New Life, New Land

by Roberta Kagan

  That Sunday, Dovid and Eidel drove forty-five minutes north of the city to a little village called Skokie. There was open prairie filled with wildflowers and plenty of vacant land but there was also a lot of building going on. They found a lot on a street where several homes were already standing that was only four blocks from a small red brick elementary school.

  “How much is the house?” Dovid asked at the model center.

  “The three bedroom, two bath with a full finished basement is seventeen thousand dollars,” said the woman who worked for the builder.

  Seventeen thousand dollars?

  Dovid’s hands were shaking.

  That’s a lot of money. But I have it. I can do this. I’m scared, but I’m excited. The only thing that could possibly make this wonderful day even better would be if Arnie were here with me.

  Dovid took out his checkbook and wrote a check to the builder for a down payment that day.

  When Dovid went into work on Monday, he called Harry into the back room of the bar.

  “Listen, Eidel and I bought a house in Skokie yesterday.”

  “Mazel tov,” Harry said, smiling and shaking Dovid’s hand.

  “Thanks. Listen. I know you and Ida were talking about moving out to the suburbs. How about if I give you some money for a down payment? You can buy your home on the same street as Eidel and me. Our wives are so close; they are like sisters. They would love it. What do you think?”

  “I’d love to. But I won’t take the money from you as a gift. However, I will take it as a loan. I want to pay you back, Dovi.”

  “Fair enough. Pay me when you can. So let’s take a drive out to Skokie this weekend. Eidel and me, you and Ida. You two can pick out what you want to buy.”

  “Sounds good. We’ll go on Sunday?”

  “Yeah,” Dovid said. “Sunday. And when you get back to the snack bar, can you make me a hot dog, just mustard? I’m starving.”

  “Sure thing, Dovi.”

  Harry got up to leave.

  “Harry, also, could you send Cool Breeze back here?”

  “Sure.”

  Cool Breeze came into the back room.

  “I heard Mr. Arnie done left you the tavern. It’s real sad about him and all. I sure gonna miss him. But I have to say that I sure is glad that you is going to be my boss, Mr. Dovi. I couldn’t think of anybody else who I would want to work for more than you.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate it,” Dovid said. “But there is something else, Cool Breeze. There’s something I want to ask you. Why don’t you sit down?”

  “You got somethin’ you gotta ask me?” Cool Breeze said, sitting down. “Well … go on, ask, Mister Dovi.”

  “How would you like to be the manager of this place?”

  “What? Me?” Cool Breeze looked genuinely shocked.

  “Yes, you. I will give you a nice raise. I won’t be around here all the time, so you’ll be in charge of everything, including keeping the customers in line.

  “What about Mr. Harry?”

  “I am going to give him the snack bar. That will be his business. He will own it. You will be in charge of the tavern, the entertainment, the ordering, the bills. You can do it, Cool Breeze. I know you can.”

  “Where you gonna be?”

  “I’m looking at opening a second location across the street from Garfield Park.”

  “No kiddin!’” Cool Breeze laughed. “You sure is somethin’ else, Mister Dovi.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King gave a speech that spoke of a world in which hate and prejudice no longer existed; a world where the color of a man’s skin did not define him. Dovi, Harry, and Cool Breeze watched it on television at the bar. Dovi caught Cool Breeze’s eyes.

  “This speech that we are watching is the beginning of something earth-shattering. There is going to be real change all around us. Change for the better. My whole body is tingling. It’s all unfolding right before our eyes. I don’t know about the two of you, but it takes my breath away. A wonderful thing like this could only happen in a country like America. Watch and see. This Dr. King, along with the help of President Kennedy, will change the way that black men are treated,” Dovid said.

  “You called us blacks and not colored,” Cool Breeze smiled.

  “You call me Jewish and not kike. You should know that I have always wanted to be respectful of you and your people. I only ever used the term ‘colored’ because that was the only term I’d ever heard. But you know me, Cool Breeze. You know I’ve never been influenced by the color of a man’s skin. Just the way you’ve never said anything bad about Harry and me being Jews. You, me, and Harry are like the Three Musketeers in Dumas’ book. We’re the best of friends. Isn’t that right, Harry?”

  “Absolutely,” Harry said.

  The speech was called the “I have a dream speech,” and what a magnificent dream it is…

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  By the time the Levis’ new house was finished in late September of 1963, Eidel was four months pregnant with their second child. She was due to deliver in January. Because of this, Dovid hired movers to do everything. He insisted that Eidel not lift a finger.

  At the end of November, Eidel moved into her new home. Everything had been neatly put away on shelves and in drawers for her.

  Three weeks later, Ida and Harry moved into their house. They chose a smaller model because they knew they would not have children and so they didn’t need the extra space.

  Dovid insisted that he and Eidel join the newly formed synagogue on Dempster Street, right in the heart of Skokie. It was a brand new building. Rabbi Mittleman welcomed Dovid Levi and his wife with open arms.

  I may not be religious, but joining the temple will be good for my family. It will give us a sense of community. I want my children to grow up proud of being Jewish, Dovid thought as he made a generous donation to the shul.

  The Levis’ new home had a full finished basement that had a bathroom, complete with a shower and tub. Having all this extra room in the house, Dovid could see no reason for Cool Breeze to continue renting rooms in a flophouse. He talked to Eidel and convinced her to allow Cool Breeze to move in with them and live in the basement.

  “He’s really handy. He’ll be a big help if we need to fix anything around here.”

  “I’ve heard you and Harry talking … he drinks? He shoots drugs? Do you think it’s safe for him to be around our children?”

  “Absolutely. I trust him completely. He has addiction problems but he would never hurt us,” Dovid said. “He has been going to some kind of a program for addicts. He’s been doing really well. And he does a great job managing the bar. What more could we ask for?”

  “All right, let him move in,” Eidel said, shrugging her shoulders.

  And so Cool Breeze moved into the Levis’ basement.

  Every afternoon, Harry, Cool Breeze, and Dovid rode to work together.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  November 1963

  Dovid was stocking the bar, Cool Breeze was sweeping the floor, and Harry was cleaning out the ice bins. The radio was playing in the background. Dovid had a pencil and paper in front of him. He was adding up the cost of tile for the floor of the new bar when the music on the radio stopped. An announcer in a solemn voice said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, we interrupt this program to tell you that President John Fitzgerald Kennedy has been shot.”

  Dovid didn’t hear the announcement. He wasn’t paying attention. He was too busy calculating. Cool Breeze called out to Harry and Dovid. “Did you hear what that man on the radio said? Kennedy done been shot.”

  “Isn’t he in Texas today?” Harry said.

  “Ain’t sure,” Cool Breeze said.

  “One of you turn on the TV. You’re both standing right over there. Turn it on. Let’s see what the hell is going on,” Dovid said.

  By nightfall it was all over the news; President Kennedy was dead. He was shot in the head in Dallas Texas. This was the deat
h of not only a president but also a loss of innocence. Before that day in 1964, no one believed that the assassination of the president would happen in a country like America in the 1960s. For years to come, people would discuss the death of JFK and remember exactly where they were when they learned the dreadful news.

  December brought a terrible winter storm. The heavy snowfall stopped all construction on the bar that Dovid was having built across from Garfield Park. The city was paralyzed by the mountains of snow and by the icy winds that came rushing off Lake Michigan. On the first two days of the storm it was impossible to drive so all three men missed work. By the third day, the salt trucks came through the city, melting the snow enough for Dovid to navigate the roads and to get to the bar with Cool Breeze and Harry and open it.

  Surprisingly, even in the bad weather, the bar was busy. People in the neighborhood did not have to go into work or school, and so they walked over to the tavern where they met up with their friends, had a beer, a whiskey, or a burger and passed the cold winter days.

  By the end of the week, the city had returned to normal. Schools reopened and the roads were fairly clear.

  However, the weather had halted the construction of Dovid’s second tavern. Now the builders had moved the date of completion to the spring of 1964.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Chicago, 1964

  On the thirteenth of January at four-thirty in the morning, Eidel gave birth to a healthy baby girl. She entered the world with a lusty cry and a full head of dark curly hair. When the nurse placed the infant in Eidel’s arms, something strange happened to Eidel. She suddenly had a brief flashback to the day so long ago when she was just a child and Zofia Weiss had come to her home. Eidel looked into the face of her daughter and chills ran through her.

  My baby looks like my birth mother.

  Eidel couldn’t understand why looking at this child frightened her. It shouldn’t have. The little girl was beautiful. Her tiny features were perfect. And yet, the baby’s resemblance to her birth mother scared Eidel.

  Dovid looked down into the blanket at his new daughter. “She’s so pretty, isn’t she?” he said.

  “Yes, that she is …” Eidel was overcome with a mixture of strange emotions. She began to cry.

  “What is it? What’s wrong, my love? Can I get you anything?”

  Eidel shook her head. “I’m sorry, Dovid. I think I just need to be alone. Can you please ask the nurse to come and take the baby back to the nursery?”

  “Of course. Do you feel all right?” Dovid was worried. Eidel looked pale, as if something had upset her. When Dovid was younger and worked with his father he’d seen women die of infection. He put his hand on Eidel’s head to see if her body temperature was raised but her forehead felt cool. “I’ll have the nurse take her for a while and then I’ll stay here with you.”

  “No, Dovid. I’d rather be alone,” Eidel said. “Is Ida here?”

  “She’s on her way.”

  “Tell the nurses to let her in.”

  “Eidel, what is it?”

  She shook her head. “I just want to be alone for a while,” she snapped.

  Later, when Ida got to the hospital, Eidel tried to explain her feelings to her best friend.

  “I just feel so sad. But I also feel scared, in a way. I don’t know why. I didn’t feel any of this when Mark was born.” She hesitated; then continued. “Do you remember the story I told you about my birth mother?”

  “Of course,” Ida said, sitting at Eidel’s bedside, holding her hand. “How could I forget such a thing?”

  “This baby makes me uncomfortable. I don’t remember exactly what Zofia Weiss looked like, but from what I can remember, the baby looks just like her. It makes me question who I am, who my birth mother was. I don’t know … I don’t know.”

  Ida squeezed Eidel’s hand.

  “You are Eidel Levi and this precious little girl is your daughter.”

  “I know, and I feel terrible because I don’t want to hold her. I don’t want to nurse her. I don’t even want to look at her. I just don’t know what’s come over me.”

  “You have to be a mother to this infant. Pull yourself together, Eidel. Whatever is upsetting you is not the baby’s fault. The child can’t help that she reminds you of someone and it makes you uneasy. This little girl lying in the nursery right now is your child, Eidel, and she needs you.”

  Eidel shook her head.

  “I understand and I realize this. But my milk isn’t coming in. Not like it did with Mark. I am going to have to put her on formula. Can you feed her when the nurses bring her? Can you do that for me Ida? The truth is, please don’t tell Dovid, but I can’t bear to hold her.”

  Ida nodded. She was genuinely worried about Eidel. “Yes, of course. You’re my best friend, Eidel. I would do anything for you.”

  Dovid asked Eidel if she wanted to name the baby for Helen. It was, after all, her turn to name one of their children for her mother. He’d named their first child for his father. Eidel refused. Instead, she said that because Arnie had been so good to them she wanted to name the baby for Arnie, with a middle name for Dovid’s mother. Dovid didn’t argue. He was thrilled to be able to give Arnie a namesake. He suggested Abby Ruth Levi. Eidel shrugged and agreed.

  Abby wasn’t an easy baby the way that Mark had been. She had colic, cried constantly, and hardly slept. Nothing seemed to soothe little Abby. It was as if she knew her mother didn’t like her. Even as an infant, she seemed to have a chip on her shoulder. Her digestive system resisted the formula and so everything she ate came right back up, leaving her constantly hungry, and demanding that her parents find a solution.

  Dovid was busy with work. He was juggling the existing bar while trying to build the new one. Although he knew Eidel was having problems with Abby, he didn’t want to see the problems. Eidel was just not bonding with their daughter. Abby was a red-faced, fussy infant who pushed off with her hands and feet if Eidel even tried to cuddle her. Ida would arrive at the Levi home to find Eidel in tears and the baby screaming in her crib. Since Abby’s birth, Eidel had lost a lot of weight. She was skinny and gaunt. This baby was a fighter and was far more than she could handle. Ida could see that her friend was sleep deprived and so she insisted that Eidel rest while she tried to take care of Abby. Eidel would lie down, but she could hear Abby’s continuous wailing from her room. She heard the heels of Ida’s shoes as they met the hardwood floor, and Eidel knew that Ida was pacing the floor with Abby in her arms trying to quiet the child.

  Ida even signed up and took driving lessons from a driving school. She siphoned the money to pay for the lessons out of her grocery money each week. Once her instructor said she was ready, Ida took the test and got her license. Now she would have to convince Harry to buy her a used car.

  “I’ve heard that the motion of a car puts a baby to sleep,” Ida told Eidel.

  “You think Harry will get you a car?” Eidel asked.

  “I don’t know. I hope so. All I can tell you is, I’ll try.”

  After several days of giving Harry a convincing argument why she needed an automoblie, he finally agreed to buy Ida an older-model used car.

  “I don’t even have a car. But my wife, she needs a car,” Harry said, throwing his hands up in the air. “I can never win an argument with you, my darling.”

  “I love you, Harry. This will make my trips to buy groceries so much easier. And I will be able to take Eidel with the children to pick up meat and bread as well. You know how hard it is to get to the stores, especially in winter. Most of the time we have to wait for Dovid to take all of us on Sunday and he is always so tired. He hates to drive everyone to the stores and wait while we shop. My having a car will be good for everyone. And as soon as you have a little bit of spare time, you should go and get your license. You can use the car too. It would be good for you to be able to get around without buses or bothering Dovi.”

  Harry just smiled. When Ida wanted something from him, if it was in his p
ower, she got it. They took a bus together to a used car lot where Harry purchased an inexpensive automobile. “Now don’t be going all over the place. Gas costs money. Besides, I don’t want you to get lost,” Harry said to Ida, handing her the keys.

  She smiled. Then she leaned over and kissed him.

  The automobile didn’t work to soothe Abby at all. She just screamed while Ida was driving. It didn’t even help with Eidel’s depression. But the ability to drive did give Ida a new-found freedom. She began taking classes for adults at the library. She took language classes in English and also lessons in cooking and baking. Since the classes were only a couple of hours, three times a week, she still had plenty of time to help Eidel with the children.

  One evening, Mark was napping and with lots of coaxing Abby had finally fallen asleep. Ida was about to leave. She would go home and prepare some food so it was ready when Harry got home in the morning. Then she’d take a hot bath and lay down. Abby was a big job and as much as Ida loved her, that angry little infant was draining Ida too.

  “Ida, stay for a few minutes and have a cup of tea with me, please,” Eidel implored.

  Harry wouldn’t be home until four in the morning. Ida would have liked to leave but she saw the distress in Eidel’s face. Ida sat down at the kitchen table. Eidel put a pot of water on the stove to boil.

  “I am ashamed to admit this, but I don’t like my daughter. I think I hate Abby.”

  “You don’t hate her. Don’t even say that.”

  “She is making my life miserable. Mark wasn’t like this. I know that it is hard work to take care of a baby. I realize that but this one … is impossible. God forgive me, but I can’t stand her.”

  “Oh, Eidel. You can’t mean it. A child is such a blessing.”

  “This child, Ida? This child? Tell me you honestly believe that?”

  “Yes, all children. Abby will grow out of this stage. You’ll see. And then she will be a wonderful loving daughter. Give her a chance, Eidel.”