In The Unlikely Event Part 3

"And in navy," Rusty said. "It's perfect."

"It's nylon tricot," Miri told her. "And if it's the wrong size you can exchange it."

"Thank you, sweetie," Rusty said, reaching for Miri. She hugged her and gave her a forehead kiss.

"You're welcome, Mom."

After Miri cleaned up the kitchen, she decided she'd finish her homework so she wouldn't have to do it later, but she couldn't keep her eyes open, so she climbed back into bed and snuggled under the covers.

Ruby Ruby sat on the stool at the counter at Hanson's Drug Store on Fifty-first Street and Seventh Avenue in New York City, savoring a scrumptious strawberry ice cream soda topped with whipped cream, chopped nuts and a Maraschino cherry. She saved the cherry for last. When she bit into it, Jimmy, the soda jerk, said, "You're not supposed to eat those things."

"Why not?"

"They're for decoration. Too many of them will kill you."

"But just one will make you happy, right?"

"If you say so."

Hanson's was a celebrity hangout where Ruby was sometimes recognized-not that she minded-and where she often chatted with other entertainers, many of them famous, way more famous than her. But on this Sunday morning it was quiet, probably because of the miserable weather. She'd been a morning guest on WJZ, broadcast from Howie's Restaurant on Sixth Avenue between Fifty-second and Fifty-third, and from there she'd walked over to Hanson's. So what if she ordered an ice cream soda before lunch? Who was going to tell her she couldn't have exactly what she wanted? Being the only customer gave her the chance to flirt with Jimmy, a Broadway gypsy who worked behind the soda fountain between shows. Jeez, he was so cute. Once upon a time Ruby and Jimmy had shared a backstage kiss. But it never went any further. Ruby knew better than to fall for a dancer. Besides, she'd heard he liked boys as much as girls.

Anyway, she was romantically involved with Danny Thomas's brother Paul now. She didn't know yet if it was going to turn into something more serious or not. Her mother was always nagging, "Get married while you still have your looks, Ruby. And for G.o.d's sake, marry up. Having money beats the d.i.c.kens out of being poor."

As if Ruby didn't know. Sorry, Mom, but she was nowhere near ready for marriage. She had a career to think about. And she expected to have her looks for a long time. Her agent was trying to get her on Ed Sullivan. He thought she had a good shot. A movie musical wouldn't hurt, either. Maybe Danny Thomas would put her in his next picture. Nothing wrong with pulling a few strings while she was dating his brother.

"What time's your plane, babe?" Jimmy asked.

"Last time I checked it was two hours late." She looked down at the watch Paul had given her for her birthday, a pink-gold Bulova. The tiny hands told her it was almost ten-thirty. "Oops, I'm supposed to be at the airport before noon," she said, collecting her things and paying for the ice cream soda.

Jimmy leaned in to give her a goodbye kiss on her cheek. At the last second she turned her face so his kiss landed on her lips, surprising him.

"Mmm...strawberry..." Jimmy said, licking his lips, making Ruby laugh. "Have a good trip, babe, and come back soon."

"You know I will." Ruby blew him a flirty kiss.

Ruby loved to travel. Give her an airline ticket and she'd be on the next plane. She liked staying at hotels, where someone made the bed for her every day and brought her clean towels. Even when the hotels were less than cla.s.sy, even when they were on the sleazy side, which was often, she still liked being on the road.

Miri Just before noon Rusty found Miri still asleep in her bed. She shook her gently. "Come on, honey...get up! Let's go to an early show at the Elmora."

Miri rolled over but didn't open her eyes.

"Hurry or we're going to miss it."

Being the only child meant Miri was often her mother's companion. And if Rusty wanted to go to the movies today, she'd go with her. After all, it was her birthday. Miri threw on dungarees, a turtleneck, a heavy sweater over that and thick white socks. She tied her saddle shoes, ran the toothbrush over her teeth, not bothering to brush up and down the way Dr. Osner had taught her, pulled her hair back sloppily and got into her winter jacket, mittens, red and black striped Rutgers scarf and fuzzy earm.u.f.fs.

Miri and Rusty walked the mile up to the Elmora Theater. No bright winter sun today. Just gray sky and freezing cold. Until this year Miri could still get into the movies for a quarter, but not anymore. This was both good and bad. Good because she looked older, bad because she had to pay full price for a ticket. She'd be the first of her friends to turn fifteen, the age at which she was sure life would fall into place and at least some of her dreams would come true, starting with the strange enchanted boy from last night's party.

At the concession stand Rusty bought a Milky Way for Miri, not bothering to ask if Miri had had a proper breakfast, which she hadn't, and a box of Goobers for herself. "What the heck," Rusty said to Little Mary, who worked behind the counter, "it's my birthday."

"Happy birthday, hon," Little Mary said. "I'd give you a soda on the house but then I'd be fired."

The 12:30 show was a double feature. First, You Never Can Tell, with d.i.c.k Powell and Peggy Dow. A dog dies and is reincarnated into a private eye. Rusty loved screwball comedies. Miri preferred her movies torrid and dark. The feature attraction was Across the Wide Missouri, with Clark Gable. Halfway through Rusty leaned over and said, "Time to go. We have to change for dinner." Now Miri would never find out what happened to Clark Gable or his Indian wife.

Ruby At Newark Airport the Miami Airlines plane was delayed again with no explanation. No wonder Dana had tried to dissuade her from taking the non-scheduled flight to Tampa, then Miami. "Non-skeds are unreliable," Dana said.

Ruby argued how much cheaper this flight was than the others. Really, what was the difference? An airplane is an airplane. It gets you where you want to go. So non-skeds don't have a regular schedule like a train or a bus. Who cares? Besides, she was impatient. The sooner she got to Florida, the better. She'd been dreaming of balmy beaches and soft moonlit nights. She couldn't wait to get away from this awful weather. So what if she had to wait another hour or two?

She took a seat in the departure lounge, adjusted her skirt and pulled the book she was reading from her oversize purse, glad she had a gripping mystery to distract her. She was aware of the glances coming her way, at the sight of a pretty girl reading I, the Jury, by Mickey Spillane, known for his racy language, but Ruby didn't give a hoot. Let them look. Let them stare. It was nothing to her.

Across from her an older couple were talking in voices loud enough for her to hear. The wife said, "You have a long drive. You should get going, and don't forget to pick up my Voluptes from Irene Ammerman. You remember where she lives?"

He said, "I'm not leaving until I see you on the plane."

"That's sweet, Ben, but it doesn't make sense."

"It makes sense to me."

She laughed. "You're such a romantic."

"Me, you're calling me a romantic?"

"Maybe not every day but when it counts."

He laughed and kissed her.

She said, "Ben, people can see..."

"So? I'm not allowed to kiss my wife in public after thirty-five years?"

Ruby smiled to herself. She couldn't remember a time when her parents kidded around that way.

"Excuse me," a young man said, "but is anyone sitting here?"

Ruby sighed and moved her bag, meant to discourage other pa.s.sengers from sitting next to her. He sat down, hoping to start up a conversation, she could tell.

"My mother thinks I'm driving to Florida," he said, "either that or taking the train. I have six brothers. Every one of us served overseas. I'm the youngest."

"I thought there was a rule about not allowing all the sons in a family to serve."

"Well, they took us. We wanted to serve. And we all came back." He smiled at her. "What about you?"

She didn't feel like telling him she was a dancer. So she said, "My fiance is in Miami. He was in the war, too. I'm going down for the holidays to stay with him and his family." The look on his face said it all. Surprise and disappointment. After all, she wasn't wearing a ring. She felt bad. He seemed like a nice boy but there was no point. "I'll bet you'll have a great time in Miami," she said.

"Do you have any single friends there?" he asked. "Maybe your fiance has a sister?"

"No, sorry. But I'm sure you won't have any trouble meeting girls. You're a very nice-looking young man."

"Not so young. I'll be twenty-five on my next birthday."

"I never would have guessed."

"How about you?"

"Twenty-two."

"Could have fooled me."

"Younger or older?"

"Younger, of course."

She laughed. "Of course."

"I'm Paul Stefanelli, by the way," he said, holding out his hand.

"Ruby Granik," she told him, letting him shake hers.

"How's the book, Ruby?" He nodded at the book on her lap.

"Can't put it down," she said. "So if you'll excuse me..."

"Sure. I get it." He got up and wandered away.

Leah Leah Cohen was hoping Henry Ammerman would pop the question soon, maybe over the holidays. She was going to his house later today to celebrate his sister Rusty's birthday. Henry's mother sold Volupte compacts wholesale. A girl could never have too many Voluptes. She'd probably get a few from the mothers of the children in her second-grade cla.s.s. Last year she did. They sure beat fruitcakes, which she gave away, or bad perfume, which she poured down the toilet.

She knew in order to win Henry she'd have to win the rest of his family, and she felt she was doing a pretty good job of it, mainly by keeping her mouth shut. They thought she was shy, quiet, a nice girl from a nice Cleveland family. A teacher. And she was all that, wasn't she?

She'd been seeing Henry for almost eighteen months. She'd met him at a party given by one of the other teachers at her school after she'd moved to New Jersey to live with her aunt Alma. Her mother swore the only way she'd let Leah leave Cleveland was if she lived with family. Alma, her mother's sister, liked the idea of Leah sharing her house and helping with the expenses. As far as Leah was concerned, anything was better than staying in Cleveland and living with her parents. Aunt Alma was a retired school secretary who'd never married. A maiden aunt, Leah's mother called her, but one who played canasta with her friends three afternoons a week, and volunteered at the hospital every Friday morning.

Alma approved of Henry and had told Leah's mother so. Well, who in her right mind wouldn't approve of Henry, a reporter for the Elizabeth Daily Post? Henry was smart, kind, funny and very attractive. When he'd first enlisted, right out of high school, he hoped to serve as a reporter for Stars and Stripes, since he'd been editor in chief of the Monticello Times, the school newspaper at Jefferson High. But after just three months of training he'd been sent into battle. He said he was lucky to get out alive. Most of his company didn't. He was in the hospital for two months with a shot-up leg. After that he got his wish, a desk job with Stars and Stripes in London, until six months after the war ended. He said he learned more from those journalists than he ever did at college.

As much as Aunt Alma said she liked Henry, lately she'd been warning Leah about men in general, and Henry, in particular. Why should he buy the cow if he can get the milk for free? Aunt Alma's advice, when it came to romance, was so old-world. Besides, Henry never pushed her to go too far. She might not have minded a little push. It wasn't like they were teenagers, after all. Henry had turned twenty-eight over the summer and she would be twenty-four on her next birthday. And guess what, Aunt Alma? He wasn't getting much at all, never mind for free. Though, honestly, if she turned twenty-five and she still wasn't engaged, she saw no point in saving it. She might as well enjoy it while she still could. She was pretty sure Aunt Alma had never enjoyed hers.

When the notice had come around at school asking for volunteers, especially teachers who had experience with young children, to chaperone a holiday party at the Elks Club in Elizabeth, Leah thought her princ.i.p.al might be impressed to see what a community-minded young woman she was, willing to give her time on a Sunday afternoon the week before Christmas.

Another teacher at her school, Harriet Makenna, also volunteered and, better yet, offered to drive Leah, saving her from waiting for the bus from Cranford to Elizabeth in this weather. When she told Henry, he said he'd be covering the event for the Daily Post and he'd have a photographer with him. So Leah chose a pretty dress in a deep winter blue, even though she knew the picture in the paper wouldn't be in color. At the last minute she tied on an ap.r.o.n. You never knew when some child was going to be sick or fling something that would land on you.

More than a hundred kids came to the holiday party. There were plenty of volunteers, many of them parents, and they divided the children into groups by age. She and Harriet and two of the mothers took the four- to seven-year-olds and handed out Dixie Cups to get things going. Right away a little girl shouted, "I got La.s.sie!" She licked the cover of her Dixie Cup clean to show Leah.

Another began to cry. "I want La.s.sie, too."

"Let's see who you have," Leah said, wiping the child's tears. "Go ahead and lick it clean so we can see." She did and held it up to Leah.

"Ooh, you have Natalie Wood!" Leah told her. "You're lucky because Natalie Wood is a very famous movie star, and look how pretty she is. And you know what? She was a movie star when she was your age."

"I'm six."

"Well, that's swell. Six is a good age to be."

When Henry arrived with the photographer, who didn't look old enough to drive, Leah took off her ap.r.o.n, smoothed out her blue dress and reapplied her lipstick. Harriet, who knew Leah and Henry were seeing each other, whispered, "You look good enough to be the photo on a Dixie Cup."

"As good as La.s.sie?" Leah whispered.

"n.o.body can compete with La.s.sie."

Leah laughed, then clapped her hands to get the children's attention. "Boys and girls," Leah said. "This is Mr. Henry Ammerman. He's a reporter for the Elizabeth Daily Post and he's going to write a story about us." She liked saying his name out loud. Henry Ammerman. When she did, Henry waved at the children.

"And this is Todd Dirkson," Henry said of the boy photographer. "He's going to take a picture. Maybe you'll see it in tomorrow's paper." Todd held up his Speed Graphic, so the children could see his camera.

Henry and Todd conferred, then suggested they gather around the piano.

Leah sat down and began to play the introduction to "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer." She motioned for the children to sit on the floor around her. Some were still eating their Dixie Cups with the little wooden spoons, some faces were already smeared with chocolate frosting from the cupcakes. Harriet ran around with a damp cloth trying to wipe their faces clean, knowing the parents would want their children to look their Sunday best in the paper.

"All eyes here, please," Leah said, as she continued to play and sing. "Then one foggy Christmas eve, Santa came to say..." Half of the children sang along with Leah, the other half were more interested in the camera or looking out the windows. Todd clicked while Leah was at her most animated. Henry waited until she'd finished the song, then called, "Thanks, everyone. Thanks, Miss Cohen!"

"You're very welcome, Mr. Ammerman!"

"Happy holidays, Miss Cohen!"

"Same to you, Mr. Ammerman."

Oh, she really, really liked Henry Ammerman! She might say loved but she was superst.i.tious about using that word too soon.

Ruby In the departure lounge at Newark Airport Ruby was nodding off. She'd been up since 5 a.m., finis.h.i.+ng her last-minute packing before rus.h.i.+ng into Manhattan for the radio show. The ice cream soda at Hanson's felt like eons ago. She pulled out the sandwich bag her mother had packed for her and lifted out a cream cheese and pimento sandwich on white bread, crusts cut off as if she were still a little girl going off to school. She was so hungry she wolfed down that sandwich plus another, turkey and Swiss. And then an oatmeal-raisin cookie. All of that made her thirsty, but her mother had filled a thermos with chamomile tea. Her mother was a big believer in the powers of herbal teas.

When they finally boarded, close to 3 p.m., Ruby was seated on the right side of the cabin, next to a girl about her age traveling with a baby. The girl's mother was seated across the aisle, holding a toddler on her lap. Ruby offered to change seats so she and her daughter could be together. "Thank you, dear," the mother said, "but we both want to be on the aisle."

Ruby was fine with that. She liked the window seat.

She saw the lady whose husband was driving to Miami board, and right behind her, the young man with six brothers. He waved and gave her a big smile. While her seatmate burped the baby, Ruby opened her book and picked up reading where she'd left off.

"He's seven months, almost eight," her seatmate said, though Ruby hadn't asked. "The older boy is two. My husband's coming down in a few days. It's the first time we've been apart. We're going to visit family for the holidays." She glanced over and eyed the book Ruby was holding. "Oh, Mickey Spillane! He grew up in Elizabeth. My uncle taught him at the high school. Not that I've read it. My husband says it might be too much for me." Ruby could swear her seatmate blushed. "This is my first flight," she confided. "What about you?"

"I've flown a lot." Ruby shuddered at the thought that this girl's life could be hers, except for her talent and determination.

The stewardess, blond and pretty, with a lisp-Fathen your theat belths-sashayed up and down the aisles, checking on them. When they finally began to roll, the young mother's face went white. "I'm a little bit nervous," she whispered to Ruby.

"Take deep breaths," Ruby told her.

But as soon as they took off, Ruby knew something was wrong.

"Does it always feel like this?" her seatmate asked.

Ruby didn't tell her that, no, it didn't feel like this. They were too low. They should be climbing. Why weren't they climbing?

"Can you hold the baby for a minute?" and she shoved the baby at Ruby. "I think I'm going to be sick."

Ruby took the baby. He clutched her necklace, a golden strawberry on a thin chain, while his mother retched. The chain broke. So what?