“Hey, cool it Shirley,” he said, shifting from one foot to the other. “I just forgot. Don’t make such a big deal about it. Besides, I don’t have to report to you.”
“You don’t care. Everybody else is more important than me. You’re always with Sam or Jim or I don’t know who,” she scolded, standing her ground, her hands still on her hips.
He saw her eyes narrowing and her lips pull tighter as she waited for his response.
“Oh come on, stop that crap. You know I gotta work and yeah, I get together with my friends. And sometimes we play ball or do things.”
“Yeah, I bet.” She sniffled. “I know you got another girlfriend.”
“Oh, cut it out. How can I have another girlfriend? You never let me alone. Everywhere I go, you’re keeping tabs on me. You’re always asking the guys where I am and wanting to know everything about me. And I told you to stop calling me at home. My Ma doesn’t like it.”
“Look Victor, I just care about you but you treat me like dirt. If you only knew how you hurt me. The other boys treat their girlfriends nicer. You’re always too busy.” Her voice rose. “Look what you did today. The war is over; I thought you’d want to be with me, so we could celebrate together. Instead, you ran downtown with your friends and didn’t even think about me”.
“Hey Shirley, cut it out. You act like we’re married. I can’t take this crap anymore. Maybe we should just forget about it.”
She burst into tears and moved toward him. He backed away, turning his palms up.
“In fact, you know what?” he said, shaking his head. “I’ve had it. Let’s just take it easy for a while. Maybe it’s time for you to find someone else.”
He started walking away but she ran in front of him, blocking his path. “Wait! Victor, what are you saying? I love you.”
“Forget it, Shirley. I’ve had enough of this. Go find someone else. I can’t take it anymore. We’re not even fifteen, and you want to be so serious.”
Pushing her away and running a few steps, he turned. “And stop crying. You’re always crying. I can’t take that either. Just stay away from me.”
Vic broke into a run as he turned down Monticello. “And I want my Aztec jacket back too,” he yelled over his shoulder as he checked to make sure she wasn’t following him.
Seeing Ma and Pa and the neighbors sitting on the stoop of the three flat next door, he put Shirley out of his mind. Through the open windows, Vic could hear the nine o’clock news reports flowing out into the street; the celebration was still in full swing on State Street. His little sisters, Faith and Lilly, along with two little girls from next door, all looking weary from the long day, were sitting on the concrete steps. Lilly’s eyes were almost closed as she tried to suppress a yawn but she did manage a smile when she saw Vic. Faith just leaned against the short brick wall, where the folks were sitting, and grinned. The neighbor girls giggled shyly looking at Faith and Lilly watching them talking to their big brother as they murmured, “hi Vic. “
Ma’s shiny black hair was swept up in back and she flashed one of her glorious, light- up-the-room smiles when she saw him coming. Vic noticed her big soup pot, which she must have been pounding a few hours earlier, was next to her on the ground. Pa’s eyes were a little glassy as he waved and slurred a hello. He had a few drinks in him, Vic figured. Both greeted him with hugs and Ma kissed him on the cheek, whispering, “Thank God, it’s over.”
From the extra squeeze she gave him, he could tell she was relieved.
“Anything else goin’ on?” he asked.
“What, isn’t this enough? Oh, now that you mention it, that pushy little Shirley Siegal was looking for you earlier,” she answered with shake of her head.
Looking down and putting his arm around her, he smiled sheepishly. “Ah, don’t worry Ma, she’s nothing, she just likes to bother me.”
Letting go, he grinned, “Weren’t you worried about me?”
“Not today,” Ma smiled back. “The war is over and I’m glad Frank is coming home without a scratch.”
Vic noticed tears in her eyes.
Chapter 2
The last few weeks had been very tough on Ma. Vic’s older brother Frank had returned from Europe after V-E day and was on a thirty-day furlough from the Army with orders to report to Fort Sheridan north of the city for assignment to the west coast and most likely the Pacific.
Frank, at twenty years old, had been through eight months of heavy combat leading to the victory in Europe. Out of a company of one hundred and ten men, only he and seven others had survived without being killed or wounded. His division had been part of the Allied First Army that fought in the bloody Battle of the Bulge and the advance through the Hurtgen forest. At the war’s end in May, they were occupying the German coastal city of Bremerhaven. Frank was the company’s Motor Sergeant, in charge of all the company vehicles.
He surprised the family by arriving home on a Friday night in the middle of July while Ma was preparing dinner for the family; including Frank’s wife Sally, who came over every Friday.
In the parlor, Pa was listening to the radio. Gabriel Heater had just signed on with his familiar, “Ah, there’s good news tonight,” when the doorbell sounded. Vic, without a shirt, on his way to the bathroom, opened the door.
With a big grin, Frank snapped to attention and saluted. Eyes bulging and mouth open, but unable to make a sound, Vic stared at his soldier brother; in his rumpled Army khakis with the pants tucked into his boots and a chest full of ribbons. A large duffle bag was at his feet.
“Oh my God,” he finally screamed, opening the door wide. “It’s Frank.”
Ma and Sally rushed to the door knocking Vic aside as they kissed and hugged their hero husband and son, home from the war.
Pa roused from the couch, was there in an instant, followed by seventeen-year-old Flo, running out of her bedroom in a slip, her hair up in curlers. Close behind were, chubby, ten–year-old Faith, standing back but jumping up and down with her braids flying; and little six-year-old Lilly, bawling, as she peeked through her fingers, frightened by the noise and excitement. Tears flowed as hands and arms tugged Frank into the dining room.
The table was set for a usual Friday night, with the remnants of dishes from three sets Ma had from when she first married. The six dining room chairs and one paint-chipped kitchen chair were in their usual places; Sally’s being in Frank’s spot.
With Sally at his side, Frank wiped his sleeve across his eyes and hugged everyone. Ma was holding the now-quiet Lilly. He held out his arms to the little girl, who nestled her face into Ma’s neck. Pa put a finger to his lips, signaling for quiet. Slowly, Lilly rubbed her eyes and started to smile and then reached out. Frank took her gently and she giggled when he kissed her. She loosened up when he said, “Hi, Lilly, don’t you remember your big brother?” Smiling, she showed the wide gap where her front teeth were missing and flung her arms around his neck.
Putting her down, he kissed Sally and hugged Ma again, saying, “You’ll never know how much I love and missed all of you.” With a handkerchief pulled from his pocket, he wiped at his eyes. “This room is just the way I imagined, except I see Lilly graduated to a regular chair from her high chair.”
Looking around again, he said, “Wait, aren’t the curtains new?”
“The curtains are the same,” Ma said, tugging at the hem to show him the deep golden shade. “I only dyed them a little darker than they were. But I’m sure glad you’re home. Now that you’re here, maybe I can get the room painted.”
Pa rolled his eyes, while everyone else laughed, knowing that she had been after him to paint the room for months.
Flo, her slip clinging to her legs, hustled to set another place and motioned to Vic to grab another chair from the kitchen.
Frank sat next to Sally, who glued herself to his side with her arms around him. Ma, on the other s
ide, just gazed at her son with tears brimming.
Vic couldn’t get over his big brother. He appeared taller, slimmer and older in his uniform. And when he rolled up the cuffs of his shirt, he looked broader across the shoulders. His eyes looked tired but intense as they took in the family and the surroundings. He also talked more softly than Vic remembered. He couldn’t wait get him alone, so he could ask him if he killed any Germans, and especially, he wanted to know the truth about the Jews who were tortured and killed in the concentration camps.
“Why didn’t you let us know you were coming?” Pa asked. “I was worried when we didn’t get a letter for so long.”
“Sorry,” Frank apologized. “It all happened so quick. We didn’t know until the day we got orders to sail that we were going back to the States. The rumors were that they were moving troops, especially infantry, to the Pacific. There were a lot of stories about the invasion of Japan and the fact that they were already beefing up the forces and sending equipment to Australia and New Zealand.”
“You mean they were sending you right from winning the war in Europe to fight in the Pacific?” Pa queried.
“Hell, Pa, who knows, that’s typical Army bullshit, it happens all the time,” laughed Frank.
The room got deathly quiet at the mention of bullshit. Pa looked at Ma and the others all turned to her as well.
“Oh my God, I’m sorry”, gushed Frank, his face turning a bright red. “In the Army, we cuss about everything. I gotta’ watch myself. I’m really sorry. Luckily I didn’t say anything worse.”
Everyone laughed, including Ma.
“Frankie, you must be hungry after such a long trip,” Ma said with a smile. “I’ll make you a plate.”
“Let me do it,” Sally volunteered. “You worked hard enough cooking today and I want to get used to serving my husband.”
Untangling herself from Frank, she went to the kitchen and returned smiling with a plate filled with roast chicken, peas and mashed potatoes. Sally had been Frank’s girlfriend since his second year at Von Steuben High School. They had married just before he shipped out for overseas. A popular, vivacious strawberry blonde, with brown eyes, a zaftig figure, well distributed over her five-foot three-inch frame and a clear throaty voice, she had sung with a three-piece group at a few small clubs in the City. The band broke up when two of the boys were drafted.
Lifting a drumstick for his second bite, Frank smiled. “Boy is this good. You can’t possibly know how many times I’ve dreamed about this day.”
Sally brought more platters as Ma and Flo began filling plates and passing them down the table.
Vic and his sisters could not take their eyes off Frank. To Vic, he seemed so mature, and he noticed how Ma and Pa treated him like he was more their age.
“Hey Vic,” Frank said, “I can’t get over you. You’re as tall as me and I see you’re shaving, too.”
A red flush lit up Vic’s face as everyone turned to look at him.
”Look at him blush,” Sally grinned. Untangling herself from Frank, she tried to pinch Vic’s cheek.
“Ah come on,” Vic stammered, “leave me alone.”
“You better keep your eye on him, Frank,” teased Flo. “I’ve seen him try on some of the clothes that you left in the closet when you got drafted. Another year or so and they’ll fit him.”
Coming from the kitchen, where she had deposited an empty platter, Ma walked behind Vic and put her hand on his shoulder, pulling him close. “Leave him alone, he’s a good boy. And he doesn’t need any of Frank’s clothes. He’s gets nice things at the clothing store where he works.”
“Thanks Ma,” Vic laughed, “I know they just like to tease me ‘cause they’re jealous.”
Kissing the top of his head, Ma moved to Pa’s side, beaming as she looked at the whole family, together for the first time in almost two years.
“What about you, Flo? From the letters I got from Pa, it sounds like you’ve dated half the guys in the Army and Navy since I left.”
Flo chuckled. “If you listen to Pa, he can make you crazy. Every time a guy would come here to pick me up for a date, he would ask a million questions.”
Sally jumped in, smiling broadly. “Tell him about the names and stories Pa would make up about them.”
“Tell him about the giant,” said Faith, covering her mouth to hold back a giggle.
“Oh, Frank, you wouldn’t believe this guy,” Flo laughed, holding her hand up as high as she could. “He had to be about six-foot-six and as wide as a doorway. He was an Ensign in the Navy and when he walked in here with that long black overcoat and big white hat, I was afraid to let him sit on the couch. I never saw anybody that big. And Pa, who was about half his size, started to ask him where he was from and what he did in civilian life and a bunch of other questions. I thought I would die.”
“He looked like a human dry dock,” piped Pa. “About the size of an aircraft carrier.”
“Actually,” Flo smiled slowly, “he was a very nice guy, who used to date a girl I work with, before she got married. After the war, he’s going back to college to become an engineer.”
Lilly sat quietly and when Frank asked, she introduced him to her rag doll Lucy. She wanted to know if he remembered her.
“Sure do, but what happened to her eye,” he asked, noticing the blank spot where the doll’s eye had been.
“It fell off when I bit it one day,” she answered quietly.
“What happened when you got to England?” Pa wanted to know. “And when did you get into the actual war? I heard that the Battle of the Bulge almost turned the war around and our troops were pushed to surrender. Weren’t you there? What happened?”
Frank pursed his lips and pulled Sally a little closer as Pa peppered him. Looking down, he shrugged his shoulders and shook his head without answering.
“What about the Jews,” Pa asked quietly,” “did you see the camps?”
“Please Pa, not now,” he answered softly.
Slowing down, Pa asked. “Where were you in France and Germany?”
Frank sighed. “All I remember is that we were moving constantly. Then we would stop abruptly and have to dig in and maybe stay in one place for a few days.” His voice trailed off and he looked down.
He looked up and continued.
“When we got to Aachen, early one morning, we hadn’t seen any German troops for two days.” he said with a grin. “Our platoon took over a big hotel and raided the wine cellar. By the time we had to move out, we were all drunk. Then we went downtown and began taking over the office buildings. Some of the guys started tossing typewriters out the windows and then we threw chairs and even desks from the top floors. Everyone was laughing and it was like a big party. Finally, a few guys passed out and we just stayed there all night.”
Pa looked up and started again. “I heard from Sid Klein, who lives down the street, and lost a leg in the war, that the Nazis were bayoneting Americans in the Battle of the Bulge.”
Frank looked away and didn’t answer. A smile broke out though, when he mentioned some of the places he had been; like the famous bridge in Remagen that the Germans did not destroy when they retreated. “It saved a lot of lives and shortened the war because we got so many troops and tanks across it before it finally collapsed.”
“What about the synagogues and the Jews in Germany? Are there any left?” Ma asked in a soft voice.
“Ma, I can’t talk about it now, but it was worse than anyone can imagine. All I can say,” he started and then stopped. Looking down, he shook his head, twitching a shoulder. Frank the older brother and boy just two years before, was now a man. His lean face with those very blue eyes, which suddenly narrowed as his brow creased said in a somber voice, “After the war, we had to help set up the displaced people’s camps where they brought survivors from the concentration camps.
The people were more dead than alive. I saw young men and women from cities all over Europe who weighed less than eighty pounds. They were filthy, and sick; and many of them couldn’t walk, they were so malnourished. They smelled and a lot of us got sick from the odor. Some died before we could save them. Please, I can’t talk about it.” He stopped abruptly, making another twitch of his shoulder, which they all noticed.
Looking from Frank to the rest of them as they sat silently, Pa spoke up. “C’mon, son, let’s have drink.”
Pa poured some bourbon over ice for Frank and made himself a highball, proposing a toast, as he raised his glass. “Our family, may we always be together and celebrate only happy occasions, L’Chaim.”
“What are all the ribbons and medals for?” Vic wanted to know.
Frank smiled, and shrugged. “One is a Bronze Star, which all the original guys in our company were awarded, plus a Victory Ribbon. Three others are for major battles we were in and the blue one with the wreath is the Combat Infantry Man’s Badge. It’s the same as the one I wear on my wrist,” he said holding up his right arm.
“A few everybody got, like a Marksman Medal and the Good Conduct one. The whole Division also got one from the French Government.”
They sat around the table for two hours, talking without eating much; Sally still holding onto Frank. Ma and the girls cleared the table and served tea. Pa continued with questions about the war, but Frank seemed to be getting tired of them as his answers got shorter and the shoulder twitch, accompanied by a soft cough, got more pronounced.
When the talk turned to the Pacific, Frank said, “I’m not sure. All I know is that I have to report to Fort Sheridan on August seventeenth. From there, I probably will be sent for more training in the states or possibly in Australia.”
His comment was greeted with silence.
“It’s late,” said Pa finally. “How about I take you and Sally down to the Palmer House and rent you the honeymoon suite? We can catch up with the two of you tomorrow. You’ll be home for a month.”
Albany Park Page 2
