Too Many Men (77 page)

Edek called. “You was the one what did get the best room?” he said.

“No,” she said. “Not me.”

“It was not me, too,” he said, and started to laugh. Ruth was glad to hear him laugh. You needed to laugh in a place like Lódz.

Edek was still laughing when they met in the lobby. “My room is even worse than the room what I did have last time,” he said.

“Oh no,” said Ruth.

“This bed has got one leg missing,” Edek said. He started to laugh even harder. “Where is supposed to be the leg,” he said, “is six bricks.”

“Six bricks?” Ruth said, laughing.

Edek nodded. He was trying to stop laughing. “I did count them, myself,” he said eventually.

“You have to laugh, don’t you?” Ruth said, wiping her eyes.

“Ruthie, you do have to laugh,” he said.

“If you can’t sleep tonight,” Ruth said to Edek, “call me and I’ll ask them to move you to another room.”

“I did try the bed, already,” Edek said. “I did lie down. It was not too bad.”

“One night here is all we need, and then we can leave,” Ruth said. “I’ve booked us into the Bristol in Warsaw, for our last night in Poland,” Ruth said. “I’m ready for some luxury.”

“I think I am, too, Ruthie,” Edek said.

“Do you want a big dinner, or something small?” Ruth said. As soon as T O O M A N Y M E N

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the words came out of her mouth, Ruth knew she shouldn’t have phrased the question that way. Edek could never admit to being hungry or to wanting a large meal. “Let’s eat somewhere where we can have more if we’re hungry, and less if we’re not so hungry,” she said.

“I am not so hungry,” Edek said.

“There’s a café across the road,” Ruth said. “They serve light meals.”

“I did not get anything to eat on the plane,” Edek said.

“You didn’t miss much,” Ruth said. “Liverwurst on a biscuit, and an orange.”

“I do not like so much an orange,” Edek said.

“I know,” said Ruth. “So let’s choose a restaurant.”

“What about Chinee?” Edek said.

“That Chinese restaurant we went to last time?” Ruth said.

“Yes,” said Edek.

“I’m not going back there,” Ruth said.

“That was not such a bad Chinee,” Edek said.

“That was a very Polish Chinese,” Ruth said.

“You did like the worms,” Edek said.

“Not enough to go back,” she said. “What about a French restaurant?”

“What about the McDonald’s?” Edek said.

“Dad, I don’t eat hamburgers in America,” she said. “Why would I eat a hamburger in Lódz?”

“Okay,” he said, looking flat.

“Let’s compromise,” Ruth said. “I’ll go to McDonald’s with you and then you can keep me company while I have a bowl of soup in the hotel.”

“Okay, that is a deal,” Edek said.

At McDonald’s Edek ordered two cheeseburgers, two servings of french fries, and two chocolate thickshakes. “The McDonald’s make a very good hamburger,” he said, midway through the second hamburger. He looked less tired, Ruth thought. The hamburgers had revitalized him.

“Have another one,” Ruth said. “They’re not very big.” Edek ordered another cheeseburger. By the time Edek had eaten the last french fry, his color had improved. His cheeks looked rosy. His eyes were shining. “That was a very good dinner,” he said to Ruth. They walked back to the hotel.

“I think I’ll have the soup in my room,” Ruth said. “I’m feeling tired.”

“Okey dokey,” Edek said.

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L I L Y B R E T T

“You go upstairs,” she said to Edek. “I’ll order my soup, and check to see if there are any faxes for me.”

“Good night, Ruthie,” Edek said.

There were no faxes. Ruth was relieved. She didn’t want to think about work at the moment. She’d be happy to deal with whatever was happening in the office as soon as she got back. The doorman waved to her. She went up to him. “Are you ready to ask your business request?” he said.

“Yes,” she said.

She wished he would clip the clumps of hair protruding from his nose.

They were making her feel sick. This man needed a nose- and ear-hair clipper. Maybe she would send him one from New York. She tried to focus on his eyes. She explained that she wanted to know if he could accompany her and her father on an expedition they had to make to Kamedulska Street in the morning.

The doorman looked bewildered. “A taxi can take you there,” he said.

“My father needs to dig something up in the backyard of a house, in Kamedulska Street,” Ruth said to the doorman. “What he is looking for was buried over fifty years ago.”

“Ah, gold,” said the doorman.

“No,” said Ruth. “What is buried there has no financial value, only emotional value.”

“So what is the problem?” the doorman said, stepping closer. Ruth stepped back from him.

“The problem is that this object is buried on property that belonged to my father before the war,” she said. “The current residents are disturbed by my father’s presence. I just want to make sure that my father can look for what is buried and then leave, peacefully.”

“I see,” the doorman said. “You want me for protection.”

“Yes,” Ruth said.

“With pleasure,” the doorman said. “It will be my pleasure to protect you.”

“To protect me and my father,” Ruth said.

“Of course,” the doorman said. Ruth was pleased. She smiled at the doorman. “I’ll pay you well,” she said. He nodded. She was glad that he was so thickset. Glad that he had such a thick neck and a thick body. His presence T O O M A N Y M E N

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would show the old couple that she meant business. She hoped that the doorman would leave all of his gold chains on. They added a degree of menace.

“Is it possible for you to bring a spade and some plastic gloves?” Ruth said to the doorman. He hesitated.

“I’ll pay well for them, of course,” she said.

“A large spade?” he said.

“A medium spade,” Ruth said. “The object we are looking for is small.”

“I will have a spade and gloves with me,” the doorman said.

“I’ve got a car booked to pick us up at nine o’clock,” Ruth said.

“You will see me here at nine A.M. sharp,” the doorman said.

“Thank you,” said Ruth.

She went up to her room. She rang Tadeusz, the interpreter. She asked him if he was free to accompany them to Kamedulska Street. Tadeusz was pleased to hear from her. “Of course I will accompany you,” he said. She told him the doorman would also be joining them. Tadeusz laughed. “I am pleased to see that you will be more prepared this time,” he said.

Ruth felt as though she had assembled a swat team. A guard, an interpreter, a driver. What would they be presiding over? What was it that was buried? And was it still there? She would know very soon. She would know tomorrow. She thought about ordering some soup to be brought up to her room. She decided against it. She wasn’t really hungry.

She looked in the mirror. Her father was right. She looked much better.

Her features weren’t flattened and dampened with fatigue and tension. Her complexion was clear. She no longer looked pallid. The circles under her eyes had disappeared. She fidgeted with her hair. Even her hair seemed revitalized. The curls were curling themselves into more aesthetically pleasing loops and rings.

She went to her suitcase and got out a small candle in a filigree silver container. She opened the lid. The candle was a gift someone had given her years ago. She had traveled with it for years. Ostensibly in case of a power shortage. After she had learned that most hotels had their own generators, she had continued to take the candle with her on trips. The candle was intact. It was not chipped or cracked. She placed the candle, in its holder, on a plate. She got out the matches she always packed with the candle. She lit the candle. The flame cast a large shadow for such a small candle. Ruth

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L I L Y B R E T T

switched the lights in the room off. She felt peaceful sitting there with the candle. Very peaceful.

In Jewish tradition, a candle was a symbol of the body and soul. The flame was the soul. Always reaching upward. Jews believed that the burning of a candle aided the soul of the departed in a journey toward heaven.

Centuries ago, Ruth had read, it had been a custom to place a towel and a glass of water near a memorial candle. This was in order to appease the Angel of Death. To allow him to wash his sword in the water and dry it with a towel. Other scholars, at the time, believed that a man’s soul returned to cleanse itself in the water. Ruth filled a glass with water. She put the glass next to the candle, along with a neatly folded hand towel. She sat in a chair in front of the candle.

Jewish people lit candles on the Sabbath, on holidays, at weddings and bar mitzvahs. Candles also celebrated joy and life. Ruth watched the candle. The flame seemed to have a calm flicker. Some candles were erratic.

This candle was very steady. Ruth breathed in and out deeply. A line from an old school prayer came into her head. It was a Christian prayer, the only sort they had had at Ruth’s primary school.
“If I should die before I wake, I
pray the Lord my soul to take,”
Ruth said.

That night she slept soundly. She dreamed about the gypsy woman in Warsaw. In Ruth’s dream, the gypsy woman’s baby was clean and well nourished. Ruth woke up feeling peaceful. She showered slowly and got dressed. She put on a pair of earrings. They were small gold hearts she had had since she was a child.

Edek was waiting for her at breakfast. He was sitting at a table in the far corner of the room. His shoulders were slumped. He was staring down at the table. He looked forlorn. Lonely. Alone. Ruth ran up to him. “Hi, Dad,” she said, and kissed him on the cheek. “How are you?” she said.

“I am okay, as usual,” Edek said.

“You don’t look quite okay,” Ruth said.

“There is nothing wrong with me,” Edek said. “I am always okay.” Edek looked at Ruth. “You do look very nice, today, Ruthie,” he said.

“Thanks,” she said. “It’s been a big trip, hasn’t it?”

“You can say that again, brother,” Edek said.

“It’s almost over,” Ruth said. “We’ll be out of here, out of Lódz, and out of Poland, very soon.”

T O O M A N Y M E N

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“Yes,” said Edek. He still looked flat.

“I’m so grateful you came to Poland with me,” Ruth said. “So grateful.”

Edek seemed surprised.

“I did think you was not so happy you did come to Poland,” he said.

“You’re right,” she said. “It hasn’t been a picnic. It hasn’t been one fun-filled event after another.” Edek laughed. “But I’m glad I came,” she said.

“I needed to do this.”

“You did want to do this for a long time,” Edek said.

“I’ve wanted to do this for a very long time,” she said. “Let’s eat.”

“Okay,” said Edek. Ruth got up to go to the buffet. Edek stayed seated.

“I am not so hungry to tell you the truth,” he said. Ruth looked at him.

“You’re always hungry in the morning,” Ruth said. “You always eat a good breakfast.”

“Today I am not so hungry,” Edek said.

“Come on, Dad,” she said. “It’s important to eat breakfast.”

“Ruthie darling,” Edek said. “A girl what eats birdseeds for a breakfast shouldn’t talk about it is important to eat breakfast to an old man like me who does know what is a breakfast.”

“I don’t eat birdseed,” Ruth said. “And you are definitely not an old man.”

“You go to the buffet, Ruthie,” Edek said. “I will wait here.” Ruth felt alarmed. Edek never lost his appetite. This was not a good sign.

“Are you worried about this morning?” Ruth said.

“Maybe,” said Edek.

“Whatever is buried there or not buried there,” Ruth said, “it’s in the past. Whatever it is we will deal with it. You and me.” She looked at Edek.

“There is nothing that we can’t deal with, Dad,” she said. “As long as we’ve got each other.” She put her arm around him. “Do you understand that?”

she said. Edek looked as though he was about to cry. “Please have something to eat, Dad,” Ruth said. “What about a hot chocolate?” Edek straightened his shoulders.

“Okay, I will have a hot chocolate,” he said. “Just for my daughter.”

Ruth ordered the hot chocolate. She brought Edek a slice of sponge cake from the buffet.

“This will be good with the hot chocolate,” she said.

“You is still going to eat the birdseeds?” Edek said.

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L I L Y B R E T T

“What can I do?” she said. “I just happen to like birdseed.” Edek laughed.

Ruth was relieved to hear him laugh. Anything that bothered him enough to take away his appetite was serious. What was bothering him?

The prospect of what were they going to find this morning? There was probably nothing there, she thought. The Poles would have raked through that earth pretty thoroughly. She wondered what it was that Edek was looking for. She had no idea. She also wondered why she was so calm. The thought of seeing the old man or his wife was not exactly a pleasing prospect. The calm she felt was probably because she knew that this trip was almost over, she thought. She knew that she was on her way home.

“They got compote on the buffet,” Edek said. “You want me to get you some compote?”

“Oh, thanks, Dad,” she said. “I feel like a bit of compote.” Edek got up.

He ran to the buffet. The buffet was ten feet away. “A small bowl,” she called out after him. The portion of compote Edek brought back was enough to feed six people.

“I did ring the lawyer, in Melbourne,” Edek said.

“When?” said Ruth.

“Last night,” Edek said. He shook his head. “Before I did come to Poland I did want very much to get back what did belong to us,” he said.

“But now it does not seem so important, to me.”

“Now, you just want to get out of Poland,” Ruth said.

“That is the truth, Ruthie,” he said. “I am ready to leave Poland.”

“What did the lawyer say?” Ruth said.

“He did say that because they was successful with the Swiss banks what agreed to give the Jews back their money, they are now going to sue some big companies,” Edek said. “Big companies who did use slave labor.”