Clattering Sparrows (24 page)

It turned out to be quite an adventure and as Sam promised, we learned soon enough that we were heading to Cape Cod. As Sam drove, he began to explain his secrecy. “My friend Ed Weinberg is in the construction business, mainly building custom homes. A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Cape with Ed to play in a golf tournament at the New Seabury Country Club. Before leaving for home, we swung by a house he’s constructing on Pompanesset Beach.

“The minute I saw the house, I fell in love with it, not for Sandy and me, but for the two of you. Now, I don’t want any protests until you see it, and I want you to think about it logically. You both enjoy the beach; Dad plays golf any chance he gets; you know and love the area and have vacationed here many times; and last but not least, you’ll be less than 75 miles from four of your grandchildren. Of course, I’m presumptuous enough to assume my sister Mindy won’t like the idea at all.”

At first Jon and I were speechless, but as the thought of moving began to take root we were up to considering it, especially when Sam pulled up to the house. It was beautiful and right on the beach. It was a sprawling, high-ceiling, multi-windowed, one-floor structure with a surrounding deck facing the water. The house was under roof, and the interior was finished to the point where all that remained for completion were the buyer’s choices of appliances and flooring.

As I walked through the rooms envisioning and re-envisioning our living there, I simply couldn’t find anything that I didn’t like. As Jon and I looked at each other, we made our decision without speaking a single word.

Although it may appear that we were totally crazy to make such a rash, on-the-spot decision, we had been talking for months about Jon retiring and actually looked at several newly constructed homes in Annapolis, Maryland. After Jon’s heart attack, we began to plan more for the years that lay ahead for the two of us. Our children were grown with families of their own, and the decision to buy the house and move to Cape Cod was probably the first decision we made solely for ourselves.

Before heading back to Maryland, we signed a preliminary contract and made a deposit on the house, promising to return in a few weeks to finalize the purchase and make our selections for the finishing touches.

Sam was right about Mindy not being too happy about the idea of our moving to Massachusetts, but in the end everything worked out great. Mindy and Phil decided to move into our house in Potomac, and put their smaller house up for sale. Jon retired from Arnold and Porter at the end of the year, and although our house on the Cape had been finished for several months, we delayed our move until spring.

Judy and Ira were heartbroken. They couldn’t imagine our not being a part of their daily lives. But after thinking it through, they realized that we were both moving in different directions of late. When Judy’s mother passed away the previous year, she left her home in Florida to her children, and Judy and Ira became snowbirds for three months each winter.

Our neighbors were wonderful and for an entire month, we were the center of attraction at gathering after gathering, and the promise of each and every one showing up on our doorstep for a visit.

The moving van had emptied the house of the items we were taking and was due to arrive on the Cape the following day. We left whatever furniture and items Mindy wanted, and had a big yard sale for the rest. As Judy and I stood on our front walk, locked in each other’s arms with tears streaming down our faces, I couldn’t believe we were actually moving to Massachusetts. But we were, and as Jon drove to the end of our street and onto River Road, I didn’t dare look back. I simply couldn’t.

However, I was taking a lifetime of memories that nothing could erase all the way from the District to Massachusetts and back.

32

SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY with the shifting and firing of executives involved with Unsolved
Mysteries, the follow-up to the special that featured Irina’s story fell through the cracks. In preparation for the new season in September, NBC switched the broadcast’s airing time from Wednesday evening to Sunday in the same 8:00-9:00 p.m. slot. In searching for a blockbuster opening show, they revisited some of their previous material and decided to pursue updating Irina’s reunion.

We were all contacted by the show, and at Judy’s and my suggestion, they included Jenny Kiatta and Billy McAvoy. After many weeks of negotiation, we reached an agreement that each of us had the final approval on our individual parts of the show’s content. NBC decided to extend the broadcast to two hours by including the original airing of her segment first.

At the conclusion of the taping, pleased that the program had been presented in good taste and satisfied with our personal interviews as well, we eagerly awaited the third Sunday in September to arrive.

Mindy and Phil joined Judy, Ira, their children, and our Mah Jongg couples to view the program together in Maryland.

Jon and I were invited to Aaron’s to view the broadcast with the entire Franklin family. It was a wonderful day, and it was good to see everyone. It had been a while since we were all together. The children were off playing in another room, and the adults were enjoying after dinner drinks and catching up on family news. Leah’s young man had finally popped the question and they had just become engaged. In addition, we were also celebrating a myriad of occasions, among them Irina’s having recently become an American citizen. In the process she legally changed her name to Irina Russo.

As the show began, and Irina appeared on the screen, she said, “Oh no, I look so awful.” We all laughed and assured her that she certainly did not. Suddenly she became quiet as for the first time she heard herself relating her own story. She had never actually viewed the show since it was originally aired live.

***

Katherine Heller was exhausted, but it was a comforting type of exhaustion. She had spent the day at her two-year old grandson Jack’s birthday party, and it had been quite a celebration. Barney and Baby Bop had made appearances, and there was even a clown who created balloon animals to the delight of the twenty children present. Followed by chocolate cake and ice cream, the party was deemed a huge success by all.

She changed into her pajamas and robe, brewed a hot cup of tea and sat down to watch the season opener of Unsolved
Mysteries. She had not seen the original special, but shortly after its airing, she had heard about the search for the missing Navy pilot’s family. Since the name Russo meant nothing to her, it was quickly forgotten.

At the end of the first hour, she found herself dozing on and off. Not wanting to chance missing the second half, she refreshed her cup of tea, turned on the VCR, and returned to watch the conclusion of the show.

The new segment opened with Irina meeting her father’s younger brother Leon Frankel, and Katherine was amazed that her uncle turned out to be none other than the founder of Franklin Farms Creamery, long a Massachusetts institution that was now in New York as well.

When the Academy Award winning actress Gina Alexandra introduced herself as Anthony Russo’s niece, she became even more engrossed and suddenly quite wide awake. As Gina spoke fondly of the uncle she barely remembered, she held up a picture of him taken on his last visit in November 1954. Katherine moving closer to the screen found herself staring into the image of her son Danny.

When the next woman came on the screen and introduced herself as Judy Levine Singer, Katherine could hardly contain her emotions. She had not once thought about the name since reading the investigator’s report and placing it in the safe years before. As Judy spoke and the dimple in her right cheek became visible, Katherine needed no further proof. The deep dimple in Danny’s right cheek and hers were one in the same.

The single interview of the three other members of The Fabulous Five ended the program. There was no mention of a pregnancy or the death of a child.

Robert Stack’s closing remarks further updated the viewers. “Irina is now an American citizen living with her family in the Boston area. And Anthony Marc Russo has truly come home to rest. Following our original broadcast and at his niece’s request, the Navy flew his remains to New York for burial in the Cemetery of the Sacred Heart on Long Island, in the Russo family plot.

“I would like to thank all of our viewers for watching and for helping Irina reunite with her family. Please join us next time when maybe you too can help solve a mystery.”

Katherine could not sleep. She rewound the tape several times and sat staring at the photo Gina Alexandra held in her hands. The picture had been taken two months shy of exactly forty years ago, and yet there was no doubt in her mind that Anthony Russo was indeed Danny’s father.

She played over and over in her mind the many new questions the show had evoked. Did he know she was pregnant when he went missing? Who did she turn to for help? Did her parents help her? Did his family know and if so, did they help her? Since his niece was now the sole surviving family member and she had obviously been a very young child at the time, there was the distinct possibility that she knew nothing about a baby.

At last, Katherine turned off the set and went to bed. She was totally exhausted, and in no time she fell into a deep sleep. She dreamed of Danny when he was a baby. He was so beautiful with his dark hair, blue-gray eyes, and that big dimple in his right cheek. She had only been fooling herself all these years, when all along deep in her heart, she sensed as only a mother can, that something was not right. Danny didn’t look anything like either Jack or her, although his hair was dark like Jack’s and they were both tall and built the same. She wondered if Jack had ever had the same reservations. If he had, he had never spoken of them, at least not with her.

***

As the days following the broadcast turned into weeks, the show that had put to rest so many issues for so many people turned Katherine Heller’s world upside down. She didn’t know what to do. Should she tell Danny? He had shown little interest in finding his birth mother since their long ago meeting with Charles Carter, not even when Nicole became pregnant.

At times, she felt she had to tell him what she had learned from the private investigator, and then at other times she thought it would be best to leave well enough alone, not only for him but for Judy who had undoubtedly suffered a great deal when Tony went missing.

She had never kept secrets from Danny, and felt guilty not revealing having hired the investigator. When his search had uncovered only the current name and residence of his birth mother at the time, she justified her decision not to tell him based on the fact that she had only sought the whereabouts of the baby’s remains, and wasn’t interested in learning her name or how to reach her.

33

BEFORE LEAVING FOR FLORIDA for three months, Judy and Ira came to Massachusetts for a visit. Although summer is ideal on the Cape, fall is a close second as evidenced each year by the thousands who visit New England to view the foliage, and the splendid display of colors that line the highways from Connecticut to Maine and throughout New Hampshire and Vermont. They fell in love with our house, and readily admitted waking up to the sounds and sight of the ocean was truly soothing.

We lazed away the days, and Ira and Jon played golf when the weather allowed. Judy and I explored the many unique gift and antique shops along 6A, and as I drove, we talked and reminisced about all that had come to pass since that fateful day when we were five, and we became next door neighbors and friends for life. Would we do anything different if we had the chance? We both agreed that we wouldn’t change one single thing.

Jon and I went to Florida to visit my Dad, and spent some time with Judy and Ira in December, staying until the middle of January. We returned home to a spell of winter weather, and although it is said that it seldom snows on the Cape, it snowed every couple of days for two weeks.

We had fallen into the routine of speaking with one another once a week and occasionally more often when something came up. When I tried reaching Judy in early February, the answering machine picked up, and when several messages I left were unreturned, I grew concerned.

Several days later, we received a call from Ira. They had just returned to Maryland. The cancer was back, and Judy was scheduled to begin chemotherapy the following week. When I spoke with her, she was quite optimistic and said that the doctor’s prognosis was good. There were many new drugs available, and she was scheduled for once-a-week outpatient treatment for two months. At that time they would reevaluate her condition, and if all was going well, treatments would continue on an every other month basis until she was in remission.

In the weeks that followed, Judy did quite well. The news was good. The treatments were reducing the mass in her liver, and although she still had a long way to go, her overall mood remained upbeat and optimistic. Except for the actual day of treatment, she felt well enough to do almost anything. She volunteered at Suburban Hospital two mornings a week, and spent time with her grandchildren whenever she could.

Having long ago sold the pharmacy, and confident that the operations of their dispensary were now in the very capable hands of their son and son-in-law, Ira began cutting back on the time he spent at the office. Although he still played an active part in the business, his first priority was Judy and getting her well again. They made travel plans for the months she was off treatment, and it worked out perfectly.

***

In the spring, Jon learned of a new program initiated by a group of attorneys in Boston to present a series of workshops for aspiring law students. Backed by many giant companies and law firms, the classes due to begin over the summer would cover various specialized fields of practice and the opportunities available upon graduation. When they contacted him to conduct a series of workshops on corporate law, he jumped at the chance to be a part of the team.

For the first time since moving to the Cape, Jon felt vital again and his old energy returned tenfold. Even when it required him to travel for the week-long seminars, he loved it. The program was a huge success, and as workshop after workshop was filled to capacity, the team decided to offer the classes year round. Whenever I could, I traveled with Jon and the summer passed all too quickly.

I accompanied Jon to DC for a scheduled class at George Washington University and spent the week with Mindy, Phil, and the boys, managing to play a few games of Mah Jongg with our old friends and neighbors. Several of the homes had been resold, and as younger couples moved into their neighborhood, Judy and Ira began thinking about selling and moving to one of several senior developments that were in various stages of construction.

In the fall I reinstituted a project that I had shelved many years before—writing a series of children’s books. I came upon the box one day while looking for some old pictures, and the memories came flooding back to the days I had presented the book to my grandchildren’s first grade classes. As I held and read the colorful pages of
Willie
the
Weatherman
—
a
Winter
Noreaster
, I decided to finish the series and move forward to have them published.

They were written in rhyme, and it didn’t take long for me to finish the series of five books covering a winter noreaster, a hurricane, a tornado, an earthquake, and an August heat wave in DC—I couldn’t resist. When I finally saw them in print with my name Sara Miller across the bottom, it was quite exhilarating even though only Sam’s twin boys were still young enough to appreciate them.

***

Before we realized it, we had been living on the Cape for three years. Jon continued to conduct the workshops, and after a three-year hiatus, I began playing in a regular Mah Jongg game once again on Wednesday evenings. Our grandchildren were growing up before our very eyes, and we delighted in watching their participation in sports, or attending piano recitals and band concerts, or just spending time with them one-on-one.

In September 2001, we travelled to Maryland to take part in Grandparents Day at Jake’s school. We were asked to come prepared to relate a special memory we savored from our childhood. It was a lot of fun and Jake’s class loved hearing our input. We stayed for a week celebrating the boys’ birthdays which were just days away, and returned to the Cape on Monday, September 10, 2001.

As I sat at my computer on that beautiful, sunny Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, two hijacked jetliners hit the World Trade Center in New York, another hit the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a fourth crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. It was said that in 102 minutes the world changed forever.

Trading on Wall Street stopped. The Federal Aviation Administration halted all flight operations at the nation’s airports for the first time in U.S. history, and U.S. military was placed on high alert. President Bush addressed the nation and vowed to “bring those responsible to justice.”

Hundreds of New York City firemen and policemen who were dispatched to rescue workers in the World Trade Center were lost when the WTC twin towers collapsed. We were all in a state of shock unable to grasp the horrendous pictures that appeared over and over again on the television.

As the ensuing days unfolded, the stories that appeared in the paper, on television, and over the internet related in no uncertain terms that our great nation was in a state of crisis. Reaction was swift as world leaders reacted with outrage over the attacks. Almost immediately the consensus was reached that Osama bin Laden and the Taliban were responsible. By month’s end, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a resolution sponsored by the United States demanding all nations take sweeping action against terrorism.

Each night as Jon and I lay in bed, we could hear the surveillance planes taking off from Otis Air Force Base on the Cape, and returning in the wee hours of the morning. In a national address days after the attacks, President Bush announced the creation of a Cabinet-level Office of Homeland Security and named Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge to coordinate America’s efforts to prevent terrorism.

Our neighbors in Maryland lost their son on the plane that went into the Pentagon, and our neighbors on the Cape lost their daughter on one of the planes that went into the Twin Towers. As picture after picture showed the horrible images of Ground Zero, my heart broke, and I wondered if my beloved New York would ever be whole again. I should have known that nothing can keep New Yorkers down and that their determination and spirit would indeed heal their wounds, but they would never forget.

As summer ended, fall inched into winter, and we began the long road back to normalcy.

We made plans for New Year’s Eve at the Country Club. Judy and Ira were planning to come up before leaving for Florida for a month. Although Judy’s cancer had never gone into remission, the doctor felt that since the chemo treatments had reduced the mass by seventy-five percent of its original size, they were making progress albeit minimally, and he was sustained by the fact that no new outbreaks had occurred.

In mid-December, Judy called to tell me that they were still planning to come to the Cape for New Year’s, but they were postponing their trip to Florida. Dr. Rubin’s return from a recent medical convention with news of the impending availability of several new chemo drugs was elating. The FDA had approved production of the drugs months before, and beginning after the first of the year, they would be accessible for treatment. He felt strongly that one of the new drugs would surely be the one to rid her body of the cancer they had successfully held at bay for almost three years. Although she never complained, he wanted so desperately to put an end to the seemingly endless chemo treatments.

When Jon picked Judy and Ira up at the airport, they were jubilant. Judy was feeling better than she had in a long time, and her buoyant outlook for the future was sustained by Dr. Rubin’s confidence that the one drug in particular that he had chosen for her next round of treatments would do what the others hadn’t—put her in remission. They were eagerly looking forward to what the next few months would bring.

Judy and Ira blended easily with our new friends and everyone was in a good mood. The Club was decorated with balloons and signs welcoming the New Year, and as they counted down to midnight, I counted my blessings and among them my optimism for the full recovery of my dear friend Judy.

Of the several new drugs approved by the FDA, the one developed by Heller Pharmaceuticals in Upstate New York was Dr. Rubin’s preference.

They returned to Maryland and awaited the call from her doctor. Days passed, and when there was no word, Ira phoned Dr. Rubin. He assured Ira that word could be received any day; Ira thanked him and hung up the phone. Sitting around the house waiting for the doctor’s call was taking a toll on both of them. Judy was constantly anxious, and every time the phone rang she jumped.

The next morning Ira decided to go to the dispensary for a few hours. When Dr. Rubin called the house and got the answering machine, he decided to try Ira at work. “Ira this is Dr. Rubin. We’ve had a slight setback. I just learned that the availability of the drug I selected for Judy’s treatment has been delayed a couple of months.

“After reviewing the paperwork I received on the pending new chemo drugs, I opted to go with the one developed by Heller Pharmaceuticals. It shows the most promise for colon cancers that metastasize elsewhere in the body especially the liver. Unfortunately, the company has now moved up the availability date to late April or possibly May.

“I’m going to start Judy back on her treatments tomorrow, and we’ll go forward with the new chemo as soon as we can.”

Ira initially frustrated suddenly asked, “Did you say that the new drug is being produced by Heller Pharmaceuticals?”

“Yes I did. Why do you ask?” Dr. Rubin replied.

“I’ve been doing business with that company for years and although I haven’t seen Danny Heller for some time, I speak with him by phone from time to time when the need arises. Would it be inappropriate for me to call him and see if I can get a heads up on a firm date of when their new drug will be available?”

“No Ira, not at all. By all means, give him a call, and just maybe he can speed up the process.”

Ira hung up and pressed the intercom asking the receptionist to get Danny Heller at Heller Pharmaceuticals on the phone.

“Ira Singer, how are you? We haven’t spoken in quite some time. It’s good to hear from you.”

Ira hesitated for a moment and replied, “I’m fine thank you, and how are you and your family?’

“I’m happy to say everyone is great, and we’re expecting another baby by summer’s end.”

“Congratulations, and I wish you all the best. Danny, this is not a business call; I need your help.”

They spoke for almost an hour. Ira told him about Judy’s colon cancer years before, about the cancer metastasizing in her liver, about the chemo treatments that in three years had only managed to reduce the mass and not obliterate it, and finally about Dr. Rubin’s learning of the impending release of their new chemo drug, and strongly hoping that it would at long last put her in remission.

Danny was overwhelmed by his friend’s dilemma. As CEO of Heller Pharmaceuticals, he savored the euphoric feeling that being in the business of helping people gave him, and in essence Ira’s business was in some way related. He recalled meeting Ira shortly after his father Jack died. They had consummated their very first business transaction when the Company had begun producing generic drugs. Heller Pharmaceuticals had grown far beyond their humble beginnings of solely producing vitamins, and had become a giant in an industry that remained dominated by a handful of prominent companies. They now produced drugs for almost every ailment, and with FDA’s recent approval of their new chemo drug and two new drugs for the early treatment of AIDS, they were under severe pressure to meet availability deadlines.

When Danny had collected his thoughts, he placed a call to Dr. Rubin.

***