The couple listens politely. The guy is dark skinned and has his hair in dreads, and the woman has her blond hair in a braid. They’ve got two kids.
Sammy sees us and allows the two couples in the checkout line to move on from arguing about pizza to arguing about drugstores.
Marie Haddad gives her dad a peck on the cheek, and says, “This better be good, Dad.”
Sammy enfolds Nat in one of his bear hugs and claps me on the shoulder. “You don’t think I’d drag you down here on your day off for nothing, my precious daughter?”
He kisses my mom on the cheek. “And Maureen! So good to see you, my dear!”
He ushers us to his “office” toward the back and opens the door.
There, behind the desk, is Bubbe Ruth. She has a tray of some of Sammy’s finest delicacies in front of her, and it looks like she has polished off about half of them.
Her face lights up when she sees us. “Children! Come! Eat! I can’t finish all this.”
Nat and I don’t wait for our mothers to say anything. We each grab a piece of baklava, and I pop mine in my mouth. The layers of pastry dough drenched in honey and walnuts fill my mouth with happiness. I know I’m talking like Gus here, but some foods are that good.
“Mom! What are you doing here?” my mother says.
Bubbe Ruth picks up a pistachio cookie. “Noshing, darling. What does it look like?”
“Noshing” is Yiddish for “snacking.” You have to hand it to us. We come up with some great words.
Sammy has closed the door and looks on, beaming. Nothing makes him happier than seeing people enjoy the food from his store. I’m just glad Gus isn’t here, because the entire tray would be empty in about five seconds.
My mom isn’t smiling. “You know what I mean, Mother.”
“Sammy sent a car for me, which was wonderful. So much nicer than the bus. I guess that’s what people do these days. You can call for a car on your phone and it just shows up! And you don’t even pay!” Bubbe Ruth says this like it’s a miracle. She notices Nat. “Look at you, Mamele! Such a big girl you’ve become! And such a beauty! Right, Danny?”
I am amused to see that Nat is blushing. Then I realize I am too.
Now it’s Marie’s turn. “Very nice, Dad. You want to explain?”
Sammy sits down in his armchair and looks at all of us. “What’s to explain? I wanted to see my old friends and my beautiful daughter and granddaughter.”
Marie turns to Nat. She does not look happy. “Nat, did you call your jidoo?”
Nat calmly cleans the honey from the baklava off her fingers with a paper napkin, which I realize is what I should have done instead of licking them and wiping them on my pants. “No, Mom, of course I didn’t.”
“You called me, remember?” Sammy tells Marie. “All about this situation where Nat was wanting to stay over at Danny’s apartment, and what a ridiculous idea this was.”
“Right…,” Marie says, her eyes narrowing. She can see where this is going.
“Now, just listen, darling,” Sammy admonishes her. “I talked to Nat about it, and—”
Marie whirls on Nat. “I thought you said you didn’t call your jidoo.”
“I didn’t,” Nat insists. “He called me.”
“Marie, you never let me finish,” says Sammy. “She explained to me the extraordinary circumstances, and I called Ruth to discuss them.”
My mom looks at Sammy like he’s just grown another head. “You called my mom?”
“It’s nice that someone calls. Between you and your brother, I can go weeks without hearing from anybody,” Bubbe Ruth says, picking up another pastry.
If my mom’s lips were pressed together any harder, they’d be welded shut. This happens whenever this subject comes up. Which it does, frequently. “Mom, I call you every week. And we visit every other Friday.”
Bubbe Ruth shrugs. “If you say so.”
My mom is about to respond, but Sammy waves her off. “Maureen, darling, this isn’t about that. It’s about the children. Whether you wish to believe it or not, they clearly feel there is something or someone visiting your apartment at night.”
“Yes, but—” Marie tries.
Sammy raises his voice a little. “As I was saying, it’s about the children. And trust. Now, we’d like to ask you: Have these two ever done anything that would make you not trust them?”
“Exactly,” says Nat, crossing her arms. “I always come home when I say I will, do my homework, help out with chores….”
She looks at me. I realize I’m supposed to add my own wonderful qualities.
“Um…I’ve never asked you guys for anything, and I wasn’t the one who made a promise and then broke it. That was you. I’ve never lied to you about anything.”
Silence. I am praying my mom doesn’t bring up the whole “I’m saying I’m doing my homework when I’m really online playing a game” thing.
But this is about other stuff. Like boy/girl stuff.
Marie and my mom look at each other, then at us, and then back at each other.
Bubbe Ruth is losing patience. “Enough looking, already. These are good children. And they’re children.”
Marie chews her lip. “Well…they are going to be in separate rooms, right?”
“Absolutely!” Nat and I say at the same time. A little too fast.
“And you’re going to be right there,” Marie continues, looking at my mom.
Bubbe Ruth has had enough. “Maureen, is this how I raised you? With so little faith?”
My mom bursts out laughing. “Excuse me? When I was Danny’s age, if I had so much as looked at a boy you would have locked me in my room. You didn’t let me date until I was sixteen.”
“Who said anything about a date?” Nat says. “This is definitely not a date.”
“Absolutely,” I add.
Sammy kneels down and puts one hand on my shoulder and one on Nat’s. Before I know what’s happening, he’s kissed both of us on the cheek. “I give this my blessing.”
There’s no way Bubbe Ruth is going to not get in on this. “Come here, children.”
She’s waving her arms like she’s guiding in a plane at JFK. Nat and I approach her warily. There’s no escape. She hugs us close and smooches us. “Respect your parents,” she says to my mother and Marie.
My mom looks at Marie and shakes her head. “Well, I guess if it’s all right with you, it’s all right with me.”
Sammy breaks into one of his smiles that can light up the entire store. “There! That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
Nat helps him up and gives him a big hug. I hug my mom.
Sammy says, “Now, don’t do anything foolish. But I want you to tell me all about it.”
Marie looks at Nat. “I don’t think your father’s going to like this, but that’s my problem, I guess.”
“Mamele, please. I think you can handle him,” Bubbe Ruth says, licking honey off her fingers.
I love her.
Before we leave Haddad’s, Nat has Bubbe Ruth sing “Raisins and Almonds” into her phone. She says she wants to try to learn it before tonight.
Mom and I go home (of course with all sorts of goodies that Sammy insisted we take with us to try and see if we like), and I’m surprised that Dad doesn’t seem all that upset about Nat staying over.
“Look, it’s different when you’re the dad of a girl,” he explains.
“Why?” I ask.
He turns red. “Don’t they teach you anything in health class?”
“You know girls and boys can just be friends, right?” I ask. “Bubbe Ruth and Sammy seem to have figured that out.”
“Believe me, if your mother had asked Bubbe Ruth if she could sleep over at my house when we were thirteen, her head would have exploded,” my dad says.
&nbs
p; Dad can be unbelievably annoying. “You didn’t know each other when you were thirteen.”
It’s six o’clock, and the buzzer sounds. Nat is here with her dad, George. He’s tall and skinny, with a long face and his daughter’s dark, knowing eyes. He looks around the apartment after greeting my parents.
“Nice. You painted or something?” he asks.
My mom grabs his arm. “That’s right! You haven’t seen what we’ve done to Jake’s room!” She drags him back there, proud to show off her work.
Nat laughs. “I don’t think my dad has been here since your ninth birthday.”
“Why did he bring you instead of your mom?” I ask.
Nat rolls her eyes. “Why do you think?” she says.
I hear Nat’s dad and Mom coming back down the hallway.
“So…Danny is sleeping back there…and Nat is sleeping here…,” he’s saying as he peers into my room.
We don’t explain to him that I’m sleeping back there because too many weird things have happened back there, so it’s safer for Nat to sleep in my room.
“Wait. He wanted to make sure we weren’t sleeping in the same room?” I say softly to Nat.
She sighs. “Mom and I told him like a hundred times.”
George looks a little less suspicious. I want to tell him that whatever he’s thinking, it’s the last thing either of us want to do tonight. But I know it’s better to keep my mouth shut.
He sees that my parents’ room is across the hall from where Nat is sleeping, and he relaxes a bit. He accepts a glass of wine from my parents, and they sit in the living room and chat. I take Nat to my room, where she puts down her backpack. It’s a little weird thinking of her sleeping here.
George leaves, and then we have the most awkward dinner ever. My mom is acting like the mom from some movie, totally not like she’s known Nat since she was a toddler. My dad is just awkward and trying to make small talk about school—“So, Nat, what’s your favorite subject?”—which makes it sound like he’s interviewing her for a job or something.
But Nat is totally cool with it, and by dessert my mom has started to act normal again, although she has to tell Nat the story of how I got ice cream all over myself when I tried to feed it to a stuffed dog I found on the playground, which would have been totally embarrassing, except Nat saves it by saying, “I know. I was there, remember?”
It’s great to have friends who’ve known you so long that they’ve seen you do stupid things and still hang out with you.
Both my parents have work to catch up on, so they go to their respective laptops and Nat and I go to my room. My parents insist I keep the door open, which is completely dumb. All we’re doing is the math assignment. It’s actually fun. Nat used to come over after school all the time, but these days she usually goes to Haddad’s after school, or goes home with one of her girlfriends, like Lin or Chloe.
Before we know it, my parents are telling us it’s time for bed, and I walk to Jake’s room.
I expect there to be a feeling in there. Cold air, like before. Or something else.
But nope. It’s just a room, with all the new furniture and the prints on the walls. I look at the mirror facing the bed, expecting to see something other than my reflection. Maybe a message written in blood or something.
Nope.
Oh, great. So nothing’s going to happen? That would be perfect. Then not even Nat would believe me.
I put on my pajamas and head to the bathroom. Nat is there, brushing her teeth. This is also weird. Seeing her in her T-shirt and pink pajama bottoms is a first. Her hair is pulled back in a bun, which is not something I expected. She spits in the sink and turns to me.
“What are you looking at?” she asks.
“Nothing,” I say, grabbing my toothbrush. I put some toothpaste on it and stick it in my mouth as quickly as possible. I don’t know why, but I just don’t know what to talk about now.
Nat looks uncomfortable too. “So…I’ll check in with you later, okay?”
I nod, and she exits the bathroom. I hear her bare feet slapping on the floorboards and then the door to my room closing.
I finish up and head to Jake’s room. It’s funny how I still call it that.
I settle into the bed. It’s nice and big, and having windows is such a new feeling. Obviously I’ve been in Jake’s room thousands of times, but tonight it’s different.
There is a soft knock on the door.
“Come in,” I say. It’s my mom.
“I…just wanted to say good night again,” she says awkwardly, looking around the room.
I nod. “Okay, Mom. I love you.”
She kisses me. “You too, honey. I hope you have a nice restful night.”
I try to fall asleep. And I must have drifted off, when I feel someone poking me. It’s definitely not a spirit. It’s Nat.
“It’s me,” she hisses, like I wouldn’t know.
“I know it’s you,” I say. “Who else would it be?”
Nat crosses her arms. “I just didn’t want you to think I was possessed or anything.”
“Fine,” I say. “Neither am I, obviously.”
Nat sighs. “Obviously.” She’s clearly disappointed.
We sit there for a few minutes.
“When does it usually happen?” she asks.
“I don’t know!” I answer. “I’m always in my room, remember?”
We sit there for a little while longer. It’s starting to feel like this whole idea was ridiculous.
“So…,” Nat says, “I guess I should go back to the other room, huh?”
At that moment, there is the unmistakable sound of someone rapping on the window. From the outside.
Nat and I slowly turn to look. There, framed in the window, is a face.
Not the pale face of Sari Rosenbaum.
The pink and sweaty face of Gustave Baublitz.
“Gus!” Nat hisses. “What is he doing here?”
I run over to open the window. “You got me. I didn’t invite him.”
Gus crawls in from the fire escape. “Jeez, it’s harder to climb one of those things than it looks.”
He looks at our ticked-off expressions. “Nice welcome.”
“Why are you here?” Nat asks.
Gus sits on the bed. “Did you think I’d let you guys do this without me? I mean, whatever it is, I just felt that—”
I sit next to him. “It’s a very nice thought, Gus, but you should really go home.”
Gus crosses his arms. “No way. If that ghost girl shows up, I want to see her.”
“Lower your voice!” Nat says fiercely. “If Danny’s parents come in here and find me, I’ll be sent home for sure!”
Gus sizes up the situation. “Ohhh…right. Your parents think you guys are gonna fool around or something, right?”
“Something like that,” I say.
Gus grins. “So…were you?”
Nat has a look on her face like she’s eaten the tuna casserole at school (which I do not recommend, if that isn’t obvious). She looks at me and says three words: “Ick. Gross. No.”
“Right. Totally gross,” I say a little too quickly. Nat looks mad.
“I mean, not that you’re gross, Nat.”
“Just forget it,” she mutters.
I do not understand her.
Gus is clearly enjoying every minute of this. “So what’s the plan?”
Nat thinks for a second. “We don’t really have one. I mean, we have one for if she shows up. We just kind of assumed she would.”
Gus thinks for a minute. “When did she come before?”
“Around midnight,” I say. “After everyone went to sleep.”
Gus lays back on the bed and puts his hands behind his head. “Well, that’s that. I guess we have to go to
sleep first.”
Nat puts her hands on her hips. “Gus, you are not staying in this room.”
“Oh, who’s gonna stop me?” he says, and closes his eyes.
Nat makes a growling noise.
I open the door and peer out. My parents’ door is closed. “Listen, Nat, Gus has a point. Why don’t you wait outside the door and we’ll see what happens if we at least pretend to fall asleep?”
Nat looks over at Gus. “I don’t think he’s pretending.”
Gus is snoring softly and has rolled over on his side.
“I guess all that climbing wore him out,” I say.
Nat nods and tiptoes out to wait in the hallway. She closes the door silently behind her, and I settle in next to Gus.
It’s kind of like sleeping next to a large golden retriever.
I actually start to doze off after a few minutes, and then I feel something stirring next to me. I assume it’s just Gus shifting position, until I hear it.
The walls are whispering, “Yan-kaaa-laaa.”
And someone is humming “Raisins and Almonds.”
I realize the humming is coming from right next to me. I open my eyes and turn to Gus.
But Gus is no longer Gus. He is glowing faintly and staring at me with yellow eyes.
I sit up. “Sari? Sari Rosenbaum?” Any second now, Nat is going to rush in.
The dybbuk’s eyes widen, and she hisses. Then she speaks in the high girlish voice just like before. “Where is my little boy?”
Where is Nat? This would be a good time to rush in.
I edge off the bed. Gus follows me, backing me up against the wall. I am trying to yell for Nat, but no sound comes out of my mouth.
I look in the mirror over Gus’s shoulder, and I see my own face, eyes wide with fright.
The Ghost in Apartment 2R Page 17
