Sid
“Thanks, Jeannie!” I call to the library director as we head to our cars after my Reading Hour has ended. “I’ll see you next
week.”
“Sure you don’t want to go to lunch?” she calls.
“I need to change. I’m exercising with Esther this afternoon,” I say. “And I’m Teddy’s nurse tonight.”
“Next time!” Jeannie waves as she departs.
I pull my cell from my pocketbook to check missed messages and head across the parking lot.
“Pedophile!”
I jump, dropping my cell.
A foot kicks it away from me.
I look up. The woman who threatened me weeks ago is back, standing in front me with a demented smile covering her face.
She is alone this time.
“You think I’m the one who’s wrong?” She laughs. “I saw your disgusting interview. You blame me for being angry? This is our time in America, you fucking faggot. We’re taking the world back from sickos and Jews like you.”
I quickly glance around the parking lot. There’s a woman watching us. Her eyes are wide. She grabs her cell.
In the blink of an eye, the disgruntled woman pulls a gun from behind her back.
“We must remove filth like you from the world so it is safe again for our children.”
I hear a loud buzzing in my ears.
She points the gun at my head.
“I’d ask you to say a final prayer, but I know the wicked have no faith.”
Everything seems to be happening in time lapse: I see each action in slow motion.
Her finger is on the trigger.
The next thing I see is my pocketbook knocking the gun out of her hand. She looks away to see where it has landed. I swing
my pocketbook again, and it strikes her once, twice, until she is on the ground. I continue to beat her with my clutch.
The woman grabs me by the collar of my sweater and jostles me back and forth, choking me, until I drop the purse. She slaps
at my head, face, chest.
I hear a clink on the asphalt. My grandmother’s cameo that I wear as Sophia has toppled free. I grab it, turn it upside down
and hold the sharp pin to her eye.
“One more move, and I will blind you, bitch, just like Samson!” I yell.
She stares at me, eyes wide, before squeezing them shut for protection.
I hear sirens approaching.
I hold her to the ground, one hand around her neck, the other holding my vintage cameo above her eye.
I may be eighty-one years old, but it’s finally time, I realize, to fight for myself.
“Don’t you ever fuck with an old gay man in a dress!”
“May I come in?”
Leo looks at me for a second and then says into the phone he’s holding, “Can I call you back?”
He ends the call.
Leo opens the door wide and steps back, and I follow him into his living room.
“I didn’t know if I was going to see you again, Sid,” Leo says, gesturing for me to take a seat on the couch, but I remain
standing.
Leo sits. “You didn’t return any of my calls or texts. You ghosted me. At brunch with my parents. I wasn’t just humiliated,
Sid, I was devastated. I thought everything was going great.”
I take a deep breath and then remove my wig. I collapse into a chair next to the sofa.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
“Sorry is not enough,” Leo says. He begins to text on his cell.
“Leo,” I say.
He does not look up.
“Leo.”
His eyes finally meet mine.
I tell him about what just occurred in the library parking lot.
“My God! Not again! Are you okay?” he asks. “I’m calling the police.”
“I’m fine,” I say, truly meaning it. “And they already came and arrested her.”
“I’m so sorry, Sid.”
“I know.”
And then I tell him about the conversation at the restaurant with his mother.
“I’m such an idiot,” he says to himself. “I should have known something was up. I cannot and will not make excuses for her.”
“She loves you, Leo. She only wants what’s best for you. And so did I.” I hesitate. “Or I thought I did.”
I sit next to him on the couch.
“I was wrong to walk away without talking to you,” I continue.
“But your mother is right: I am an old man, Leo. You will, hopefully, have many more years on this earth than I will. Should our relationship continue, it won’t simply be filled with sunsets, wine and good health, it will have its share of struggles.
But I realized today we never know how much time any of us has, and we should fight for each and every second.
We should fight for love because it’s so rare and so precious. ”
I take Leo’s hand.
“That’s all I wanted,” he says. “For you to fight for me like I will always fight for you.”
“I love you, Leo Levy.”
“I love you, Sid Silverstein.”
“This sounds like the start of a musical,” I joke. “Very off-Broadway.”
“No, this sounds like the start of a real relationship,” Leo says. “This sounds like the start of a new life.” He grips my
hand. “No matter how long that may be.”
He leans toward me. “I cannot believe I am about to kiss Sophia Petrillo on the lips,” he says.
“Picture it! Sicily! 1932!” I say.
My cell buzzes.
I glance down. A text from Esther glows in my lap.
Just saw the news! I’m so proud of you! I knew there was a reason we walk twice a week and do that seated workout class. As
Joan Crawford used to say, “Don’t fuck with me, fellas!” Sending you a coconut cake from Sherman’s for taking that crazy bitch
down. Kiss the Hot Jew for me.
I turn to Leo. “Kiss me,” I say.