A FBOW excerpt in sequence: Des Plains
As for Elizabeth: Knowing there would be no reason to come in contact with her other than being cordial as he would any fellow Transco employee at company meetings— he promised himself to remain distantly aloof.
August 27 to September 24, 1961
Des Plaines, Illinois
“Mother, hi!… Think we can talk to you at Uncle Harry’s in about…” looking through the telephone booth door…
“An hour.” Mitchell said.
“In about an hour.” Looking at her watch. “At about one thirty.”
****
The ‘Lark’, heading southeast, towards the north side of Chicago.
Glancing at his wife. “Think she’ll go for it?”
Facing away, looking out her side window. “She stold our wedding money.”
Placing is hand on her knee. “She thought she was helping us.”
“Know what, Mitchie?” Turning now, facing her husband. “You trust her more than I do and she’s my mother.”
Knowing that Rhea had been, minimally, a motivating factor behind their two separations. Still, though, having a soft spot in his heart—or possibly a hard spot hidden way down in his sexual psyche for his beautiful, big busted mother-in-law. “Okay...” he said. “...but I still think she’d help us if she can.”
Turning back to the window. “We’ll see.” Marsha said dubiously
Chicago, Illinois
Taking a sip. “It’s ‘where’?” Rhea questioned before putting her cup down.
“ Des Plaines, Mother.”
“ ‘Des Plaines’? That’s in east Kishniv!”
(a mythical place at the end of the world).”
“Mother...” suppressing a smile, “...it’s not in ‘Kishniv’. It’s only…”
“Eighteen miles from Skokie,” Mitchell said.
Glancing at her husband, “and it’s only an…”
“Yes, I know...” Rhea said, “...an hour from here.”
“Mother...” Marsha said excitedly, “...it’s ‘so’ beautiful! It’s got…”
“A house?” Asked doubtfully. “You kids think you can afford a house?”
“It’s not exactly a house. It’s…”
“A ‘townhouse’...” Mitchell interrupted. “...and it’s got…”
“A ‘townhouse’?” Rhea looked at her son-in-law. “That’s where the neighbours houses are attached to your house?”
“Well, yes, Mother. But the one we’re interested in is on the…”
“And what’s the price on this townhouse in East Kishniv?”
Sighing, “Well, they’re brand new and the price is…”
Piping in again, Mitchell said, “$19,999.00 with $999.99 down.”
Looking at her husband. “With about $300.00 for closing costs,” Marsha added.
“And again I ask: Do you kids think you can afford the payments?”
“Well, the savings and loan the builder is using is charging nine percent interest, and at nine percent interest our payments will be…”
“Hold on. Let me get this straight.” Rhea said. “The place is $19,999.00 with $990.00 down at ‘nine’ percent interest?”
Hearing it said that way did sound a little strange, so Marsha simply said, “Yes.”
“And the payment’s will be what?”
“Well...” Mitchell said, “...there’s something called impounds…”
Marsha explained. “That’s where you pay monthly for yearly taxes and insurance.”
“Yeah...” Mitchell said. “...and the monthly payment’s will come to…”
“A hundred, fifty-three dollars a month, and…”
“And your rent now?”
“It’s only eighty-five a month. But...” Mitchell added, “...when you think about it, that’s less than we were paying in Chicago before we moved to Peoria. And Transco’s…”
“Transco’s starting him on a much higher draw…” Marsha interrupted Mitchell.
“Yeah, they’re starting me out at ‘one seventy-five’ a week.”
Never wanting more than one child — To the extent of ‘literally’ begging her doctor to abort Marsha and to this day not knowing if the conception of her daughter had been secretly planned by Eli or was truly an accident.
Although understanding the need to ‘give Eli a name’ and appreciating Marsha’s and Mitchell’s haste in doing so.
“But there’s four of you now,” Rhea said.
“They’re giving me part of one of the best territories in Chicago,” Mitchell went on. “So I’ll be making much more than I’ve ever made.”
Knowing where this was leading. Still feeling more than ‘slightly’ guilty over losing their wedding money.
“And you’d like me to help you with the down payment.” This posed as a statement rather than a question.
“Mother, the reason we wanted that money in the first place was to be able to afford to buy a house, and...
“You know...” Rhea said, “...that when your father, ‘alav ha-sholom’ (on him peace),was killed by that savage he left no insurance…”
****
Knowing her mother was not in ‘any’ way a religious person so whenever Marsha heard her evoke the Hebrew blessing for the memory of her father it caused a spark of irritation, also...
Knowing her mother! And knowing that her mother ‘knew’ the condition of that slum building and the type of people that occupied the building...
To this day Marsha could not understand how she had allowed the insurance to lapse.
Actually it was in fit of anger—the insurance broker being the ‘one’ of her mother’s ‘friends’ who had made the mistake of telling her, ‘You do know, you’re no longer a spring chicken’!
Hearing truth in the words spoken, Rhea had unreasonably cancelled her husband’s life insurance policy days before he was murdered.
One might think a woman as clever as Rhea Goldman imagined herself to be would learn…
First the fire that demolished the slum apartment building and then, the murder of her husband that would have brought a ‘double indemnity’ pay-out…
When in a spat of anger, insurance policies were cancelled.
****
“You know that when your father, ‘alav ha-sholom’ was killed by that savage he left no insurance, but...” Rhea went on, “...I had some money put away…”
Thinking of the nine loose diamonds that had been in a jeweller's envelope laying on the bottom of her jewellery box for years that she now figured ‘one or two’ should bring about...
“…and since I was responsible for losing your wedding money, I’ll give you the thirteen hundred you need.”
****
Following the death of Eli, in need of money, Rhea browbeat Roger into continuing to work at Eli’s” along with Eli’s brother, Mark.
Taking a mental toll! Hating being in the same place his father had been killed day after day. Seeing the spot he’d seen his father laying dead, day after day.
Within two months, threatening to find another job, Roger was able to pressure his mother into looking for a buyer for the hot dog stand. And after a succession of helpers that robbed the till, within another few months, having only fixtures and good will to sell, Rhea finally found a buyer for ‘Eli’s’.
The money from the sale not enough to live on for very long, Rhea was offered and accepted the job—at ‘far more’ than she was worth—as the hostess at her brother-in-law’s, ‘Harry Rafkin’s’, popular north side delicatessen.
Also, they turned their heads the other way when Rhea bequeathed herself ‘care packages’.
Des Plaines, Illinois
“Christine, it’s for you!”
“One moment, please.” Excusing herself from the couple sitting on the opposite side of the desk, “Hello. ‘Criss’ speaking.”
Hardly able to believe this was really happening, “Chris...” barely able to contain himself, “...hi, it’s Mitch Lipensky.”
“Oh, yes...” expectantly “...Mitchell.”
“You say we only need a hundred to secure it?”
Said with a straight face. “Actually only ninety-nine.”
“Marcie and me, we’re going to take it!”
“Looking at a notation on her desk. “The end unit?”
“Unless you’ve sold it to someone else...” thinking a silent, Please, no! “Yes, Ma’am.”
“No, it’s still available.”
Thanks, God! “Great! We’re heading back to you right now to sign the papers.”
“Then it’s okay to flag 9116?”
“Yes, Ma’am. Please!”
****
“How long do you think it’ll take? When do you think we’ll know?”
“Today’s Sunday. I’ll get the papers to the bank first thing tomorrow and we should know by Wednesday or Thursday.”
“And once we’re approved…” Glancing at Mitchell, both thinking, Please, God! Marsha asked, “...when’ll we be able to move in?”
“Mortgage docs and all the paperwork work will take another week.” Looking at a calendar, “If all goes well...” Christine said, “...on the outside, oh, I’d say by the fifteenth…
“You give any thoughts to upgrades?”
“Upgrades?”
“Yes.” Christine’s eyes shifted from Marsha to Mitchell. “Once we have bank approval, we’ll finish the interior: painting, carpets, linoleum. So now’s a good time to talk about what comes with your new home.”
Taking a card holding two inch square carpet swatches from the file cabinet, thinking she knew who made the decisions in this family.
“You can have your choice of any of these five standard colours...” she said to Marsha. “Or...” removing a card with ten swatches of ‘upgraded’ carpet “...any of these,”
“Mitchie...” Marsha said, “... with Mikey, Ellie and Mercy, I think we’d be better off with this brown carpet. And it’ll go much better with our furniture.” Without waiting for a response,. “How much more is this carpet, Chriss?”
“Why don’t we wait till we’re through, then I’ll total it together.” Immediately going into, “The appliances come in your choice of two colours: ‘Harvest Gold’ or ‘Avocado’.”
“We’ve had Harvest Gold and I don’t care for otter…. How’s ‘bout you, Mitchie?” Without waiting for an answer. “What other choices are there?”
****
“Here’s what we install in the way of linoleum.” Christine said.
“They’re all pretty ‘icky’, what else have you got?” Marsha asked.
****
“Here’s the Formica counter top selections.”
Curling her lip, “ ‘Yught’!”
****
“Here, take a look at this!”
“Oh, I like that tile, Chris!”
****
“As for painting, we paint everything white.”
“The whole house? ‘Everything’ gets painted white?”
“Well…” removing a paint swatch catalogue, “you can pick up to three different colours.”
****
“Chriss, how are we supposed to pay for all this?”
“No problem, Mitch! We’ll add it to your mortgage.”
****
Not quite as elated as they’d been an hour earlier. Heading back to Skokie.
“Oh well.”
Taking his eyes from the road, glancing at Marsha. “We’re going to be living there a long time, so we might as well enjoy it.”
“Yes, but another ‘fourteen hundred’?”
“Let’s not tell anybody about the upgrades.” Mitchell suggested.
“Yeah, I was thinking that, too.”
Skokie, Illinois
Not too happy at having his son’s entire family, and dog there indefinitely.. “So, how are you planning on working it?”
“What we’re planning on doing, Dad, is to head back tomorrow morning...”
Walter breathed a quiet breath of relief.
“...and start to pack dishes and stuff.” And because it’s new, we’ll be able to move in…”
“We’ve already picked out the tile and carpets and paint we want, so it’ll…”
Cutting Marsha off after she’d cut him off. “So we should be able to move in in about two weeks after we get approval.”
“Fine and good,” Walter said. “But what happens if you’re turned down?”
Having paid off most of their past debt with the $4,500.00 from HFC last January, and never being late on any of the $95.00 payments, Marsha and Mitchell had thought of this—and confirmed by Christine Ferguson—as a positive mark on their credit report rather than a blemish.
“Dad, Christine, the Realtor, told us that hardly anyone ever gets turned down at this bank. But if we do...” glancing from his father to Marsha and back again, “...I’ve given your name as a ‘co-signer’.”
Not ‘too’ pleased with this idea. “ ‘Me’? You don’t think you should have asked me…” looking at his wife, “...us, about this first?”
“We didn’t have time, Dad. It came up while we were filling the papers out. Besides, you’re the only one we have, and if we need you and you don’t want to, you don’t have to sign the papers.”
Still hoping to make—if not a daughter out of Marsha then, at the very least to remain a friend.
“It’s okay, Walt. They’re our kids and...” looking directly at Marsha, “...if you need us we’ll be glad to help.”
Now having not only Mitchell, herself and a home to consider, there was also Michael and Ellie to say nothing of a full grown Dalmatian, so, “Thank you…” hesitating, feeling her throat constricting at the mere thought of saying the word, but looking directly at her mother-in-law, “...Mom.”
Hearing ‘it’, feeling a sense of gratification. “You’re ‘most’ welcome, Marsha,” Myra said.
Catching the interplay of the words between his wife and mother. “But, ‘really’, Dad, it shouldn’t have to come to you co-signing for us because we’ve always paid our bills on time.”
More or less, Marsha thought.
“So what we’re going to do...” Mitchell went on, “...is to hold off giving notice on the house in Peoria and start to pack the small stuff. If the station wants me to continue to work for the next two weeks, I will, but I really don’t think they’ll want me to. And if they don’t, I haven’t had any real time off in years so i’ll hang around the house till Transco wants me to start…”
“Then he’ll leave the kids and me in Peoria and start work in his new territory and drive back to us on weekends.”
Even though he’d asked on the phone, looking at his mother for approval. “I thought, if it’s okay, I’d stay with you during the week.”
Wanting to insure her continued ride on Marsha’s approval, “I don’t like the idea of my daughter-in-law and grandchildren being left alone. Tell you what…”
All of Walter’s decisions, large or small, hypothetically must be made ‘only’ after consulting with his wife.
Myra’s decisions on the other hand “...if Transco will pay to put your things in storage till you can move into your new home, you can ‘all’ stay with us.”
Walter stified a cough.
Next FBOW excerpt in sequence: déjà vu
