All-of-a-Kind Family

by Sydney Taylor

  “Well,” Mama asked, “how are you getting along?”

  “We’re almost finished,” everybody answered at once.

  “Fine,” Mama said. “What about the decorations? You know there’s only one more day before the holiday begins.”

  Everybody looked at Ella. Decoration of the Succah was Ella’s special job. The others helped, of course, but she was always the designer. Under Ella’s direction the children cut different fruits from cardboard and colored them. They made strings of colored paper chains and crepe-paper flowers.

  When they were all made, the children tacked the paper fruits on the walls. Charlie had come over; he strung the bright-colored chains across each other under the roof planks. The paper flowers were arranged in Mama’s cut-glass bowl and when it graced the Succah table, the little house looked festive indeed. The children were enchanted with it.

  “Mama!” they called. “You must come out to see it!”

  Mama came and admired. “It is lovely! I think it’s the loveliest Succah we’ve ever had.”

  “You girls have done a wonderful job,” Charlie praised them.

  “I just can’t wait till the library lady sees it,” said Sarah. “What time is it, Papa?”

  “A little after six. She’ll be here any minute. You’d better meet her outside. She won’t know where the backyard is.”

  Sarah skipped out joyously. Soon the sound of gay laughter could be heard and she reappeared, leading the smiling Miss Allen by the hand.

  Suddenly Miss Allen stopped. Her laughter stopped too; her face grew pale and her eyes grew big.

  The children looked at her in astonishment and then their gaze followed hers — straight across the yard to Charlie.

  “Herbert!” the library lady whispered.

  The children knew something was happening, something big. They could feel it. They looked at Mama to see if she understood. But Mama was just as surprised as they were, and so was Papa.

  Charlie too seemed to have forgotten where he was. He walked towards the library lady. The yard was still. It was almost as if these two were the only ones alive in it. He took the girl’s hands in both of his. “Kathy, Kathy!” he said brokenly. “I had begun to believe you were dead!”

  Miss Allen started to laugh, only this time the laugh sounded more as if she were crying. “Oh, I’m very much alive, Herbert.”

  Sarah spoke up. “His name is Charlie.”

  For a fleeting moment, Ella felt again the pain of that night when Papa had first told her about Charlie. Was it really only two months ago?

  “Herbert is his first name,” she told the others. “Charlie is his middle name.”

  Charlie and Kathy just looked at each other.

  “Aren’t you going to kiss her?” cried Henny.

  “Quiet!” Papa said sternly.

  Charlie put his hands around Kathy’s face, then bent down and kissed her. It was a wonderful moment.

  Kathy looked up at Charlie. There were tears in her eyes as she said, “Oh, my dear, I’m so glad you found me!”

  “It was really the children who found you,” Charlie said with a radiant face. He turned and looked at the silent group around them. “Thank you, you wonderful family — thank you for Kathy and me.”

  “I think you can thank yourselves, too,” Mama said. “Is it likely that you would have met here tonight if each of you had not been a kind good friend to this family?”

  Before Papa left for the synagogue, Mama brought out her shiny brass candlesticks with the holiday candles already in them. Placing them on the Succah table, she lit them and recited a prayer. With the soft candlelight spread through the wooden hut and the smell of the green branches on the roof planks, the place seemed heavenly to the children who sat there awaiting Papa’s return.

  “I can’t stop thinking about Charlie and the library lady,” said Sarah.

  “To think that Charlie’s lost sweetheart should be our own library lady,” Charlotte added dreamily.

  “It’s just like a storybook come true,” added Sarah.

  “Why didn’t they stay to eat?” Henny asked.

  “Kathy wanted to go straight to Charlie’s parents and make up with them. I was glad that she felt that way,” Mama said. “I know Charlie was glad, too. They promised to come to see us very soon.”

  Papa had returned. As Mama passed the dishes through the kitchen window, the girls placed them on the Succah table.

  “It’s fun seeing the dishes come through the window,” Ella said. “You can almost imagine that the food is being whisked out of the air and served by magic hands.”

  She moved one arm in a swinging gesture to illustrate her words. At the end of the swing, she suddenly found a platter of gefüllte fish in her hand.

  “This fish was whisked right out of the icebox,” Mama said. “Mind you don’t drop it, or magic hands will be laid on you.”

  Everyone laughed as Ella set the fish down with great care. Next out the window came a large soup tureen filled with good hot chicken soup. Inside the tureen floated a Succos delicacy — kreplech (meat-filled dumplings). Then out the window came a covered bowl of vegetables. Next came a platter of chicken.

  And last of all, but not out the window, came Mama.

  SOMETHING IMPORTANT WAS TAKING PLACE in Mama’s house on this particular night. It was way past ten o’clock. That should have meant darkened rooms in which seven people lay sleeping peacefully. Tonight, however, lights shone in all the rooms, and everybody was still awake.

  Mama was in bed but not in her bedroom. Both bed and Mama had been moved into the front room. The door of this room was shut tight so that the children could not see her. But she was not asleep. The children were all in bed but they were not asleep. Papa was prowling about the kitchen so, of course, he was not asleep either.

  The children talked together in excited whispers. They grew quiet only in those moments when a grownup walked through their bedroom on the way to and from the front room.

  Papa was walking back and forth, back and forth across the kitchen floor. The children could hear his heavy steps mingled with the lighter, quicker steps of Tanta, and his voice was pitched low as he talked.

  Who was Tanta? Why, Tanta was just Tanta. All of the other aunts could be called Tanta Rivka, Tanta Leah, Tanta Frieda, or Tanta Fannie, but not this Tanta. She had a name — it was Minnie — but the children never thought of using it. She was Tanta — the Tanta — for she was always on hand when Mama needed her. She was Mama’s widowed sister and earned her own living by working in a factory, but she was ever ready to give up her job when she was needed. And she certainly was needed now!

  Somebody else was in the house tonight — somebody the children knew very well, but tonight he was in an unfamiliar role. It was Doctor Fuchs, and he was paying no attention whatever to the children. In fact, he was not even paying any attention to Mama, who was his patient. He just lay in his shirt sleeves on a cot in the far bedroom which usually held Mama’s bed. The cot had been set up especially for him, the children knew that — but why? Why was he resting? Why wasn’t he doing something to make Mama’s new baby come quickly?

  Yes, a new baby was coming to join Mama’s large family! There hadn’t been a new baby in five years. The children were delighted at the prospect; that is — four of them were delighted. Gertie was not so sure. As a matter of fact, she had felt a funny lump in her throat all day, a sort of wanting-to-cry lump. She didn’t exactly know why, but she had a feeling it had something to do with the coming of that new baby.

  “I think six children will be ever so much nicer than five,” Ella whispered. “Things can be divided evenly among six.”

  “I wonder what Mama will call her,” Henny said.

  “Her!” exclaimed Sarah. “What makes you so sure it will be a her!”

  Henny answered, “Oh, Mama always has hers.”

  “Well, I, for one, am glad,” Charlotte added loyally. “I think boys are horrid, anyway — always wanting to figh
t and throw each other around. When I get married and have children, I’m going to have only girl babies.”

  “Oh, you silly!” Henny told her. “You can’t order your babies. You’ve got to take what you get.”

  “Well, I’m sure God will give me just what I want,” replied Charlotte. “I’ll just want girls so hard, He won’t even be able to think about boys.”

  At this point, Tanta walked through the room, a cup of tea in her hand. The children stopped talking. She passed right by their beds, past Doctor Fuchs on the cot, and into the front room shutting the door firmly behind her. How the children wished they had magic eyes to see right through that door!

  Henny began to giggle. “Doctor Fuchs certainly looks funny without his jacket on, doesn’t he. He’s got such a round, fat tummy and look at the way it moves up and down when he snores.”

  “What’s he sleeping on the cot for?” Sarah asked. “Why doesn’t he go into the front room to be with Mama?”

  Ella answered her. “I heard him tell Tanta that it would be some time before the baby arrived so he’s resting in the meantime.”

  “What’s he resting for?” demanded Henny. “You’d think he was having the baby.”

  “I guess he’s tired,” Ella said. “There’s no sense just sitting around waiting. It’s late, you know.”

  Tanta was coming out of the front room again. Ella called to her softly.

  “Aren’t you children asleep yet?” Tanta said. “Mama wouldn’t like that. Now if you will go right to sleep, I promise to awaken you the very minute the baby is born.” She went about tucking them in.

  The children really tried to sleep, but there were so many distractions. Papa talked; the gaslight flickered in the children’s bedroom; Doctor Fuchs snored gently on the cot in the adjoining room; and occasionally Mama called from the front room.

  Gertie was tossing about restlessly. She had said not a word for a long time, because the lump in her throat was so big. Presently it worked its way up to her eyes and changed into salty tears that trickled slowly down her cheeks. Without her wanting it to happen, a sob broke through, and then another, and still another.

  “Why, Gertie,” Charlotte asked in surprise, “what’s the matter?”

  All the tight, hurt feelings inside of her, the confusion and jealousy, were suddenly poured out in a rush of words. “I don’t want Mama to have another baby,” Gertie cried. “I’m the baby! I’m the baby!”

  The others sat up in their beds.

  “Hush,” Ella commanded. “Not so loud. You wouldn’t want Mama to hear you.”

  Gertie buried her face in her pillow. Of course she didn’t want Mama to hear her. She hadn’t wanted anyone to hear her, but it was too late now.

  Sarah said, “I suppose that’s the way you feel when you’ve been the baby as long as Gertie. Nobody else in this family ever had the chance to feel like that. Another little sister always came along while we were still babies ourselves.”

  “That’s so,” agreed Ella. “But what Gertie doesn’t understand is that it’s really nicer being an older sister. For instance, being an older sister means that you can take care of the baby. Remember it will be helpless, and it will need you. It doesn’t mean that people will love you any less — it’s just that you will be more important, more grown-up. You will be closer to the rest of us, but the baby will be all alone, really, because it will not have anybody close to its own age as we have each other.”

  Gertie lay still. Her sobbing grew quieter. The sisters looked at one another but said nothing. They had to give Gertie time to get used to the idea of being an older sister. In a few minutes the sobbing stopped altogether, and the exhausted little girl was asleep.

  Charlotte’s eyes winked and blinked. She even put her fingers in her mouth, wetting them, and drew them across her eyelids in her attempts to stay awake. But it did not help her for long. She too fell fast asleep.

  Henny tossed and turned until she finally slept. That left only Ella and Sarah still awake.

  “Why don’t you lie down on the couch awhile?” Tanta was saying to Papa in the kitchen. “You’ve been through this often enough not to be so impatient. You don’t even have to worry about what it’ll be. You know it’ll be another girl.”

  “I know,” Papa answered. “I know, but there’s always the hope. Maybe this time it’ll be a son. A son — to carry on my name, to go to the synagogue with me — oh, what’s the use even thinking about it. It’s sure to be another daughter. I’ll do as you say. I’ll lie down for a minute.”

  Ella and Sarah looked at each other. They had heard. “My,” murmured Sarah, “Papa certainly wants a boy child, doesn’t he?”

  As the night wore on, two more little girls joined their sisters in dreamland.

  In the early morning hours, Ella suddenly opened her eyes with the feeling that something important was happening. The baby, she thought at once! It must have come! She sat up quickly, but nothing seemed changed. Papa was still walking back and forth in the kitchen. And the doctor — she looked through the heavy portieres separating the bedrooms. The doctor was not there! And where was Tanta? Tanta and the doctor must be with Mama. And then she heard it — the thin wailing of a baby. It had come at last! Oh, what was it? What was it?

  From the kitchen the walking sounds had stopped. Papa had heard the wailing too. A kitchen chair scraped across the floor. Papa must have sat down. When she leaned way out of bed, she could just see him. He was sitting with his elbows resting on the kitchen table, his head cupped in his hands — waiting.

  Then the front-room door opened. Tanta came out, a small blanketed bundle held tight in her arms. Her face was wreathed in smiles as she passed Ella and went on to the kitchen — to the waiting father.

  “You’ve got what you wanted at last,” she cried out happily, “a son, a son!”

  Papa merely stared at her unbelievingly.

  “Well, don’t you want to look at your son?” Tanta asked, holding out the precious bundle. Papa made no attempt to touch the new baby. He just sat still, then covered his face with his hands, and to Ella’s amazement, his shoulders began to heave as if — as if he were crying. Ella couldn’t believe it. Papa wouldn’t cry; Papa never cried. Besides, what was there to cry about? Still the choking sounds Papa was making certainly couldn’t be laughter.

  Ella slipped out of bed and hurried into the kitchen. She put her arm about her father’s shoulders and said wonderingly, “Why are you crying? Aren’t you glad it’s a boy? You were so anxious to have a son.”

  Papa took a handkerchief out of his pocket, wiped his eyes and blew his nose vigorously. Then he turned a shining, smiling face to Ella. “I was crying with happiness, dear child. Come, let’s look at him together.” He took Ella’s hand in his and they both peeked at the rosy infant sleeping in Tanta’s arms.

  Meanwhile Doctor Fuchs had come into the kitchen looking once more his dignified self now that he had his coat on again. “Congratulations,” he said to Papa. “And what are you doing up at this hour, young lady? Had to see your baby brother, eh? Well, and now that you have seen him, what do you think of him?”

  “His face is so red, Doctor,” Ella said, “almost as if he had scarlet fever.”

  The doctor laughed. “You needn’t worry about his face. It’ll be the normal color soon enough. Tanta, you’d better put him back in his cradle and be very quiet about it. His mother is sleeping, and I don’t want her disturbed.” He slapped Papa on the back. “All right, I’ll come back later in the day. Good-by now.” And he was gone.

  Tanta put the baby to bed while Papa sank contentedly on the couch to enjoy the first real sleep that night. The cot the doctor had used was remade for Tanta, and she too was soon asleep. Ella crawled back into her own bed and snuggled up against Sarah’s warm body. She was bursting with the news. If only she could awaken the others and tell them now. But Papa had asked her to wait until morning because their excitement would prevent anyone’s sleeping.

  Ella
was sure she would not be able to fall asleep, but she did. When next she opened her eyes, it was only to discover that someone else had had the pleasure of telling the wonderful news. She was disappointed but not for long.

  “Why didn’t you wake us up as soon as it happened, you old meany?” Henny asked.

  “Yes, you knew hours before we did. That wasn’t fair!” Charlotte was indignant.

  “I wanted to,” Ella defended herself, “only Papa and Tanta wouldn’t let me. They said I had to wait until morning. What difference does it make? You know now. Have you seen him? How is Mama? Is she awake? Can we see her?”

  “Yes, she’s awake. As soon as you get out of bed, we’ll be able to go in.” The children were so excited. “Hurry up!”

  The five little girls tiptoed into the front room. They smiled at Mama, and she smiled back at them. She motioned with her hand to the cradle and at once they surrounded the sleeping baby to admire and exclaim, “Isn’t he sweet?” They gently touched the baby face. “How soft his skin is!” “Look at the cunning hands.” “He’s a darling!” “I’d just love to hold him.”

  They would have remained there forever but Papa came in to shoo them out. “Mama needs rest,” he cautioned. “Better run along and get dressed. Tanta will need your help.”

  “What are we going to name him?” Ella asked, looking adoringly at her baby brother.

  “We will have to talk about that,” Papa said. “I thought we might name him after my grandfather Chaim, if Mama is willing — and then we would have a new Charlie.”

  Mama said, “Why, that’s a wonderful thought, Papa! That’s a name we all love.”

  “Little Charlie,” Gertie murmured lovingly, looking down at him. She seemed to have accepted the idea of being a big sister.

  “You know,” Charlotte spoke up, “it’ll seem awful funny to see a little child in boy’s clothes in this house.”

  “He’s lucky,” Henny added. “He won’t have to wear hand-me-down clothes like the rest of us. He’ll always be getting new clothes.”