New Life, New Land

by Roberta Kagan

  “That’s why I like you, Dovi,” Harry said.

  They left the restaurant. Dovid opened the car door for Eidel. Harry opened the door to the backseat for his wife. They began the drive toward the stadium. In order to get there they had to drive through skid row where the restaurant Harry worked at was located. Harry was glad that it was cold, icy, and miserable outside because only half as many bums as usual were sleeping out on the street. The rest had found shelter. Still, even with the streets less littered with homeless men and prostitutes, Ida became worried about her husband’s safety. She had never seen Harry’s place of employment before.

  “This is a very bad neighborhood. There are bars on the windows,” Ida said. “And why are these people laying outside on the sidewalks?”

  “They have no other place to go,” Harry answered. He looked at Ida’s face and realized that it had been a mistake to bring her there. She knew he worked in a rough area, but seeing it firsthand was different. He could see the shock in her eyes.

  “Where is the restaurant where you work?”

  “Oh, it’s a couple of blocks down from here. The area gets better if you go down a little further,” Harry lied.

  Eidel turned back to look at Ida in the backseat. Ida shook her head. When she saw the concern in her friend’s face, Eidel nodded to show Ida she agreed with her.

  Their seats at the stadium were all the way upstairs in the bleachers, far from the ice. Once the players came out and the game started, Dovid and Harry tried to explain what was going on, but the girls weren’t particularly interested in learning. They were talking amongst themselves as both teams glided across the ice.

  “I must admit that I am impressed with their skating. But you boys keep telling me to keep my eye on the puck. The puck is so small and moves so fast that most of the time I have no idea where it is,” Ida said, and everyone laughed.

  They drank colas and sat huddled together because it was so cold in the stadium. The girls continued to chat softly, while the men cheered for the Blackhawks.

  The Hawks lost two to three. Dovid and Harry were disappointed, but they really enjoyed the game. Both Eidel and Ida had a wonderful day. However, neither of them knew any more about hockey when they left the stadium as they did when they’d arrived.

  The streetlights illuminated the frozen snow, giving the city the appearance of a winter wonderland.

  “Maybe some night we can go to Chinatown and have dinner,” Dovid said.

  “Chinatown?” Ida asked.

  “Yes,” Harry said. “It’s right near Little Italy.”

  “You know, it was really nice of that friend of yours to give you the tickets,” Ida said to Harry.

  “Yeah,” Harry said.

  “He just gave them to you?” Ida asked. “For no reason?”

  “Yeah …” Harry said. Then he changed the subject. “So, in the summer, let’s all make plans to come downtown and look at the fountain.”

  “What fountain?” Eidel asked.

  “Buckingham Fountain. It’s really magnificent. The water changes colors,” Harry answered.

  “This city is amazing. There are some wonderful museums here, too. Now that I have access to a car we can go out more. We can explore Chicago,” Dovid said.

  “I would like that,” Eidel took Dovid’s hand.

  “Are you warm enough?” he asked Eidel. “Or should I turn the heater higher?”

  “I’m fine.” She smiled at Dovid. Then she turned to the backseat “Are you two warm enough back there?”

  “I am, are you?” Harry asked Ida.

  “I am.”

  It’s good to have access to an automobile. Arnie has his faults but I can’t help but love him, Dovid thought as he turned the corner.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  When Dovid pulled the car up to Harry and Ida’s apartment building to let them out there were two police cars with their lights flashing, blocking the entrance.

  “I wonder what’s going on here?” Ida said.

  “Let’s mind our own business,” Harry answered. “Thank you for driving us tonight, Dovi. We’ll see you both for dinner next week? It’s our turn, so you’ll come at six on Sunday?”

  “Of course,” Dovid said.

  “I’ll call you tomorrow,” Ida said to Eidel.

  Eidel nodded.

  Harry and Ida got out of the car and began to head up the walkway to their building when two police officers came up from behind and grabbed Harry.

  Dovid couldn’t hear the conversation between Harry and the officer, but he saw what happened. He put the car in park. “You stay here. I’ll be right back. This has to be a misunderstanding,” Dovid said to Eidel. He jumped out but left the car running with the heat on. Then he ran over to where Harry and Ida were standing, both of them looking dumbfounded.

  “Hey, what’s going on here, officer?” Dovid said.

  “This is none of your business,” the cop said to Dovid.

  “It is my business. This man is my best friend.”

  “He has to come down to the station with us for questioning. He is under investigation for murder.”

  “Murder? Are you crazy? I know this man, he could never kill anyone.”

  “We’ll be the judge of that,” the cop said to Dovid, then he turned to Harry and said “Let’s go. You can go on upstairs, Mrs. Rosen. We’ll be in touch.”

  The officers pushed Harry into the back of the police car. Dovid’s eyes caught Harry’s. Harry shrugged as if he had no idea why all of this was happening. But Dovid could see the fear in his friend’s face. He turned to Ida. “Wait here for a minute,” Dovid said. Then he ran back to the car. He opened the door on the passenger’s side.

  “What is it? What’s happening?” Eidel asked.

  “Something is going on here with Harry. I don’t know what it is. It’s all very confusing. You go inside and stay with Ida. I am going to take a ride down to the police station and see if I can help Harry to get this all straightened out.”

  “What do they want with Harry?” Eidel asked.

  “They are saying they want to question him about a murder. I know it’s all a mistake. They have the wrong man. That’s all it is. I am sure of it. Go upstairs with Ida. Let me handle this. I’ll call you here at Harry’s apartment as soon as I have a better idea of what’s happening.”

  “This is very scary, Dovi.”

  “Don’t be afraid. Let me handle everything.” Dovid kissed his wife and helped her out of the automobile then walked her up the walkway to where Ida stood shivering in the cold wind. “I’m going to the police station. Eidel will stay with you.”

  Ida nodded. Eidel put her arm around her friend’s shoulder and the two women walked up three stairs to the door of the apartment building. Dovid followed them and then he watched from the bottom floor until they were safely inside the Rosens’ apartment. Once the door closed and locked, he raced back to the automobile and drove straight to the police station.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Harry looked small sitting on a bench. Dovid was not permitted to talk to him. So Dovid went to the police officer in charge.

  “I demand to know why you have arrested my friend.”

  “This doesn’t concern you,” the officer said. “Go home.”

  Dovid knew only one man with enough influence to get information from the police. Arnie Glassman. Dovi knew that Arnie paid off plenty for the cops to overlook things that happened at the tavern. Over the years, a man who earned the kind of money that Arnie did earned respect. If Dovid could get Arnie to help him, the police might give him more information. Information he could use to help Harry. But, Arnie was Dovid’s boss. Never once had Dovid asked Arnie for a favor. He was always on time for work and did whatever Arnie asked. Since he’d been hired, Dovid was grateful to have his job and he hated to put it in jeopardy by waking his boss in the middle of the night to ask for help with a police matter. Yet, how could he walk out and just leave Harry sitting there on the bench?

>   Dovid walked over to the public phone. He searched his pocket for a dime to call Arnie. As he was scanning his pocket for change, Mike Marshall and his sister Sharon Burns, along with her husband Clem, came rushing into the police station. Sharon’s face was tear-stained and Mike looked furious. Clem was hanging back with his arms wrapped around his chest. He looked like a frightened dog waiting for instructions from a cruel master.

  “My son! My Ralph was killed,” Dovid heard Sharon say. “That man is responsible. I know it. I am sure of it. As sure as I’m standing here. You see Ralphy took his hours at work and because of it I know that Harry Rosen hated my boy.” Sharon Burns was ranting at the police.

  Dovid walked away from the phone to listen. Sharon was screaming so loud that everyone in the station could hear her.

  “Didn’t you hate Ralph, Harry? He took money out of your pocket, food out of your mouth. So, you set him up, didn’t you? Don’t lie…”

  Harry shook his head. “NO, never! I don’t know what you’re talking about. I would never do such a terrible thing.”

  “It’s all so fucking obvious, Harry. You were supposed to work tonight but you arranged to take tonight off. You asked Ralph to work for you. You knew that he would be killed tonight. Come on Harry; admit it. This didn’t happen by chance. You wanted to get rid of Ralph so you set the whole thing up to look like a robbery. You sent some bum into the restaurant tonight to rob the place and get rid of my son, my only son.” Sharon began crying again. “My Ralphy, such a young boy, so much potential. Because of you, Harry Rosen, he was ripped from this earth in the prime of his life.”

  “I swear to you, I had nothing to do with it. Nothing,” Harry said. “I would never do a thing like that.”

  “Why did you take off tonight?” the police officer asked.

  “I got tickets for a hockey game. My wife and I went to see the game with our friends.”

  “Hockey tickets? You bought hockey tickets? You must have plenty of spare cash. Mr. Marshall must pay you well.” The officer pushed back his hair with his hand.

  “I got the tickets as a gift.”

  “Oh, sure, somebody just gave you tickets to a Blackhawks game. Is that right? Is that what you’re telling me?”

  “One of the bus drivers who worked at the Grayline next door had tickets. He’s a friend of mine. He gave them to me.”

  “I see. And he just gave them to you? As a gift?”

  “No, he gave them to me because I did him a favor.”

  “What kind of a favor, Mr. Rosen?”

  Harry was trembling. Because of the time he’d spent at Auschwitz he got nervous when he was questioned by anyone in authority or anyone in a uniform.

  Harry Rosen cleared his throat. His face was a ghostly gray. “The fellow asked me to cover for him in case his boss came looking for him.”

  “I don’t understand. I think you had better explain,” the officer said.

  “Yeah, I think so,” Mike Marshall chimed in, nodding his head.

  “As you know, the Grayline bus station is right next door to the restaurant. A lot of the drivers come in to eat before or after their shift. This driver was late to start his route one night…”

  “Why is that? What was this man doing that made him late?”

  Harry looked at Dovi across the room. Dovi could see the fear in Harry’s face. He walked over to where the conversation was taking place. “My name is Dovid Levi. I am Harry Rosen’s best friend. I can tell you that he is a man of good character.”

  “Nobody asked you,” Mike Marshall said.

  “I was with him at the game tonight. Our wives were with us too.”

  “That doesn’t mean he didn’t set Ralphy up.”

  “I know he didn’t,” Dovid said.

  “You know this for a fact?”

  Dovid could not say that he did know it for certain. So he just looked at Harry. “Tell them everything, Harry.”

  “Yes, Harry, tell us everything. What was the driver doing that you had to cover for him?”

  “He went upstairs to a room with a hooker. I knew about it because I rented the room to him for an hour. He came back two hours later. I didn’t charge him for the extra time and he was late to start his route. When his boss came in for coffee the following morning and asked me what happened, I said that the driver was sick in the bathroom,” Harry said. “The driver was a nice fellow, I didn’t want to see him lose his job. So, I lied for him.”

  “Well, if you would lie for him then who’s to say you aren’t just a liar in general?” Mike Marshall said. “I’m disappointed in you, Harry. Very disappointed.”

  “But I swear to you, there was no set up to hurt Ralph,” Harry said.

  “We need to investigate this further,” the police officer said to everyone. Then he turned to Harry. “You’ll be our guest for the night here at the station,” he added.

  “But I have done nothing wrong,” Harry said, almost ready to cry. “There have been robberies at the restaurant when I was working. I don’t know why this man killed Ralph. All I know is that I had nothing to do with it.”

  “I suggest you tell Mrs. Rosen it would be a good idea if her husband got a lawyer,” the policeman said to Dovid.

  “A lawyer?”

  “Yeah.”

  Harry looked at Dovid and Dovid could see how frightened Harry was as they took Harry to lock him behind bars.

  “Don’t worry, Harry, I’ll help you, “Dovid said.

  Before he left the police station, Dovid went to the public phone and called Arnie. From the way Arnie sounded when he said hello, Dovid knew that he’d awakened him out of a deep sleep. “Arnie, it’s Dovi. I need help.”

  Without hesitation, and without asking a single question Arnie said, “Sure, kid. Get yourself over here to my house right now. I’ll throw on a pot of coffee and you can tell me what you need.”

  “I’ll be right over,” Dovid said.

  By the time Dovid arrived at Arnie’s house it was a quarter to two in the morning. Arnie was sitting at the kitchen table in his boxer shorts, sipping a cup of black coffee.

  “Get yourself a cup of coffee then sit down and tell me what the hell is going on,” Arnie said.

  Dovid told Arnie all that he knew.

  “What do you think, Dovi? Do you believe Harry was involved?”

  “One hundred percent no,” Dovid said. “He would never do such a thing. I know Harry.”

  “Did he ever tell you that he resented the kid for taking his hours?”

  “Yeah, he probably did. But Harry would never get involved in the taking of a life. I am telling you. I know this for sure.”

  “I trust you, Dovi. I believe in you. You’ve been like a son to me. You know that, don’t you?”

  “You’ve been like a Papa to me. Before I met you, Arnie, I thought I was alone in the world. Both my parents are dead. They died when I was just a kid. You were the closest thing I’ve had to a parent,” Dovid said.

  “What happened to them? You know, you never told me.”

  Dovid took a sip of the hot coffee. Then he told Arnie everything about his past, all about Babi Yar and fighting in the Russian army. He told him how ashamed he was for hiding his Jewish identity and living as a non-Jew for so many years. Arnie listened, then he nodded.

  “You did what you had to do to survive, kid. I don’t blame you one bit. I woulda done the same thing,” Arnie said. “Now that I know what we have to do, why don’t you go home and get some rest? As soon as the sun comes up I’ll call my lawyer, Fred Lichtenstien. I don’t know if you’ve ever met Fred, but he is a really sharp lawyer. He’ll know what we have to do. He’s gotten me out of plenty of messes. That’s why I keep him on retainer.”

  “I think I met him once. A short guy, wiry gray hair? About fifty?”

  “That’s him.”

  “He came to see you at the tavern when I was working. It was a long time ago. But I remembered that he said he was your lawyer.”

  “Yeah, h
e comes in once in a while. Most of the time, when I have business with him, he comes to my house. Anyway, I’ll call him at the crack of dawn. Then all three of us will go down to the police station and get this thing straightened out for your friend.”

  “Arnie … I can’t thank you enough,” Dovid said.

  “Yeah, yeah, don’t worry about it. Pick me up at eight. And bring some bagels from the deli on the corner, cream cheese, too. You got it?”

  “Yes, Arnie. You want a salt bagel, right?”

  “You know it kid. And, hey, don’t worry. We’ll get this all fixed up. I’ve had to take care of a lot of worse things in my time,” Arnie said, patting Dovid’s shoulder.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Dovid went to Ida’s apartment to pick up his wife but Eidel refused to leave Ida alone. Dovid told the women what Arnie was going to do in the morning, then he laid down on the couch. He was exhausted, but his mind was still going a hundred miles an hour. Harry, his best friend, was stuck behind bars.

  At least an American jail is nothing compared to what Harry endured under the Nazis. But I’ve got a feeling that Harry is probably reliving some terrible memories tonight.

  Dovid consoled himself with the fact that Arnie was a rich man and an influential man.

  He has important people as friends; he has a good lawyer. I am very fortunate to have him as a friend. If anyone can help Harry, it’s Arnie.

  “If I fall asleep, please be sure to wake me up before six. The deli opens at seven. I have to pick up Arnie’s breakfast on the way to his house.”

  “I’ll make sure you’re awake,” Ida said. “And thank you for helping us. Please … I want you to know that I promise you that my Harry had nothing to do with this.”

  “Of course, we know that,” Eidel said, putting her arm around her friend. “Why don’t you try to get some rest? At least lie down.”

  Ida nodded and allowed Eidel to guide her to her bed. She lay down and Eidel lay where Harry usually slept. The women were silent but neither fell asleep. They were both waiting for morning.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN