Albany Park (25 page)

Sitting next to her, he smiled. “Look, I’m doin’ good now, and I like what I’m doing. Don’tworry, just trust me, I’ll take good care of you and the baby.”

With his arm around her, she looked up at him and smiled. “Okay Howie, I know you’ll do the right thing, but please, please be careful. I know you’re not an angel, but I trust you.”

He reached over and kissed her, “Do me a favor and find us an apartment real fast.”

Leaning back, still holding her hand, he sighed, “I really do love you Shirley.”

“Okay, lover boy, I hear you, but now I’ve got to tell my folks. They think you still sell insurance,” she smiled.

“Aw they’ll get over it, especially when you tell ‘em we’re moving to a bigger place.”

After that conversation, things got better for the Rabins. Howie was being more attentive to Shirley. He called her often during the day to find out if she needed him to pick things up on his way home and began bringing flowers and candy to her every few days. Feeling better, she kept busy searching for an apartment.

Sunday morning, two weeks into the New Year, they were having coffee, when he looked up from the newspaper. “How does this sound, Babe, here’s a place on Balmoral, in Budlong Woods, two bedrooms on the first floor, for a hundred and twenty a month.”

“Oh I like that. It’s much nicer than Rogers Park and closer to my mother,” she replied, shifting her weight as she tried to find a comfortable position to accommodate her expanding midsection on the beat up couch.

“It says, ‘new stove and refrigerator.’ I bet it’s in one of those new co-op buildings.”

“Oh I’d love that and a first floor too.” She groaned, moving again not finding a comfortable position.

Picking up the phone, he made an appointment for them to look at the place that afternoon. By two-thirty, they had signed the lease.

Getting back in the car, she kissed him. “Oh Howie, I love it. Everything is so new and the rooms are huge. And did you see the young couple, when we were walking to the car? She was carrying a baby and her other little kid was walking along, holding the father’s hand.”

“Yeah, it looks nice. I like these buildings; only four apartments and the streets are clean and wide.” Smiling, he looked at her. “Remember when this was all lover’s lane and kids parked here after a date.”

“Now, everywhere you look, there’s new buildings and more being built.”

As he started to pull away, she smiled, putting both hands on her bulging tummy, and giggling, “This little baby’s gonna love it here.”

When she called her mother to tell her the good news, Mrs. Siegal quickly offered to help with the move. Howie made her call back and tell her she could help Shirley shop for furniture and supervise the move, but Howie insisted on paying people to carry the boxes and do the packing and unpacking. He didn’t want Shirley or Mrs. Siegal doing any of the actual work.

The move went smoothly. Howie had hired the mover and her mother got her cleaning lady to assist Shirley with the packing and getting the new apartment ready.

The only arguments they had were when Howie bawled Mrs. Siegal and Shirley out for doing some of the work themselves. He had come home early one day, a week before the move.

“Look,” he said making no effort to hide his agitation, “I told the two of you, no lifting or packing. I thought the cleaning girl was going to help and I would pay her. I don’t want either of you to lift a thing, especially you, Shirley.”

Standing with her hands on her hips, Shirley shook her head, “I’m sorry, Howie, I guess we got carried away,” Moving slowly, she sat on the couch and smiled sheepishly.

Mrs. Siegal sat on the other end. “Me too, Howie, I’m sorry and I should have stopped her.”

Towering over the two of them, he shook his head, waited and then smiled. “Look at the two of you. For cryin’ out loud, my beautiful wife, in an old sweat shirt and baggy pants with her hair tied up and you, the fashion lady of the neighborhood. Your hair’s hanging all over and where did you get that outfit? I never saw you with such an old house dress and slippers.”

Shirley started to laugh and then her mother giggled. He stood, furrowing his eyebrows trying to look stern and shaking his head, until he too started to laugh. “Okay, now go wash up and get changed; I’ll give you ten minutes, we’re going for ribs at Green Gables. Tomorrow, make arrangements to get the cleaning girl here. I’ll leave money for her.

Light-colored venetian blinds were ordered for all the windows of the new apartment and they decided that the new style of painted walls instead of wallpaper was to their liking. The deep green color that Shirley decided on for the living room, would be attractive with the light rose-colored silk print of the new couch and easy chair. Both, of course, would be covered with the latest, form-fitting clear plastic covers. They also ordered blonde wooden tables for both sides of the couch, and the glass topped coffee table. The sixteen-inch television with a metal antenna would be perched on a low blonde cabinet on casters across from the couch.

Two days after they moved in, Howie was sitting in the easy chair watching television late at night. Shirley was on the couch, a small blanket covering her lap.

“I can’t believe this place; it’s so beautiful,” she sighed.

“Hey, I told you we would do it, didn’t I?” he said softly.

“Can we afford it, though? I worry; you’ve been spending so much lately and the baby is coming. Every day you keep handing out cash. Is business that good?”

“Yeah, it’s okay, and I think it’s gonna be better.”

“Are people borrowing so much money?”

“Look, Baby, business is good and don’t you worry about it. I know what I’m doin’ and we’re fine.”

“I just wanta be sure Howie, that you’re not getting in over your head.”

Turning toward her, his forehead wrinkled, with a scowl forming on his face, he muttered, “Goddamn it, Shirley, I just wanta watch Jerry Lester and you gotta start complainin’ about stuff that I told you not to worry about. Now forget it. You got a nice new apartment. What the hell else you want? Ain’t I takin’ care of you?”

She hesitated, taking a deep breath, “I just wanted to,” she started, but then he turned to her again, slapping the arm of the chair.

“Enough! I don’t wanta talk about it. Just shut up.”

Her head slumped to her chest and she wiped her eyes with a tissue. A few minutes later, she got up and went into the bedroom.

Molly brought Ben to see the apartment on Sunday. He was excited and impressed with the bright new place. “It’s beautiful,” he said, looking around and hugging Shirley. Turning, he shook Howie’s hand. “This is terrific Howie, business must be good. You must be makin’ a lot of loans.”

“Well, we got a few other investments too,” he answered without elaborating.

Ben started to ask a question, but was interrupted by Howie. “How ‘bout some coffee?”

Turning to Shirley, Howie said, “C’mon Babe, make some coffee and show your folks how good the new stove works.” Heading for the kitchen, they left Ben with Molly in the living room.

“It’s funny,” Ben whispered, “whenever I bring up anything about his business, he clams up.”

Molly raised her eyebrows and shrugged. “Maybe he’s just a little frightened by you. You know, he thinks you’ve got a lotta money.”

Ben shook his head, frowning. “yeah, maybe,”

Shirley called out, “C’mon in the kitchen Daddy. I want to show you the stove and refrigerator.”

Molly turned toward the kitchen. Ben followed, still shaking his head.

Howie excused himself when they entered, claiming he had to make a telephone call. Shirley’s eyes followed him as he left, but then she quickly returned to setting the table for her folks.

From the living room, Howie called out, “Something came up, I gotta go out for a little while.”

Shirley raised her hand. “Can’t it wait? Mom and Dad are just sitting down,” she called out, but heard the front door close before she finished. “I guess it was important, or he wouldn’t have rushed out,” she said in a low voice.

“Oh, don’t worry honey; it’s okay,” Molly said quietly.

Shirley cast her eyes down, cutting the coffee cake she had warmed in the oven.

Ben looked at Molly, rolling his eyes. He started to say something, but a shake of Molly’s head discouraged him.

The Siegals left a half-hour later.

As soon as they settled in the car, Ben looked at Molly. “What do you make of that?” he asked, starting the car.

“I don’t know, but I worry about them. If I say anything to her about him evading us though, she doesn’t like to talk about it.”

“What could be so important that he runs out on a Sunday when we’re there and she’s so big she can hardly move? I don’t like it. Another thing I’d like to know is just what he does for a living. What does he mean when he says he has investments? There’s something fishy going on, especially if he’s working with Paschey Cohen; he’s not on the up and up.”

Molly sighed. “Oh, he’s probably nervous with the baby coming and the new apartment; he’s got more expense and responsibilities. They rode in silence for several minutes, until Molly volunteered, “I think they’re alright. He certainly did a lot of work getting them into the new apartment. She also mentioned to me how happy she is with the move and how he has been hovering over her lately, making sure she’s comfortable and not doing too much as she gets closer to her due date.”

Ben nodded, but didn’t reply until they were almost home when he said, “You may be right, but I just can’t warm up to that guy,”

At four-thirty-two am. on March
10, 1949, David Max Rabin was born at Michael Reese Hospital. Exhausted after eleven and a half hours of labor, Shirley smiled weakly when the attending nurse handed her newborn son to her. She immediately began examining his tiny body, checking fingers, counting toes and looking for any unusual birthmarks or defects. Lastly, she rubbed her fingers lightly over his full head of dark hair. Dr. Jacobs assured her that he was perfect and congratulated her for producing a healthy little boy who bawled so loud he’d probably be a cantor in Temple someday.

Howie had arrived at the hospital only an hour and a half earlier. His usually clean-shaven face showed a five o’clock shadow and his voice sounded husky as he rubbed his red-rimmed eyes.

Holding Shirley’s hand, he kissed her and boasted to the doctor and nurses, “You see this little boy? He’s destined to be a great man. I’m gonna personally see to it that he gets everything he’ll ever need.”

The heavyset Irish nurse, who had handed David to Shirley looked on and smiled at Howie. “Good for you, Lad,” she said, “he sure is a beautiful baby.”

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Howie watched Shirley holding their son. “I can’t wait until I can teach him to play baseball and basketball, “he said softly.

Shirley, worn out from the many hours in the delivery room, smiled and quietly held her tongue as she wondered where he had been hours earlier when she tried to locate him to tell him their son was on his way. The hour spent on the phone trying all his hangouts without any luck had made her furious.

It was so typical of him, she thought. When he had left around noon, knowing that she was due any minute, he promised to call every hour to check with her, and then he disappeared until just before the baby was born. If her mother hadn’t come quickly after her frantic call and helped get her to the hospital, she wondered how she would have made it. Now he was acting the devoted father and husband while she was trying to keep from screaming at him. Starting to drift off, she realized that she was just too tired to fight. At least not tonight
,
she thought. This is the happiest day
of my life.

She could feel the nausea building in her as his animated comments went on and on. Watching him wave his arms and smile broadly as he tried to impress the nurses and her mother was aggravating her.

No longer able to ignore him, she lifted her head. “Oh for cryin’ out loud, Howie, knock it off, you’re makin’ me sick,” she muttered letting her head drop back to the pillow. Howie shrugged, dropping his hands to his lap, leaning back and closing his eyes.

The light beige walls of the old hospital room, which she hadn’t noticed earlier, showed cracks in the painted corners near the slightly discolored ceiling, which now bothered her. And the dreary, light gold curtains covering the one window that offered a view of the overcast sky added to her queasiness. Hearing the muffled noise of carts and people talking in the corridor each time the door opened also heightened her anxiety. Holding her hands above her face, she observed them and began feeling as if they weren’t part of her. It was like a dream and she was outside her body, looking at all the activity around her. Closing her eyes, she dropped her hands and drifted off.

Chapter 14
 

Standing under the
Chupah,
the Rabbi was explaining the
ketubah
to Frank and Ellen. As best man, Vic was to the left, slightly behind his brother. Ma, in a pale blue silk dress and Pa, wearing his first-ever tuxedo, were next to him. His eyes watered as Ma raised a handkerchief to her face. Looking past them, Vic saw his sisters in the first row glancing at one another and smiling; he knew that this was a day all the Waynes’ would remember.

Surveying the crowd Vic stopped and reversed his direction. There was Shirley in the fourth row, her slick haired husband to her right. She looked spectacular, her curly hair cut short and even in the low light he could see the sparkle in her eyes. He took a long time taking his eyes off of her. Remembering that her married name was Rabin, he realized that her husband must have originally been a Rabinowitz, and probably related to Frank’s bride, Ellen Rabinowitz..

The Rabbi droned on; “the
ketubah
is the contract between husband and wife. In marriage the husband accepts the responsibility of providing, food, shelter and clothing for his wife, and to be attentive to her emotional needs”.

Darlene was right behind his sisters. She spotted him looking her way and smiled with a little wave. Her dark red hair was swept up high and she looked more elegant than he had ever seen her in a deep green dress with a low cut neckline. He returned the smile with a quick wink; then turned back to the Rabbi, who had just asked him to place the glass on the floor near Frank’s foot.