Yes, he’s helping Abe.”
Another flight attendant appeared. “Would you like a cocktail?”
“Just coffee for me. No cream or sugar.” Hada straightened the folds in her blue linen skirt. Maybe the coffee would take away the metallic taste that remained in her mouth from the memory of the whip.
“Coffee coming right up. And you, sir?” The flight attendant’s friendliness made her feel like she was in a movie, a movie where everything looked perfect until something jumped up and grabbed you.
“A club soda, please,” Lev patted Hada’s knee.
One more pat and she would scream. She shoved his hand away with the rolled-up magazine. “You say Samuel is sabotaging his brother. What about Samuel’s prosperity? He’s the more successful person in their partnership, and if he thinks Abe is having a breakdown, then it must be true. Abe’s tantrums are interfering with the patients’ treatments at the office. Samuel had no other choice. He had to preserve the business.” A voice in Hada’s head repeated, “Say no more, say no more, say no more.”
Lev took the airline magazine from Hada and flipped through it “I would be very surprised if…oh, never mind. Let’s stop talking about it.”
Injustice from the past rose again. “Who was with those boys all day long when they were growing up and you were at work? Abe never listened to Samuel and when he got hurt, he would blame his older brother. You and Abe accused Samuel every time something went wrong. You don’t give Samuel the respect of being the firstborn.”
Lev kept turning pages of the magazine and didn’t look at her. “A first-born who manipulates, who deliberately puts his younger brother in danger, and then denies any wrong-doing? Samuel deserves no respect.” He put the magazine down, leaned his head toward the far edge of the seat, and closed his eyes. “Enough on this topic.”
Hada’s voice rose. “You want the last word.” She noticed people in the seats near them turned around to look at her. She lowered her voice, “I will not stand for your accusations. Samuel is a loving son and brother.”
She reached for her shoes and struggled with the blue leather straps. They dented her swollen arches. Confident the shoes wouldn’t slip off, she left them unbuckled and shuffled to the lavatory, this time at the front of the plane. Her shoulders sagged and as short as she was, she must have shrunk a few more inches during the flight.
Inside the tiny space of the lavatory, she hung onto the child-sized sink. She covered her mouth to muffle her sobs; sobs for every minute the plane took her further from her life in New Jersey. Aching inside, Hada doubled over the sink and let the pent-up tears flow. She turned the faucet on to wash her hands, but let the water, untouched, go down the drain along with her retirement, her peace.
Chapter One Scene One Continued:
“Abe needs us if he’s having a nervous breakdown. If Samuel is lying, then he’s out to destroy his younger brother. Either way, we have to be in California.”
Hada wasn’t going to fall for his point of view. She squirmed and imagined poking her elbows into both men’s ribs to make them move over and give her more room. Air; there wasn’t enough air on this plane. “That’s nonsense. Samuel doesn’t want to destroy Abe.”
Lev’s voice had a low, angry pitch, “Then why didn’t he discuss the business problems with his brother? Why have secret plans?”
Hada unbuckled her seatbelt with shaking hands. “Abe was pounding the walls and acting irrational. How can two people resolve anything when one is crazy?” Of course, she knew Abe couldn’t be going crazy. It was stress from his recent divorce that probably sent him into temper tantrums. The men were overreacting, that’s all. In a few weeks, everything would be back to normal. Meanwhile she was up-rooted and forced into this cage called a plane. She had been forced to leave her peaceful home and garden, her friends, and her volunteer work with the children at the temple. For how long, she wasn’t sure, probably longer than she could endure.
Lev leaned back and stretched his legs into the aisle. “Samuel is exaggerating to get rid of Abe. All his life he’s been waiting for this moment to ruin his brother.”
Hada groaned. Lev had to have the last word. She sprang out of her seat, forgetting the overhead baggage compartment and skimmed it with the top of her head. She brushed her short gray hair with her hand to be sure it was in place.
“Let me out, Lev.” She bumped her husband’s upper thigh with her knees, forcing him to pull his long legs out of the aisle. “Move. Let me out.”
“I will, I will. Hold on a minute.” He rose from his seat in a crouched position checking the height of the overhang before straightening.
“Enough already.” She pushed against him and wriggled into the aisle. Her feet had swollen, making it hard to keep her balance as she hobbled down the aisle toward the back of the plane. She clung to the top of each seat and huffed, avoiding eye contact with other passengers. When she was about to enter the small lavatory, the whiff of staleness stopped her. She looked at the floor and winced. She had forgotten to put on her shoes and her thin nylon stockings wouldn’t protect her feet from who-knew-what on the floor of a public toilet.
Hada closed the door without entering. No one else was waiting, and being there was a good excuse to get away from Lev’s barrage of charges against Samuel.
A pain burst into her feet and brought a flash of the whip her mother had used to discipline her as a child. She remembered the sound of the swish before the tip gripped both of her ankles at once and stung her into agony. She would sputter ‘sorry, sorry’, without knowing what she had done wrong. It did no good to ask. Ma said she should know better. The trouble was she didn’t know. She was only six. S-o-r-r-y. S-o-r-r-y.
Hada brushed her eyes with the backs of her hands like she did then but realized there were no tears now. The ankles had swollen from the plane ride. No whip here, she told herself, as if comforting the child from long ago. She smoothed her hose that had twisted around one ankle. If she could sit where there was enough room, she could rub her feet and increase circulation, but everyone in the row ahead of her had their seats reclined.
She leaned against the door and closed her eyes. She wished she were back in New Jersey, in her beautiful garden, even if the snow covered the curved path and the birdbath. None of her flowers bloomed in November, but there was peace in the garden, peace in her home. Was peace too much to ask for in retirement? Let the boys fight it out themselves. They fought when they were young and hadn’t stopped yet. Why Samuel and Abe had gone into business together fifteen years ago, she’d never know.
“Are you all right?” A flight attendant’s question made Hada snap to attention. She pushed herself away from her support, causing her to be off-balance for a moment. The attendant reached for Hada’s arm to steady her.
“Four hours of claustrophobia and you ask if I’m all right?” Hada rolled her eyes at the younger woman.
“Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?” The twinkle at the corners of the woman’s eyes gave Hada hope.
“Massage my feet?”
The flight attendant glanced down. “Swollen, aren’t they? Where is your seat?”
“36B.” Hada turned the corners of her lips into an exaggerated crestfallen expression. “Between two tall men.”
“We have an opening in first class where there is more room. Would you like to move there?”
“Yes, I would, but my husband is one of the big men in row 36.” Hada took a deep breath, sitting on this plane could get better.
“I think there might be a seat for him too.” The attendant cocked her head in a motion for Hada to follow her.
“That would be lovely, dear. Thank you.” Hada didn’t add that it would be extra lovely if Lev didn’t talk for the rest of the flight.
HADA’S FOG
By Julaina Kleist-Corwin
Chapter One Scene One
Hada Maksimov wanted to grab a parachute and escape from the airplane. She was sandwiched between her husband, Lev, on the aisle side and a stranger on the window side. She had no desire to be on this trip to Berkeley and resented Lev’s insistence that they go. She pulled some tissue out of her purse, rolled two pieces into balls, and stuffed them in her ears to muffle the sound, but her feet sensed the droning vibration. The hum of the engine filled her head and the quivering of the floor during the last four hours put her on the brink of a panic attack.
The flight was full. No row had two empty seats where she could have some elbowroom and sit away from Lev and his muttering about the importance of this trip to California. Maybe she’d ask the stranger next to her if he thought the middle seat was the worst. They could chat about it. Maybe he’d feel sorry for her and offer to trade. She didn’t long for the window seat. There was nothing to see at that altitude and it wasn’t any more spacious than where she slumped in the middle. What she wanted was a human wall between her and Lev’s pointless attempts to convince her of their firstborn’s intentions.
“It’s trickery,” Lev said. “Does Samuel have to resort to trickery?”
He must have said those same words a dozen times since they left Jersey. No need to respond, he didn’t like her comments anyway. It wasn’t trickery. It was strategy, isn’t that what Samuel called it? She closed her eyes and spelled strategy several times, hoping to put herself to sleep. S-t-r-a-t-e-g-y. S-t-r-a-t-e-g-y. It didn’t work; the tightness in her chest prevented any relaxation.
The vice-like metal armrests gripped her hundred ten pounds, and the men’s arms left no room for hers. Hada wriggled in her seat wondering how people with wider bodies endured plane travel. She didn’t like arguments, but arguing was better than thinking about her discomfort. “There’s no need for us to go through all this trouble. The boys are grown men who can settle their own squabbles.”
Lev straightened his posture. “You’re missing the point. I’ve told you, it’s more than a squabble.” He shifted his body weight causing his shoulder to press against hers.
She pulled away to rescue her arm and avoid eye contact with him. Leaning toward the passenger on the other side, she strained to look out of the window at the white world. Who said it was a wifely duty to follow a husband’s lead—for fifty years already? Hada stretched her neck with the pretense of seeing something eye-catching and spoke aloud, “I’ve had no choice but to leave my home and go all the way across the nation.”
The stranger peered above his magazine at her and said, “Excuse me?”
“Never mind. I wasn’t talking to you.” Poor fellow. I must have sounded rude. It wasn’t his fault that I don’t want to be on this plane. She smiled and gave the stranger more space, but noticed the magazine that he raised above his eyes. An ad on the back cover promoted a cruise to Alaska.
A cruise to Alaska, now that would be a nice trip. She nudged Lev, drawing his attention to the ad. “We’ve never been on a cruise.”
“You want to go on a cruise? We will go on a cruise,” Lev said.
“How can we go on a cruise when you insist on dragging me to a state I don’t like so we can mediate a conflict? You know I hate conflict.”
Hada felt Lev’s body twitch. After all their years of marriage, she knew when her words hurt him, twitch, or no twitch. As usual, guilt pinched at her heart and then hid somewhere, maybe in her bones. He did what he thought was best for the family, but it took a toll on her as well as on him. His eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep, and his cheeks had a grayish hue. Wrinkle lines had increased on his face and his hair had thinned in the last few weeks. Nevertheless, his reasons and his words were complete gibberish.
