CHAPTER FIVE 6 OCTOBER 1947
CHAPTER
FIVE
Benny had his mechanical-engineering books spread out over the table. He should have been studying, but his eyes slid over the words barely seeing them. Lately, restlessness had taken hold of him, and he knew what was causing it. He needed to choose. His old life or his new.
A thump on his front door made him jump, and when he opened it, he found Ed on the stoop.
‘Hey, neighbor,’ Ed said, stepping inside without invitation. He glanced at the books on the table. ‘Your brains are going to fall out of your head with all that studying.’
Benny rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Just trying to make it stick.’
‘So, I hear you’re headed over to my parents’ soon, right?’ There was a bristling gruffness to him as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. ‘Gloria says you’re watching the World Series with them.’
‘Yeah.’ Benny checked his watch. The day had slipped away from him. ‘I was just finishing up.’ He closed the book that had been open to the same page for the last hour.
‘Right. So, listen. Before you go, I have to ask. Why does my sister want to know if I’ve seen other women coming in and out of your house?’ Ed looked ready to punch him.
‘She … misunderstood something.’
Rocking back on his heels, Ed let out a slow breath. ‘I told you from the start, if you weren’t serious, you should move on.’
‘It’s not like that. I like your sister. I hope you told her there’s no one coming in and out of here.’
‘I told her I haven’t seen anyone, but I haven’t been looking.’ He crossed his arms. ‘Should I start looking?’
‘No. There’s no one. I swear.’ The last thing he needed was for Ed to start nosing around his life.
‘Well,’ Ed drummed his fingers against his biceps, ‘if you’re not chasing skirts, what is it you’re actually hiding?’
Benny paled. He shut his eyes feeling the walls close in. He needed a secret. Something bad, but acceptable. Definitely not the truth. ‘I … have a lot of debt.’ He opened his eyes to see a concerned expression settle over Ed’s face.
‘How much is a lot?’
‘Enough,’ Benny hedged. ‘I really like your sister, but before I, you know, make any kind of commitment, I need to straighten some things out in my life.’
Ed pulled out a chair and sat. ‘Is it gambling? How much do you owe?’
‘It’s not gambling.’ He leaned against the wall, arms folded. ‘And I’m not talking about this with you.’
‘Look, I’m not trying to put you on the spot. I just don’t want to see Glory get hurt.’
‘Neither do I.’ He looked pointedly at the clock. ‘I should get going. I don’t want to miss the first pitch.’
For the first time ever, the World Series would be televised, with just about every set in America tuned in to watch the Yankees and the Dodgers go head-to-head.
Benny would have liked to watch the game with Lee, who not only could have played for the major leagues if he’d been allowed, but who knew the Brooklyn Dodgers superstar, Jackie Robinson, from the war.
It seemed wrong that he, of all people, would miss it.
When Benny got to the Meyers’ house, Gloria opened the door and smiled at him, but there was a reserve to her now, like she was careful not to give too much of herself away. He bent to kiss her cheek, and she turned her head even further from him so that the kiss landed on her ear.
She and her mother were finishing making potato skins and deviled crabs for the game, so Benny sat with her father talking batting averages and home-run stats until they came in with the food.
‘So, which teams are playing today?’ Mrs Meyers asked, settling herself on the couch.
‘Women.’ Mr Meyers sighed, giving Benny a look that made Gloria stiffen beside him.
‘It’s the Dodgers against the Yankees,’ Benny told her.
As the teams filed onto the field, Mrs Meyers pointed at the screen. ‘Look, it’s that colored player.’
‘Yep,’ Mr Meyers said, popping the p and shaking his head.
‘They say he’s very good.’
‘He’s great,’ said Benny.
‘Yeah, but that’s not the issue,’ Mr Meyers said. ‘Now every Dodgers game is about integration instead of baseball.’
‘Come on, Daddy,’ Gloria said. ‘He’s stealing third not starting a picket line on center field. If all the teams integrated, you wouldn’t even think about it.’
He barked out a laugh. ‘That’s what you get when you talk to women about sports,’ he said, with a smirk to Benny. ‘Just integrate every team in every sport and you won’t notice the integration,’ he said in a high-pitched voice, a poor imitation of his daughter’s, and laughed again.
Gloria colored red and turned her face away.
‘There’re tons of women who know a whole lot about sports,’ Benny said, trying to come to her defense.
‘Name one,’ Mr Meyers drawled.
‘Sure.’ He hesitated and came up blank. ‘Well, my sister knows more about baseball than most men,’ he lied. They would never meet his sister to find out otherwise. He turned to Gloria and winked, hoping to draw her back out.
‘She must be watching the game too then,’ Mrs Meyers said. ‘Do they have a television?’ And then, without waiting for a response, ‘We should telephone after the game. They have a telephone, don’t they?’
The back of Benny’s skull began to throb, and his forehead felt tight with tension. He shook his head, searching for a reason that they couldn’t call his baseball-loving sister.
‘It’s long distance,’ Gloria said as Benny blurted out, ‘She’s in the hospital.’
Gloria sat up straight, shock pinching her features. ‘What happened?’
‘Uh,’ he said, remembering too late he’d said his family lived up north and kicking himself for not coming up with the long-distance excuse.
‘Is she all right?’ Mrs Meyers asked.
‘She’s fine, she’s just … uh.’ He was making it worse, because why would she be in the hospital if she was fine? And during the World Series. ‘Visiting … my mother.’
‘What’s wrong with her?’
He swallowed the spit pooling in his mouth. ‘Her heart, I think. I mean the doctors think.’
‘Don’t they know?’
‘Well, she collapsed, so it could have been anything, but now they think it’s her heart. They’re pretty sure. It’s probably the heart.’
Gloria put her hand on his arm. ‘Oh, Benny, I’m so sorry. If you want,’ she slid closer to him, ‘I could drive up with you to see her.’
‘No,’ he said, a little too quickly. ‘She’s very weak and can’t have visitors.
Just my sister. And I can’t get the time off right now to drive all the way …
’ He was going to say to Chicago but stopped himself in case he’d told her another northern city.
‘All the way up there.’ Lie. Lie. Lie. ‘So, we can’t call her or see her. ’
‘Oh, Benny,’ she said.
Mrs Meyers offered him a deviled crab and a sympathetic look. ‘I hope she recovers soon,’ she said.
‘Sorry to hear about that,’ Mr Meyers said as President Truman came onto the television screen, weighing the baseball in his hand. Their focus shifted to the president winding back for the ceremonial first pitch that would start the game.
Gloria leaned in and whispered, ‘I knew you were keeping something from me. I wish you’d just told me.’
Benny kissed her forehead and sat back, eyes toward the screen.
He had to think. He’d told Ed he’d been worried about debts, not a sick mother.
As soon as they talked to each other they’d all know he’d been lying.
Unless the debts were hospital bills. That might work.
A heart problem could definitely send a person into debt.
His stomach twisted into knots as he smoothed out his story.
He’d been looking forward to watching the game and now he could barely follow it. When the Dodgers scored a home run and he half-heartedly cheered a beat too late, Gloria rubbed his arm and Mrs Meyers offered him a stuffed potato with a sad smile.
‘You poor thing,’ she said, watching him eat. The potato sat in his stomach like a stone and Jackie Robinson stole home.