The Outsider Read Free Page B

course. We are the most puny lion in the state of Connecticut. But we’re all eager to meet you. When can we expect you?”
    â€œI still have a few things to clear up.”
    â€œBefore June, we hope.”
    â€œOh, absolutely. Say three days.”
    â€œGood, good. Now we have a house for you, nothing very grand, but it’s a roof over your head, an old Colonial building, dates back to seventeen seventy-one. We’ve been trying to get your home into shape and neglecting the synagogue in the process. But the congregation’s so small, we can hold services for a while in various living rooms. You wouldn’t object to that?”
    â€œOh, absolutely not.”
    â€œDo you have furniture? I hear you’ve just been married.”
    â€œI have my mother’s furniture, yes. She passed away recently.”
    â€œSorry to hear that. You’ll have all our condolences. Tell you what, Rabbi. You’ll have a fairly small kitchen, small dining room, living room, and two bedrooms. So plan your furniture to fit. All small rooms, I’m afraid. Best thing to do will be for you and your bride to come to our house early, say about noon. My wife — her name is Shelly — she’ll show you around and you’ll get a feel of the place. Have dinner with us, and we’ll have a meeting of the committee after dinner and we’ll put you up for the night. Order your furniture trucked out here the following day. How does that sound?”
    â€œIt sounds all right,” David said.
    â€œThen we’ll see you on Wednesday. I’ll send you a map for directions.”
    Standing beside David, Lucy heard Osner’s booming voice without effort, and when the conversation was over, she said to David, “How does he dare talk to you like that?”
    David shrugged. “After all, he was a colonel. I was a lowly captain.”
    â€œHah!” Lucy snorted. “A colonel indeed! Judge Advocate! He probably had a snug warm desk somewhere in Washington and spent the war comfortably stateside on his fat salary.” And then she added, “On his fat backside.”
    David regarded his wife with new interest. “Of course, we don’t know that he has a fat backside, but you know, Lucy, Rabbi Belsen gave me a lecture on diplomacy where our congregation is concerned. We have to try to love them all, and where it’s impossible, we endure them patiently and with some grace.”
    â€œI thought that was Christianity, that business about loving your enemy.”
    â€œThey’re not our enemies, no one in the congregation. Anyway, they got it from us — the Christians, I mean, this love-your-enemy thing. Will you try, with Osner?”
    â€œLove him? Come on, David.”
    â€œLike him. Try to understand why he does what he does. Also, he may be a very nice guy.”
    â€œMaybe so. In Macy’s window.”
    â€œYou’re a strange gal for a rabbi’s wife,” David admitted.
    â€œI get that feeling. David, you married a guttersnipe. Here you are, a beautiful guy and a rabbi, and I tell you that if Osner’s a great guy, I’ll kiss your ass in Macy’s window.”
    â€œRest easy. I know about Macy’s window.”
    â€œStill love me?”
    â€œRest assured.”
    The following Tuesday, with David driving, having squeezed two driving lessons into two days, and Lucy carefully charting their progress on the map Osner had sent them, they managed to locate Jack Osner’s home in Leighton Ridge. It was an old but large renovated farmhouse on a narrow, winding dirt road. Evidently, Shelly Osner had been expecting them to arrive at a later hour. In their desire to be on time, they had left New York early. Shelly Osner was slightly annoyed to be caught in an old skirt and sweater, but she tried to be both hospitable and pleasant as she explained that she had not expected them before twelve, and would they please forgive her?