Too Many Men

by Lily Brett

  “She wants to tell you there is nothing to worry about.”

  Ruth looked around the room. Neither Zofia nor Walentyna was at breakfast. Ruth wondered if Walentyna was giving Zofia hell. Probably not.

  Zofia was probably taunting Walentyna with details of the evening’s encounter. Ruth knew “encounter” wasn’t the right word. But she didn’t want anything more detailed than “encounter,” she decided.

  “Let’s get some breakfast,” Ruth said to Edek. Edek stood up. “As a matter of fact I am this morning a bit hungry,” he said. He walked over to the buffet.

  “They got a very good sausage,” he called out to her from the other side of the buffet. The waiter came up to Ruth. “Would you like your poached eggs now, madam?” he said. Ruth was startled. She had forgotten that she had discussed having poached eggs with the waiter. “No, thank you,” she said. “I think I’ll have something from the buffet.”

  Ruth watched Edek walk back to the table. Quite a lot, of whatever he

  [ 4 3 4 ]

  L I L Y B R E T T

  had chosen, was extending farther than the boundaries of his plate. Ruth spooned some compote into a bowl for herself and rejoined Edek. Edek was looking at his plate. He had chosen the blood sausage. What looked like a foot of thick blood sausage was lying across his plate.

  Ruth stared at the blood sausage. Why did her father’s breakfast look like a phallic announcement to her? Why couldn’t she let a blood sausage be only a blood sausage? Only a roll of meat. “Roll of meat”? Why did she have to use that phrase? Ugh, she said to herself. She was choosing all the wrong words today.

  She looked at Edek. How could he eat that blood sausage on an empty stomach anyway?

  “Maybe you should start with cornflakes,” she said to him. Edek screwed up his face.

  “I had enough with the cornflakes,” he said. “I can get cornflakes as much as I want in Melbourne,” he added.

  “Okay,” Ruth said.

  “This sausage is very tasty,” Edek said, and took a large mouthful. Ruth looked at her compote. It looked a bit puny.

  Edek ate his blood sausage with relish. Mouthful after mouthful of sausage disappeared from the plate. Zofia had clearly been good for his appetite, Ruth thought. Although maybe that part of him didn’t really need improving. When Edek was almost finished, he looked up. “I did speak to the lawyer about the Swiss bank account,” he said, to Ruth.

  “When?” Ruth said.

  “Last night,” said Edek.

  “You had time?” Ruth said. “You seem to have been pretty busy.”

  “Do not be silly, Ruthie,” Edek said. “The lawyer did tell me that the Swiss banks did agree to a settlement of 1.25 billion dollars.”

  “I know,” Ruth said. “I read about it in this morning’s International Daily Journal.”

  “The lawyer did say that the Swiss people are concerned about the damage what this dispute did do their image,” Edek said.

  “It is sick, isn’t it?” Ruth said. “The Swiss people are not happy with the settlement. The Minister for the Economy, Pascal Couchepin, was quoted as saying, ‘Many people have the feeling that it was not the search for truth, but more a search for money.’ They drag out that old stereotype of the rich T O O M A N Y M E N

  [ 4 3 5 ]

  greedy Jew only interested in money. And that conveniently covers up their own greed and their own theft. It always works.”

  “Column down, Ruthie, column down,” Edek said.

  “Doesn’t it make you feel like hitting your head against a wall?” she said, to Edek.

  “No,” Edek said. “It does make me angry. But I am used to such things.” Ruth poured herself a glass of water. “The lawyer did tell me that the Swiss government’s Swiss National Bank what did make such big profits from dealing with the gold the Nazis did take from the Jews did not contribute to or endorse this settlement,” Edek said.

  “I know,” said Ruth. “The private banks agreed because of the pressure of the financial sanctions that the U.S. Congress was putting on them.”

  “It was mainly New York what wanted to put sanctions on the Swiss banks, wasn’t it?” Edek said.

  “Yes,” Ruth said.

  “New York is not a bad city,” Edek said.

  Ruth felt homesick. Homesick for New York. She didn’t think she had ever missed New York this much before.

  “I’m looking forward to going home,” Ruth said. “We fly to Warsaw tomorrow, and then home.” She looked at Edek. From Warsaw she and Edek were flying to separate destinations. She was flying to New York, Edek was returning to Australia. “I’ll miss you, Dad,” she said. “It’s been one helluva trip.”

  “One helluva trip as they say,” Edek said. He looked sad.

  “We’ll see each other again soon,” Ruth said. “I’ll come to Australia or you’ll come to New York.” Parting from Edek was going to be the hardest part of this trip, she thought. She had hated every good-bye she had ever uttered to her father. Each good-bye was tinged with the fear that she wouldn’t see him again. Tears came into her eyes.

  “We will see each other very soon,” Edek said.

  “Of course we will,” she said. “I love you, Dad,” she said a minute later.

  “I do love you, too, Ruthie,” he said.

  Ruth looked up. Zofia was walking toward them. Zofia saw Ruth and waved.

  “Zofia is here,” Ruth said to Edek. “I think we should go. It’s our last chance to walk around Kraków.”

  [ 4 3 6 ]

  L I L Y B R E T T

  “To walk in Kraków?” Edek said “What for is there such a big rush to walk in Kraków? We got plenty of time to walk in Kraków.”

  “It’s our last day here,” Ruth said.

  “We got all day,” said Edek.

  “Hello, hello,” said Zofia. She kissed Edek on the cheek and then bent over to kiss Ruth. Ruth moved her head in a reflex action. Zofia’s kiss landed on the side of Ruth’s head.

  “We were just going to go for a walk,” Ruth said to Zofia.

  “We got plenty of time to go for a walk,” Edek said.

  “I would like to have a cup of tea with you, Ruthie, for a few minutes,”

  Zofia said. Ruth hesitated.

  “Go on, Ruthie,” Edek said. “It cannot do you harm to have a cup of tea with Zofia. She does only want to tell you that there is nothing to worry about.” Ruth was quiet. “Ruthie, we are going tomorrow,” Edek said.

  “Please, behave yourself with Zofia.”

  Edek turned to Zofia. ‘My daughter is normally a very nice person,” he said. “She is being a bit not so nice because this situation what she found us together in is not so easy for her.”

  “Of course, Edek,” Zofia said. “Of course.”

  “I am going to my room to write a few postcards to people,” Edek said.

  “Okay,” Ruth said to Zofia. “I’ll have a cup of tea with you.” She tried to inject a gracious tone into her voice, but she could hear that she sounded flat.

  “Thank you, darling,” Zofia said.

  “I will be back when I am finished with postcards,” Edek said.

  Ruth felt unreasonably nervous at being left alone with Zofia. She smiled at Zofia. She hoped her smile was not too stiff.

  “You don’t have to be frightened of me, Ruthie,” Zofia said. “I am a good person. I am honest. I say what I am thinking. I do not hide things.”

  “Especially your breasts,” Ruth said, and then lifted her hand to her mouth in horror at what she had just said.

  Zofia laughed. “It is hard to hide my breasts,” she said.

  “I didn’t mean to say that,” Ruth said.

  “I don’t mind,” Zofia said.

  “Well, I apologize, anyway,” Ruth said. Zofia smiled at Ruth and nodded her acceptance of the apology.

  T O O M A N Y M E N

  [ 4 3 7 ]

  “I like your father very much,” Zofia said. Ruth didn’t say anything.

  �
�He likes me very much, too,” Zofia said. Ruth remained quiet. She didn’t know what to say. “I think I am the woman for him,” Zofia said.

  “What?” said Ruth. The exclamation had come out with more force and volume than Ruth had intended. Zofia took offense.

  “What is wrong with me?” she said. “Why are you so surprised?”

  “There’s nothing wrong with you at all,” Ruth said. “I was just surprised because your remark was so unexpected.”

  “Unexpected?” Zofia said. “A woman knows when a man is the man for her.”

  “But you don’t know my father,” Ruth said.

  “I know him,” said Zofia. “I know him. You do not have to know a person for ten years in order to know him.”

  “Well, you have to know him for more than ten minutes,” Ruth said.

  “It depends what does happen in those ten minutes,” Zofia said.

  “He doesn’t know you,” Ruth said.

  “He knows me, believe me,” Zofia said.

  What did Zofia mean, Ruth thought. Was Zofia talking about her father’s knowledge of her in terms of physical intimacy? Or had they talked all night as well? Had they revealed more than their physical selves to each other? What did Zofia mean?

  “We are going tomorrow,” Ruth said to Zofia. “There’s no time for anything more to develop.” Zofia was not daunted. She smiled at Ruth.

  “Some things do not require time,” she said. Ruth was confused by that enigmatic, Zen-like remark. She decided Zofia was just bluffing.

  “I will be good to Edek,” Zofia said.

  “He’s managing quite well,” Ruth said. Suddenly the absurdity of the situation struck Ruth. Here she was, fending off a prospective interloper in much the same way that parents screened potential partners for their teenage children. She had a parental attitude to this prospective girlfriend.

  She was judgmental. Critical.

  Maybe she was merely being discerning, she thought. After all, she knew her father well. She was well qualified to assess the suitability of prospective partners. Anyway, the whole conversation was ridiculous, she decided. They were leaving tomorrow. Zofia had no time for any further maneuvers. Ruth chided herself again. That was a sexist attitude to take. To

  [ 4 3 8 ]

  L I L Y B R E T T

  ascribe the maneuvering to Zofia and not Edek. Maybe it was appropriate.

  She hadn’t seen Edek make any overt moves toward Zofia.

  “I look after my father,” Ruth said to Zofia.

  “Your father doesn’t need more money,” Zofia said. Ruth stopped herself from saying that she gave her father much more than money. After all, this was not a competition. She and Zofia were not competing for Edek.

  And if they were, Ruth had already won. Edek was her father. He already belonged to her.

  “Your father is not a man who is very interested in a lot of money,”

  Zofia said.

  “That’s true,” Ruth said.

  “Edek does not look after himself,” Zofia said. “I will look after him. I will make sure that he does exercise.”

  “That would be an uphill battle,” Ruth said. Zofia looked bewildered.

  “It’s just an expression,” Ruth said. “I meant that it would be very hard to get my father to exercise.”

  “There are many ways to force a man to exercise,” Zofia said with a smile. What was Zofia talking about? Ruth thought. She smiled, despite herself. Zofia was incorrigible, Ruth had to admire that. What did Zofia know about men and their ways that Ruth didn’t? Probably everything, Ruth decided. Next to Zofia she was a naïf, a rank amateur.

  “I will make Edek fit,” Zofia said.

  “He is fit,” Ruth said. “He is very fit for an eighty-one-year-old.”

  “I know better than you how fit he is,” Zofia said with a wink.

  Ruth felt sick. She definitely didn’t want to linger on this aspect of the conversation. “I will make him more fit,” Zofia said. “I will walk with him and we will swim together.”

  “He can’t swim,” Ruth said.

  “I will teach him,” Zofia said. “It is very easy to swim in Sopot.”

  Ruth was horrified. “My father can’t live in Sopot,” she said.

  “Why not?” said Zofia.

  “It is too far,” Ruth said. She wasn’t sure where Sopot was too far from.

  Too far removed from any reality, she decided.

  “Sopot is closer to New York than Australia,” Zofia said.

  “My father is not going to live in Poland,” Ruth said firmly.

  Zofia looked at her. “Okay,” she said. “Maybe we will both live in New T O O M A N Y M E N

  [ 4 3 9 ]

  York, Edek and me.” Ruth was stunned. “I am a very good cook,” Zofia said. “I make a much better cheesecake than Walentyna.”

  “My father doesn’t need cheesecake,” Ruth said.

  “He loves cheesecake,” Zofia said. “And I make a special one with cottage cheese. It is not so fattening.”

  Ruth contemplated asking Zofia where you could buy cottage cheese in Poland. She had only seen full-fat cream cheese on sale anywhere. She hadn’t seen any skim milk or nonfat yogurt either. She decided against inquiring about the cottage cheese.

  “I will make your father happy,” Zofia said.

  “I don’t think so,” said Ruth. She was about to explain her seemingly harsh attitude. To explain Edek’s past and the traumas he had suffered in Poland, when Zofia interrupted her.

  “You don’t know,” Zofia said.

  “Yes, I do,” Ruth said, before she could stop herself.

  “No, you do not,” Zofia said. “I know what Edek needs in order to be happy. He needs me. He is a wonderful man,” Zofia said. “He has more life in him than men one quarter of his age. I have been looking for a man with life. I have much life, myself.”

  “I can see that you are a very lively person,” Ruth said. She meant it kindly, and hoped it hadn’t appeared as a censorious comment on Zofia’s sexual activities the night before.

  “I have said no to many men,” Zofia said. There it was again, Ruth thought. To many men. But it was the wrong “to.” The gypsy woman had definitely meant “too,” not “to.” You have too many men in your life, the gypsy had said. It really must have been Zofia’s life the gypsy woman had been thinking of, Ruth thought.

  “I have said no to men of thirty,” Zofia said.

  “Really?” Ruth said. She was impressed. No men of thirty were running after her.

  “My word of honor,” Zofia said. “On the grave of my mother, I am telling you the truth.”

  “I believe you,” Ruth said.

  “I would like to be your friend,” Zofia said. She leaned over and put her hand on Ruth’s hand.

  “You can be,” Ruth said. “But you can’t have my father.”

  [ 4 4 0 ]

  L I L Y B R E T T

  Zofia removed her hand. “I think I can,” she said.

  “I’ve got nothing against you,” Ruth said to Zofia. “But you are too young.” Where had she come up with that notion from? Ruth thought.

  That was a stupid thing to say. She must be feeling more anxious about Zofia than she knew.

  “I am sixty-three,” Zofia said.

  “That’s too young for my father,” Ruth said. She was stunned at herself. She couldn’t believe the stern and judgmental attitude she was taking.

  “Your father needs someone young,” Zofia said. “He is very young.”

  Ruth didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to let any more disapproving, disparaging, or vituperative sentences loose. “You will see,” Zofia said.

  “Your father will be very happy.”

  Ruth kept quiet. She was torn between admiring Zofia’s audacity and feeling annoyed at her certainty. “I can move anywhere,” Zofia said. “I can pack up in a minute. I don’t have children. I don’t even have a cat.”

  “Do you like cats?” Ruth said.

  “
No, not at all,” Zofia said. “And I do not like dogs.” Zofia said this with no hint of apology. Few people would admit so directly to an indifference to or a dislike of pets. It was an admission that almost guaranteed hostility.

  “My father likes dogs,” Ruth said.

  “That is fine with me,” Zofia said.

  Ruth was tired. She wished her father would come back. She wondered how she could end this conversation. She wanted to end it on a conciliatory note, to erase the tensions and frictions. To eliminate the discord that seemed so unnecessary. She and Edek were leaving tomorrow. They would never see Zofia again. Why not leave on a harmonious note?

  “I don’t like cats myself,” Ruth said. “Or dogs. It’s definitely not a popular attitude to have in America.”

  “Even in New York?” Zofia said.

  “Even in New York,” Ruth said.

  “I always wanted to go to New York,” Zofia said.

  Ruth knew she had to veer the conversation straight back to animals.

  “They have acupuncture for dogs and cats in America,” she said to Zofia.

  T O O M A N Y M E N

  [ 4 4 1 ]

  “No,” Zofia said.

  “And chiropractors for dogs and cats, too,” Ruth said. “Do you know what a chiropractor is?”

  “Of course,” Zofia said. “I swim every day. I know very much about the body.”

  Why did every sentence seem to be heading in a dangerous direction?

  Ruth wondered.

  “You are not interested in having children are you?” Zofia said to Ruth.

  “No,” said Ruth.

  “I was the same,” Zofia said. Ruth wanted to put some distance into this togetherness, this shared view on parenthood.

  “Lots of people feel the same way,” Ruth said to Zofia.

  “Not too many women feel like this,” Zofia said.

  “More and more women do,” said Ruth.

  “Maybe,” said Zofia.

  Ruth couldn’t believe her own argumentativeness. Would she argue with Zofia about anything at all? Couldn’t she allow some accord between them?

  “I would have had children if I could have been assured of having identical twins,” Ruth said. “I’ve had a fascination for identical twins all my life.

  Triplets would have been even better.”

  Zofia laughed. “I would have liked twins, too,” she said.