Too Many Men

by Lily Brett

  Ruth shook her head. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her father had tricked her. He had invented a whole dialogue of detailed explanations for his actions, which was fraudulent. Not true. How could he have done this to her? How could he have carried out that charade so master-fully? She hadn’t suspected a thing.

  “You did believe me?” Edek said.

  “Of course I believed you,” Ruth said.

  “You should be more suspicious,” Edek said with a smile. Ruth was glad to see him smiling.

  “Suspicious of you?” she said.

  “Yes,” said Edek. “It was such a stupid story about the rest for the feet, and the chair what did not go back. Who has a chair what is broken like that, in a plane? Not even Polish Airlines.”

  “I must be an idiot,” Ruth said. “I didn’t suspect a thing.”

  “I love you, Ruthie,” Edek said. He looked much happier. He was clearly relieved that she had not gone ballistic about the news. “Gone ballistic.” That was a very contemporary expression, she thought. On the

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  whole she preferred more traditional expressions. She could have used

  “exploded with anger” or “lost her temper.” She shook herself back to the present. She couldn’t afford to get lost, at this moment, in a welter of words.

  “I did tell Garth what day we will be back in New York,” Edek said.

  “And he will be there two days later.”

  Ruth shook her head again. She wouldn’t have believed this of Edek.

  She wouldn’t have thought him capable of orchestrating a deception and keeping it to himself for the entire trip. She hadn’t had a hint of his intention to accompany her back to New York. She had thought they would be saying good-bye in Warsaw. At the airport. She had managed to get flights that left more or less at the same time. Hers bound for New York, and Edek’s for Australia.

  Her father had constructed a pantomime. A spectacle. He had run backward and forward to her at the airport, improvising explanations for his bizarre activity. She wouldn’t have thought him capable of this, or capable of keeping it to himself for the bulk of the trip. It was not easy to act out a lie. And she wouldn’t have thought it was in Edek’s nature to do it so well.

  Edek was now looking quite pleased with himself. He bit into another pontshke. “I did ask Garth to come to New York two days after us because I did want to give you a chance to not have a jet lag still,” he said.

  “Thank you,” Ruth said.

  “Have your pontshke,” Edek said. “You did not eat one piece of it yet.

  I am going to take you and Garth to a beautiful dinner in New York,”

  Edek said.

  “With my American Express card?” Ruth said, with a smile.

  “With your American Express card,” Edek said. “You did say I should use it as often as I want to. And I want to take you and Garth out to a beautiful dinner.”

  “I’m surprised you haven’t already made a booking at a restaurant,”

  Ruth said. She picked up a piece of her pontshke. She put it in her mouth.

  It tasted good. The sweetness of the doughnut soothed her. “This pontshke is very good,” she said to Edek.

  “What did I tell you?” he said. “In Poland they got the best pontshkes.”

  Ruth took another bite of pontshke. She thought of her father at Warsaw airport. She thought of him running from one side of the airport to the T O O M A N Y M E N

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  other. Appearing and disappearing. She thought of the details he had provided her with.

  “Seat 2B?” she said to Edek. “That’s what you told me you had arranged for yourself. Seat 2B.”

  “Not bad, eh?” said Edek. “I did learn a lot about clues from my detective books. I did learn how to make sure people are not suspecting what is happening.”

  “You did a good job,” Ruth said.

  “I did learn all this from my books,” Edek said. “You put in such a clue.

  Like what I did with the seat 2B, and then no one is suspecting anything. It is called a herring.”

  “A herring?” Ruth said.

  “Yes,” said Edek. “A herring.”

  “Oh, you mean a red herring,” Ruth said.

  “That’s it,” Edek said. “A red herring.” He looked very pleased with himself.

  “You certainly know a lot about herring,” Ruth said. “Red herrings and pickled herrings and smoked herrings.”

  Edek laughed. “I do not like so much the smoked herrings,” he said.

  “I know,” said Ruth. “You prefer pickled herrings. Especially rollmops.”

  “Oy, a rollmop is very good,” Edek said. “We did not have a rollmop in Poland.”

  “I think that’s because rollmops are Jewish,” Ruth said. She herself quite liked rollmops.

  “You do like a rollmop yourself, Ruthie,” Edek said.

  “That’s true, I do,” she said.

  “I did not do such a bad job,” Edek said, wiping the last of the icing sugar off his plate. “You are not so easy to tell a lie to. You are not stupid, and you do notice everything what I do.”

  “Really?” she said.

  “I do watch you,” Edek said. “I see that you do watch everything. You are watching me and other people what are next to us. You are watching everything.”

  “You’re probably right,” she said. Edek was right, she had spent her whole life watching and observing.

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  “And you know things, Ruthie,” Edek said. “Things what you did not even see.”

  Ruth felt alarmed. Jolted. What did Edek mean?

  “I see what you feel about the Jews who used to be in Lódz,” Edek said.

  “I can see how you do feel them even though there is no more any Jews in Lódz.” Ruth was relieved. It was sensitivity and sympathy her father was talking about. “You can feel the Jews, Ruthie,” he said. “I did watch you in the cemetery. In the ghetto. In Kamedulska Street. It is like you was there yourself when the Jews was there. Sometimes I think that you do understand too much, Ruthie.”

  “I’m not sure you can ever understand too much, Dad,” she said. She felt that her life had too much in it that she was still trying to understand.

  “Why don’t you understand about Garth?” Edek said. There it was, the trick question. Why didn’t she understand about Garth? What was there to understand? They had a relationship once, and it ended. That was it.

  “What is there to understand, Dad?” she said, wearily. “That you love him?”

  “What you do need to understand,” Edek said. “Which is not such a hard thing to see is that Garth does love you. You will see that in New York when we are all together.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” she said. “I’m going back to a mountain of work and you’ve arranged for me to see Garth.”

  “You did already too much work in your life,” Edek said. “You did not have enough of other things.”

  “I’ve had more than enough of everything that I have needed,” Ruth said. She felt annoyed. She had worked so hard to have a balanced life, and here was Edek flippantly suggesting a lack of balance. She had thought long and hard about balance. Her life was balanced.

  “You didn’t have a man what was your husband for a long time,” Edek said.

  “You can live without husbands, you know,” Ruth said, with what she hoped was obvious sarcasm. “Not every woman needs a husband. I don’t need a husband. I don’t need a man in my life.”

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

  “I’m calm,” she said. “The world is a different place, now, Dad. Women don’t need a man in order to be happy and fulfilled.” She felt distressed.

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  “I’m happy,” she shouted at Edek in case he hadn’t understood. She was close to tears. Why was it such a difficult concept to grasp? Nob
ody thought men were unfulfilled or unhappy if they didn’t have wives. On the contrary, many men who didn’t have wives were seen as lucky. Happy bach-elors. Envied by other men. And attractive to women. A tear ran down the side of her face. She wiped it away.

  “If you are so happy why do you cry?” Edek said.

  “They’re tears of frustration,” Ruth said.

  “If you are so happy,” Edek said. “Why do you move your leg so up and down, and do such funny things with your eye?” Ruth felt exhausted.

  “Don’t pick on me, Dad,” she said.

  “I am not doing a picking,” he said.

  “You did have many men what did want to marry you,” Edek said. Ruth kept quiet. She didn’t have the energy to explain again that times had changed. That being married was no longer a top priority for quite a few women.

  “You did have many men what did want to marry you,” Edek said again. “Too many men.” What had he just said? Too many men. She was beginning to feel haunted by that phrase.

  “Who wanted to marry me?” she said to Edek.

  “The two husbands for a start,” he said. “And maybe even the green card man.”

  “That’s a joke, Dad. I had to pay him,” Ruth said.

  “You had to pay him?” Edek said.

  “I had to pay him four thousand dollars,” Ruth said. “Two when we got married and two after the final interview.”

  “Oh, brother,” Edek said. “Four thousand dollars. You did not tell me this.”

  “It was just another detail of what I needed to do to live in New York,”

  she said. “Anyway, I was worried that you would be bothered by husband number three. The first two divorces were difficult enough for you. I didn’t want to burden you with divorce number three.”

  “You are right,” Edek said. “Your divorces was more difficult for me than they was for you.”

  “I don’t know if I’d go that far,” Ruth said. “I didn’t breeze through them.”

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  “Well, they was definitely not breezes for me,” Edek said.

  Ruth was glad the conversation had veered away from the men who had wanted to marry her. There had been so few of them, anyway.

  “Shall we go back to the hotel?” Ruth said. “I want to see if there are any faxes.”

  “Okay,” Edek said. He looked at his watch. “It is nearly lunchtime,” he said.

  “I saw a small vegetarian restaurant,” Ruth said. “We could have lunch there, after I check the faxes.”

  “Vegetarian?” Edek said. “You can eat such vegetables when you go back to New York. Why do we not have some pierogi today? In New York you cannot get such good pierogi.”

  “That’s true,” she said. “The pierogi in New York are good, but not as good as the ones in Poland.”

  “You can say that, again, brother,” Edek said.

  Ruth was looking for her purse to pay the bill, when she felt Edek staring at her. “That John and that Allan did want to marry you,” he said. Ruth groaned. “I went out with John what’s-his-name for about four weeks and Allan never wanted to marry me,” she said. “And I definitely didn’t want to marry him.”

  “That Allan did tell me he did want to marry you,” Edek said.

  “He was nuts,” Ruth said. “And so what if he wanted to marry me. You can’t measure a woman’s worth by the number of men who have wanted to marry her.”

  “No?” Edek said.

  “No,” she shouted.

  “What’s the difference?” Edek said. “The main thing is that you could not see that from all of these men Garth was the one who did love you.”

  “I could see that,” Ruth said.

  They were both quiet. “We will be in New York on the thirteenth, yes?”

  Edek said.

  “Yes,” Ruth said. Suddenly the number thirteen seemed an ominous number. “Do you think thirteen is an unlucky number?” Ruth asked Edek.

  “Unlucky? A number? Are you crazy?” Edek said. Ruth felt better.

  Believing in superstitions was just a way of burdening yourself, she decided.

  She tried to think about the news of Garth’s visit, and what it would T O O M A N Y M E N

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  mean. But she was tired. She realized that she could have dispensed with all of her worries about Zofia. Zofia didn’t seem to be at the center of Edek’s universe. Zofia didn’t seem a problem anymore. There was a problem though. Edek’s plans to reunite her with Garth. But that problem seemed surmountable, soluble. Not anywhere near as big a problem as Zofia had seemed to be, earlier in the day.

  The word “big,” in the same sentence as Zofia, reminded Ruth of Zofia’s breasts. Why did Zofia’s breasts fixate her? Big breasts were not that desirable. Many big-breasted women had problems managing their big breasts.

  Problems with bras, problems with men, problems with other women.

  Why was she making Zofia’s breasts a problem for herself?

  “I’ll see Garth in New York,” she said to Edek. “But nothing will happen.”

  “We will see,” Edek said.

  “Garth is in the past, for me,” Ruth said. “What’s in the past is in the past.” If only that was true, she thought, after she had said it.

  Walentyna was sitting in the lounge of the Hotel Mimoza when they got back. She jumped up when she saw Ruth and Edek.

  “Could I speak for a moment with Ruth alone?” she said to Ruth and Edek.

  “Of course,” Edek said.

  “Excuse me,” Walentyna said to Edek. “I hope it is not rude for me to ask this.”

  “Of course not,” Edek said.

  Ruth was puzzled by Walentyna’s request to talk privately with her.

  “I will go to my room,” Edek said to Walentyna, “to get ready for lunch.” He looked at his hands. “I have to wash my hands,” he said. “They are sticky from the pontshkes. I will see you two ladies later.”

  Ruth sat down next to Walentyna. “Zofia is a very good woman,”

  Walentyna said. So, this was what the talk was about, Ruth thought. Walentyna was making a pitch on Zofia’s behalf. She was surprised that she hadn’t guessed. She wondered whether Zofia had asked Walentyna to intercede. Somehow Ruth couldn’t imagine Zofia needing Walentyna’s help. She was annoyed at herself. Why did she have to view Walentyna’s

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  actions so cynically? Why couldn’t she just see them as sensitive acts of friendship? As a sign of a deep bond between two deeply dissimilar women. She hated herself for being cynical.

  “I’m sure Zofia is a very good woman,” Ruth said.

  “I know that she is,” Walentyna said. Walentyna looked at Ruth. “Zofia did not ask me to talk to you,” she said.

  “Zofia doesn’t seem to be the sort who asks for help,” Ruth said. Walentyna laughed.

  “You are right,” she said. “Zofia is very independent. But she is a good person. You do not need to be nervous of her.”

  “I’m not nervous,” Ruth said.

  “You are nervous,” Walentyna said. “I can see this.”

  Everyone, apparently, could see her nerves. Could see that she, Ruth Rothwax, was a nervous person, Ruth thought. “I did see that you were nervous about me and Zofia on the first day,” Walentyna said. “There is no need to be nervous. There is no need to be nervous of me. There is no need to be nervous of Zofia.”

  Ruth wished Walentyna would use a different word. She was becoming sick of the word “nervous.” What other words could Walentyna have used? She could have used anxious, apprehensive, troubled. She could have used fearful, agitated, skittish. No, that was unfair of her. You couldn’t expect a Polish-speaking person to know the word “skittish.”

  Ruth was settling into her reverie about the word “nervous,” when Walentyna spoke again. “Zofia is a good person. A very good person,” Walentyna said. “And a very good friend.”

  A
good friend? Was the face that Zofia had made about Walentyna’s cheesecake the act of a good friend? Ruth thought. It could have been if Walentyna’s cheesecake was terrible, she decided.

  “I know Zofia is sometimes not easy,” Walentyna said. “Sometimes she does say too strongly what she does think. She doesn’t know how strong she is. It is hard for me to speak sometimes when I am with her. But she is a good friend and a good person.”

  “I’m sure she is,” Ruth said. Walentyna hadn’t finished, Ruth realized.

  She had only paused to draw breath.

  “And she does adore Edek,” Walentyna said, a bit flushed and a bit breathless from her speech. “Who would not adore Edek?” Walentyna T O O M A N Y M E N

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  added quickly. “I think he is wonderful, myself, but Zofia did get to him first.” Zofia got to him first, Ruth thought. What was Edek? A prize to be divided out or delivered to the earliest arrival? Ruth decided Walentyna had intended this remark as a compliment. As a sincere declaration of Edek’s worth. Not as a sexist statement.

  “In any case,” Walentyna said, “I am too quiet for Edek.” She put her hand on Ruth’s arm. “Give Zofia a chance,” she said.

  “I don’t think Zofia needs my help,” said Ruth. “She’s doing quite well on her own.”

  “She does need your help,” Walentyna said.

  “There is nothing to help her about,” Ruth said. “We are going tomorrow. We won’t see you or Zofia for a long time.”

  She stopped herself from adding, if ever. She didn’t want to be too harsh to either woman. “I don’t think we’ll be making another trip to Poland in the near future,” she said to Walentyna. That was a reasonable compromise, she thought.

  “We will see,” Walentyna said.

  “Yes,” said Ruth. “We will see.”

  “I hear that you will have an old boyfriend visiting you in New York,”

  Walentyna said. Ruth was startled. How did Walentyna know that? Had Zofia told her? Zofia must have told her. Edek must have told Zofia. Before he told Ruth. Ruth felt uneasy. This was not a good sign. She took a deep breath. She was being silly, she thought. There was nothing to worry about. Edek had kept quiet about the news of Garth’s visit for a long time. Obviously he had had trouble containing himself and had leaked the news to Zofia.