Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself (13 page)

“Really?” Vicki sounded surprised.

“Yes … like tonight, my mother didn’t want to come but my father …” Sally put her hand to her mouth and blushed. “I mean …”

“I know just what you mean,” Vicki said.

“But, I …”

“It’s all right. I’ll pretend I never heard a word. You know something, Sally?”

“No … what?”

“I like you!”

“I like you too.”

“How would you like to wear one of my bracelets for a little while?”

“Well, I don’t know … I have my own … you see …” She held out her wrist so Vicki could
see her shell bracelet. “I bought it in Woolworth’s … they’re real shells too … from the beach.”

“Very pretty,” Vicki said. “I guess you don’t need mine after all, then.”

“I guess not,” Sally said, “But thank you anyway.”

Vicki was going through her make-up bag again, deciding which lipstick to use. She chose a bright pink one, applied it, then blotted her lips with a tissue.

“Is Mr. Wiskoff, by any chance, Latin?” Sally asked.

“Latin?” Vicki said.

“Yes … from Cuba or Mexico or someplace south of the border?”

Vicki laughed. “Teddy is New York all the way, honey. He’s a very important man back east … and don’t you forget it … you’ve had dinner with Big Ted Wiskoff and that means a lot!”

“Wash that goo off your eyes before you go to sleep,” Mom said, in the taxi, on the way back to their apartment.

“Do I have to?” Sally asked.

“Yes!”

“But it looks so pretty.”

“Pretty awful!” Douglas said.

Sally gave him an elbow in the ribs. “Do you
know they call Mr. Wiskoff,
Big Ted?
” Sally asked her father.

Mom answered, “And not because he’s tall, I’ll bet.”

“I really liked him,” Douglas said. “And that Mrs. Wiskoff … what a dish!”

“She showed me how to wash diamonds,” Sally told them.

“That’s wonderful!” Mom said. “Every girl should know how to wash diamonds.”

“That’s exactly what Vicki said!”

Mom snorted and looked out the window.

Daddy laughed. “Did you enjoy dinner, kids?”

“Oh, yeah … it was great,” Douglas answered.

“And all that whipped cream,” Sally said. “Yum!”

When they got out of the taxi they saw the Goodyear Blimp in the sky. It was all lit up. Douglas said, “Oh, boy … would I like to fly around in that!”

Mom said, “Some people don’t have enough trouble … they have to go looking for it.”

“Was tonight an adventure, Doey?” Sally asked. She was already tucked in to bed and Daddy sat on the edge, waiting for his treatment.

“I’ll say …”

“I thought so.”

“I’m glad you had a good time, Sal …”

“Mmm … I really did.”

When her mother came over to kiss her goodnight Sally reached up and put her arms around Mom’s neck. “You know something … I wouldn’t want a mother who looks like Vicki … she’s nice and all that but I don’t think she’d know how to love a kid the way she loves her diamonds …” She kissed Mom’s cheek.

Mom hugged her back. “Thank you, Sally … I really needed to hear that tonight.”

Dear Doey
,

I miss you already! I hope you had a good trip home. Next time I think you should fly National Airlines because Barbara’s mother works for them. You remember who Barbara is, don’t you?

I forgot to tell you something very important when you were here. My teacher, Miss Swetnick, goes out with Peter Hornsteins brother. Peter Hornstein sits behind me in class. I also forgot to ask if you could fix my front tooth like my teacher’s. It looks very pretty when she smiles
.

I am still trying to get my first E for excellent in penmanship. Doesn’t my writing look better? I don’t make my o’s like a’s any more
.

Well, that’s it for now. Send my love to Aunt Bette, Uncle Jack and Miss Kay
.

Your loving and only daughter
,

S.J.F
.

She folded the letter and placed it in an envelope. Then she took out another piece of paper. As
long as she was writing letters she might as well write one to
him
too.

Dear Mr. Zavodsky
,

I had a dream about you. I am almost sure I know who you really are. Give yourself up before I report you to the police. I will be watching and waiting. Don’t think you can get away with this disguise of yours. Nobody feels sorry for you just because you lost
.

Sally and Andrea were sitting at the edge of the goldfish pool in the courtyard, playing the initial game. Omar had his front paws on the edge of the pool and was peering over the side.

“You can look but don’t touch,” Andrea warned Omar. “No goldfish for you!”

Omar purred and stuck his tail straight up in the air.

“Look at that,” Sally said. “I never saw him do that before.”

“Oh, sure … it means he wants affection.”

“How do you know?”

“I read it in this book called
Getting To Know Your Cat
,” Andrea said. “When they stick their tails up like that you should pet them.” She reached out and stroked Omar’s back. “It’s your turn …”

Sally petted Omar too.

“Not for that!” Andrea said, annoyed. “For the initial game.”

“Oh,” Sally said, “… okay, I’m thinking of a famous person and his initials are A.H.”

“A.H.,” Andrea repeated, “let’s see … is he a movie star?”

“Nope.”

“A radio personality?”

“Nope.”

“Uh … a political figure?”

“I guess you could say that …”

“Let’s see …” Andrea put her finger to her lip and looked up at the sky. “I’ve got it … Admiral Halsey!”

“Nope,” Sally said. “But did I ever tell you that I saw Admiral Halsey’s parade when he came home from the war?”

“You did?”

“Yes … I threw confetti and everything … but that’s not who I’m thinking of …”

“Well,” Andrea said, “then I give up … I can’t think of anybody else with those initials …”

“How about Adolf Hitler?” Sally was pleased that she’d stumped Andrea.

“Adolf Hitler!” Andrea said, and she leaned over the side of the goldfish pool and spit into it. “How can you even say that name without spitting?”

“I never spit,” Sally said.

“Well, you should … every time you say that name … every time you even hear it you should spit … he made lampshades out of Jewish people’s skin!”

“He did?” Sally leaned over and spit into the pool too. “There,” she said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

“And don’t you ever use that filthy name on me again,” Andrea said, “or I’ll never play the initial game with you!”

“All right,” Sally said. “I’m thinking of a …” She was interrupted by a high, shrill scream, coming from the side yard. Both girls jumped up and ran to see what was happening. It was Mrs. Richter, a small, thin woman with white hair. Other people rushed outside to see what the commotion was about. Through it all Mrs. Richter kept screaming, with one hand clutching her chest and the other pointing to the bushes.

Mr. Koner, the landlord, who also lived in their building, said, “Tell us what’s wrong …”

Mrs. Richter just shook her head, took a breath and let out another scream.

“Try to tell us what it is …” Mr. Koner said. “How can we help you if you won’t tell us …”

Mrs. Richter began to cry and talk at the same time. “It’s the second one this week … and two last week … that makes four … and the week
before another one … that makes five … my heart isn’t what it used to be … I can’t take much more of it … it’s that cat’s fault …”

“What cat?” Mr. Koner asked.

“That cat!” Mrs. Richter said. “That white cat …” She pointed to Omar. “I’ve seen him running through these bushes. I’ve seen him chasing birds.”

Everyone looked toward the bushes and there, on the ground, lay a bird’s head. The crowd that had gathered began to chatter.

Andrea grew pale and scooped Omar into her arms. “It’s
not
Omar,” she told everyone. “He gets enough to eat at home … he doesn’t need any old birds!”

“You keep him locked up … you hear?” Mrs. Richter shouted. “Because if I see him again …”

Andrea turned and ran back to the courtyard. Sally followed. Andrea held Omar to her. “It wasn’t you … I know it wasn’t you …” she told him, kissing his face. “I love you, Omar … don’t you listen to that old witch …”

“Everybody knows she’s crazy,” Sally said. “Just ask my grandmother … she’ll tell you … just because she’s from Boston she thinks she’s so great … she won’t even play rummy with the rest of the ladies …”

“I hate her!” Andrea said.

Sally was thoughtful for a minute. “You could get
Omar a collar with bells … then he’d scare the birds away and Mrs. Richter wouldn’t be able to blame him anymore.”

Andrea looked at Sally. “That’s a very good idea … sometimes you really surprise me … for a fifth grader you’re pretty smart.”

Sally smiled.

They took Omar upstairs, then walked to the Five and Dime, where they chose a blue collar with three tiny bells.

“Don’t you think this collar will go nicely with his eyes?” Andrea asked.

“Yes … he’ll look really pretty in it.”

“Let’s hurry home and try it on him,” Andrea said.

“Okay … I just want to stop at the fountain for a drink of water … I’m so thirsty …”

“Yeah … me too … it’s really hot today,” Andrea said. “We could stop at the corner and get a glass of orange juice instead.”

“The orange juice at the corner has too many pieces in it.”

“It’s not pieces … it’s pulp,” Andrea said. “I love my juice pulpy.”

“Not me … pulp gags me.”

“You have to open your throat wide.”

“I can’t.”

“You could ask the man to strain it for you,” Andrea suggested.

“I did once … I was with my mother and the man behind the counter said he wouldn’t do it because all the vitamins are in the pulp and why should my mother pay for a fresh orange juice with no vitamins … so if you don’t mind I’ll just get a drink of water …”

“I don’t mind.”

They walked to the drinking fountain at the back of the store and Sally stood on tiptoe. Andrea held the button down for her. As Sally was drinking, a woman came up from behind and yanked her away.

“Hey …” Andrea said.

“What’s the matter with you girls?” the woman asked. “Can’t you read?” She pointed to a sign above the fountain:
Colored
. “Your fountain is over there.” She spun Sally around by the shoulders. “You see … it says
White
 … what would your mothers say if they knew what you’d been doing? God only knows what you might pick up drinking from this fountain … you better thank your lucky stars I came along when I did. Now here,” she said, reaching into her purse for a Kleenex. She handed it to Sally. “You wipe your mouth off real good and from now on be more careful …”

Sally was shaking. When the woman was gone she turned to Andrea. “Did you know they had two fountains?”

“No,” Andrea said. “I never even thought about it.”

“Me neither … but I know Negro people have to sit in the back of the bus here.”

“Everybody with dark skin has to …” Andrea said. “That’s why my mother always makes me sit up front.”

“Do you think that’s fair?”

“I don’t know but my mother says you have to follow the rules.”

“So does mine.”

They began to walk home slowly.

“We had a Negro lady who came in to clean three times a week in New Jersey,” Sally said, “and here we have one every Friday … she’s half Seminole Indian … my mother told me. She has dark skin but she eats off our dishes and drinks from our glasses and all that …”

“It’s not the same thing,” Andrea said.

“I don’t see the difference … she’s very nice … and she’s got the prettiest name … Precious Redwine … isn’t that a beautiful name?”

“Yes, but I wouldn’t want it,” Andrea said. “Nobody in Brooklyn has a name like that.”

“Nobody in New Jersey has either.”

Dear Doey-bird
,

Right now Douglas is listening to the radio
. Jack Armstrong, All American Boy
is on. I haven’t been following Jack Armstrong lately so I don’t know what’s happening. Did I tell you that I’m not as
scared of
The Shadow
as I used to be? I still don’t like it when he laughs and says
The Shadow knows
 … but I don’t have to stuff my ears with cotton the way I do when Douglas listens to
Inner Sanctum.

This afternoon me and Andrea went to the Five and Dime and I took a drink from the wrong water fountain. They have two of them here. One is marked
White
and the other is marked
Colored.
What would happen if a person with dark skin, like a Negro or a Seminole Indian, took a drink from our fountain? Do they really have different germs? Since you went to Dental College I’m sure you know these things …

Dear Sally
,

In your last letter you raised some questions that are very hard to answer. I have always believed that people have more similarities than differences, regardless of the color of their skin. While the south continues to practice outright segregation, the north is not much better. We just don’t admit we do it. For instance, how many Negro children were in your school in New Jersey?…