by Gary Beck
When they turned the corner at 17th Street, Peter noticed a sign across the street for Greenmarket, with a number of vendors stands open despite the cold. It was almost show time, so he suggested they check it out later. They went into the bookstore and walked upstairs to a stage that was set up with a little puppet theater. The show hadn’t started yet and it wasn’t crowded, so the children were able to sit on the floor up front. The adults stayed back where they wouldn’t interfere but could keep an eye on the children. Peter wandered off to look at books, and Kiesha and Hector found a deserted aisle where they could nuzzle and fondle each other. Beth pointed out a bench to Miss Lily, where they could sit and watch the kids and the show.
Miss Lily sat down gratefully, "Chile. I swear, once we move into our new apartments, I’m goin to start an exercise program and lose some weight. I’m tired of haulin’ all this bulk around."
"Then I bet you’ll call Ephraim."
"Hush, chile. You’re gettin’ mighty fresh."
There was a fanfare of recorded music and a man in a clown suit and hat popped up from behind the puppet theater. "Good afternoon, boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the circus of Signor Boldini. Today we will perform a story about two boys and a girl who went to the circus with their parents and got lost. If you know any of the songs, you can sing along with us. Now, on with the show."
Circus music played and the curtain went up on a parade of circus animals. Elephants, lions, tigers, horses, bears and seals marched across the stage in time to the music. There were little benches set up, where the puppet audience sat watching the show. The Rodney ringmaster puppet announced the first act, the bareback rider. The horse galloped around in a circle, while the rider performed tricks. By this time the children were entranced, and they applauded when the rider was finished. Then a group of clowns came out and did funny things that made the children laugh.
The adults were also enjoying the performance. When the ringmaster announced the acrobats, the accompanying music was the song, ‘He flies through the air with the greatest of ease, that daring young man on the flying trapeze.’ The adults sang along with many of the children. The acrobats were very cleverly manipulated, and the children oohed and aahed at their movements. The acrobats were followed by the lion tamer, Batty Bear, the performing elephants and Silly Seal, who played ‘My Country Tis of Thee’ on the xylophone. Then a strong man, Muscle Mike, came out and struggled and strained to lift some massive weights. He finished, bowed and the children clapped. Then they roared with laughter when Krazy Clown picked up the weights with one hand and effortlessly carried them off. All the animals and performers paraded, and the two boys and the girl puppet left their seats and followed them out. The parent puppets didn’t notice they were gone at first, then called them and went to find them. The lights dimmed and the boy and girl puppets came to the darkened stage, where they were frightened and called their parents. A clown brought the parents to them, they were reunited, and the clown told them to always listen to their parents. The audience loved the show.
Beth and Miss Lily gathered the children, who were earnestly discussing who they liked best. The girls loved the bareback rider, because she was a girl. The boys favored the lion tamer for his bravery. They all liked Krazy Clown, who had carried off the fake weights.
Beth made the mistake of asking about the moral, ‘Always listen to your parents.’
Jennifer looked at her with the disdain children reserve for the unsubtle adult, "Oh, Mom. Don’t be silly. We know they just said that to make parents feel good." The children resumed their discussion of the show, debating whether or not girls could be acrobats, and didn’t even notice Beth’s discomfort.
Miss Lily whispered, "Chile, we better make sure that we’re smarter than they are, or pretty soon they’ll be tellin’ us what to do." They grinned at each other in acknowledgement of their offspring.
Peter, Kiesha and Hector rejoined them and after a brief stay in the children’s book section, they herded the children out of the store.
They were all curious about the Greenmarket and went to the corner and crossed the street at Broadway. Kiesha gave the children a solemn lecture about always crossing a street at the corner, with the light and looking carefully both ways. The children listened politely, then asked if they could go to the playground. Peter and Hector escorted them, while the women investigated the Greenmarket. There was a small cluster of stands open for business, including the Quattro Farms that sold turkeys and ducks, the Blue Farm that sold pork chops and bacon, an egg stand, a bread stand, a jam and jelly stand, and Ronniebrook farm, where the women bought fresh milk, butter, yoghurt and ice cream. They collected the men and children and brought them to the apple stand, where everyone drank hot cider. To the surprise of the adults, the children clamored for more and they got them another serving. They bought a giant pretzel for everyone and headed back to the hotel, while the children good-naturedly bickered over the respective sizes and shapes of their pretzels.
They walked uptown on Park Avenue South, pausing briefly on the first few blocks to peer in the windows of expensive, upscale restaurants, cleverly recycled from the shambles of decaying commercial loft buildings. When walking together, the group had evolved a migratory formation with the women leading the way, the girls right behind them, then the boys, with the men bringing up the rear. This allowed the men to make sure that none of the children wandered off. Hector was particularly diligent in monitoring possible threats to the children’s safety from molesters, kidnappers, bicyclists, motorists and unknown hazards in general. The first few times that Peter went out with Hector in the Bronx, he thought that Hector was overprotective. Now he was as wary as Hector, perceiving potential dangers everywhere, in a city simmering with the barely contained rage of its inhabitants. Peter understood that it wasn’t that they expected something bad to happen every moment, but they loved their children too much to be careless of their well-being. They got to East 28th Street and Park Avenue South and the children cast yearning eyes at McDonald’s. Most of them were still gnawing on their pretzels, so the adults ignored their half-hearted entreaty.
When they reached the hotel they started up the steps and met Ephraim and Precious, who were carrying suitcases and shopping bags. "I’m glad we saw you before we left, so I could say goodbye again," Ephraim said. "You were the only friends we made here."
They shook hands all around and Miss Lily said, "You were a big help to us here. We’re goin to miss you."
"I have your cell phone number, Miss Lily, and you have my home number. We’ll stay in touch."
Precious shyly said goodbye and the group watched the pair leave, carrying their belongings back to the home they were forced to flee. They walked under the construction scaffolding on the corner building that had been there since the group moved into the hotel, two fragile figures, overburdened by the madness of the times.
The group stood on the steps until Ephraim and Precious were out of sight. By this time it was beginning to get dark and the hotel looked particularly bleak. The container of ravaged lives was not welcoming, and only the practitioners of crime seemed to feel at home. The lobby was grim and stark. One of the Singh clones lurked behind the protective shield and stared at them with blank, indifferent lizard eyes. They rode up to the fifth floor, already missing Ephraim’s solid presence and silently went to their rooms. The children were tired from the afternoon’s activities and in a rare occurrence, didn’t resist the suggestion that they take a nap. It didn’t take long for Jennifer and Andy to doze off and Beth and Peter lay on the bed, whispering together for a few stolen moments while the children slept.
"I’m so glad we’re getting out of here in a few days," Beth said. "Now that Ephraim’s gone, the place seems even more inhuman."
"I know what you mean. You’ve been a pillar of strength. Just hold on a little longer and it’ll be over and the nightmare will fade away."
"I can do that."
They cuddled closely
and Peter gently stroked her shoulders and back. He kissed her softly and she held him tightly, then murmured in his ear: "Mister Clinton is standing up for re-election. I think we should go into the bathroom and review his candidacy." They got up and quietly went into the bathroom, careful not to wake the children and slowly undressed each other. They didn’t have any condoms and Beth wouldn’t risk pregnancy, so Peter stroked her until she came, then slid into her until she came again. He withdrew and Beth squeezed and rubbed him until he came in her hand. As she washed her hands in the tiny, cracked porcelain sink, Beth brooded that their clumsy sexual activity was frustrating for Peter and she expressed her concern, "I know our lovemaking hasn’t been the most exciting thing in the world for you…"
He cut her off with a kiss, "What are you talking about? We’re lucky that we have any sex life at all, the way we’ve been living."
"So you are all right with the way we've been handling things?"
"Yes. Let’s take a nap."
The phone woke them about eight o’clock. It was Miss Lily, calling them to dinner. While they were dozing, she had prepared fried chicken, dumplings and collard greens. It was a clever piece of cooking, considering she only had two hot plates, limited kitchenware and hardly any room to function in. The food was delicious and fortunately there was more than enough for the famished hordes to gorge themselves. When they finished stuffing their grease coated faces, the smiles of satiation were the only signs of animation. They stood there like bloated geese just before the farmers harvested their inflated livers. It took a while until they started to digest. They just hulked in the hallway, and grunted admonitions at the children, who were fueled by the feast, rather than tranquilized. Miss Lily’s hot rich coffee brought the adults back to remedial functioning and they finally lurched off to their rooms to put the children to bed, still too full to do more than languidly wave goodnight.
The only way Beth could get the children to settle down was to read a story that each of them chose.
Andy’s selection of ‘Benny the Bunny,’ elicited a moan from Peter, who whispered plaintively, "Will he ever outgrow that odious story?"
"It’s a good story, Daddy," Andy said. "It’s the best one you read to me."
Peter turned to Beth for sympathy, but she supported Andy, "I don’t see what you have against that cute little bunny. Now stop being difficult and read to your son."
Jennifer chimed in, "That’s right, Daddy. Stop being difficult." Vanquished by superior force, Peter picked up the book and did his duty manfully. He rejected Andy’s demand to read it again and attempted to get the children ready for bed.
They resisted and played ‘chase me around the room, daddy,’ until Beth came to his rescue. "That’s enough teasing of your father. Go brush your teeth and get into bed."
Peter watched them docilely go to the bathroom and start ablutions, and wondered aloud, "Why do I have so much trouble getting them to obey?"
"Because you indulge them almost all the time and they know they can wrap you around their fingers."
The discussion of suzerainty was interrupted by the emergence of their freshly scrubbed offspring, who angelically kissed their bemused father goodnight, lay down and promptly fell asleep.
"I don’t understand how kids do it. They just put their heads down and boom, they’re fast asleep."
"They don’t have your worries yet, Peter. They finished their day. Now they’re resting up for tomorrow."
"Who knows what they’ll demand of me once they’re rested and raring to go. You could at least have supported me about ‘Benny the Bunny’. Now they think they can walk all over me."
"Don’t be silly. They ask you to do things because they love you and want your attention."
"That was a battle between the rule of a father and demanding kids. You supported them and I was defeated."
"It was hardly Waterloo, my emperor," Beth giggled. "Come to bed. If you can be very quiet, I’ll try to console you."
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Beth and Peter chatted companionably for several hours. Just before they put the light out, Beth remarked sleepily, "This is so nice. It’s just like a date."
They slipped into a sweet, peaceful sleep that was abruptly shattered a few hours later. Yelling, screaming and gunshots yanked them wide awake. It was hard to tell exactly where it was coming from, but it was so loud that it sounded nearby. They followed their emergency drill. Peter made sure the front door was locked, then he called Miss Lily on the cell phone, to be sure she was all right. Beth called Kiesha and asked her to phone Hector. They reminded each other to pound on the walls if they were in trouble, otherwise to stay in touch by phone. Peter called 911 and reported a gang fight with shots fired. The commotion died down before the police arrived and it became so quiet that the group had no idea what was going on. They assumed the police officers left and they went back to sleep.
About an hour later a loud knock on the door startled Beth and Peter and scared the children.
Peter went to the door and asked, "Who is it?" To their relief, it was the two detectives who had come to the hotel previously. Peter described the incident to the skeptical detectives, who seemed to resent being summoned to the hotel.
"We checked out the upper floors and there was nothing happening," the man said. "Are you sure you heard gunshots?"
Peter was annoyed at being awakened and not being believed, "We heard them loud and clear. Mister Rodriguez is an ex-marine. He’ll confirm they were gunshots. It sounded like a really big fight."
"Well we couldn’t find any evidence of a fight. No bodies. No bloodstains. No bullet holes. We’ll be going now. Goodnight."
"That’s it? That’s all you’re going to do?"
The tough blond woman said in a bored voice, "We told you before that there’s nothing we can do without evidence."
The detectives walked to the elevator and Peter called after them, "You know what goes on here. It’s no secret. Why don’t you do something about it?" They ignored him and got on the elevator, the tough blond looking at him curiously as the doors closed.
It took a while to reassure the children that there was no danger, and for them to fall back asleep. The adults gathered in the hall in front of Miss Lily’s room and whispered their concerns.
Miss Lily was still jittery, "Those folk upstairs are like cockroaches. They come out in the dark and spoil everythin’. I thank the lord we’ll be gettin’ out of here soon. This place is givin’ me the creeps."
No one disagreed and Beth said, "We have to be very careful about the next few days. If we’re lucky, we’ll be gone before the next incident happens."
"I know it’s a terrible thing to say," Kiesha said, "but we should look out for ourselves and forget what goes on upstairs."
Peter nodded, "I didn’t know where the shots were coming from and they sounded too close to ignore."
"Thanks for looking out for us," Hector muttered.
They again said goodnight to each other and went to their rooms. Beth adjusted the children’s covers and muttered, "It really bugs me that Jennifer has to sleep on a cot and Andy sleeps on the floor."
"We’ll send for our furniture from Detroit right away and the kids will have beds again," Peter said soothingly. "I don’t remember the condition of our bed, but I think it’s still usable."
"You’re right. We’ll manage, one way or another." They idly reminded each other what they had in storage and they concluded there was enough to furnish the new apartment.
"I’ll call the storage company on Monday morning and make the shipping arrangements," Peter said. "It’ll probably cost a few hundred dollars and I’ll have to charge it…. Uh. Oh."
"What is it?"
"I never replaced the contents of my wallet, including my drivers license, social security card and my Master card."
"How will we pay for shipping?"
"I guess with a money order. I’ll call Master Card in the morning and request a replacement card. Now let’s
see if we can get back to sleep."
The rest of the night passed without any further disturbances. In the morning, Miss Lily did her culinary legerdemain and made pancakes. The children gobbled them down, drowned in Log Cabin syrup, as fast as she could dish them out. The adults had to wait a long time until the children were finally stuffed and ambled off to play. The cooking aroma and the sounds of pleasure from the children had whetted their appetites. They ate almost as voraciously as the children, until Miss Lily pronounced the kitchen closed. Slightly self-conscious of their overindulgence, they went back to their rooms, too filled to the gills to lie down. They hulked around, only lacking a fire to differentiate themselves from their primitive forebears, who surely gorged themselves whenever possible to make up for the lean times. Digestion finally kicked in and limited mobility asserted itself enough for them to wash and dress to go to the outside world.
The group met in the hall and discussed what to do for the day. Kiesha came up with an idea, "Why don’t we go to the east village and look around the neighborhood we’ll be living in?"
Everyone enthusiastically agreed and Peter suggested they walk down Third Avenue, then go east on 14th Street to Avenue B, and cut over to 11th Street.
