by Pamela Erens
“Wait a second,” the man says. He fishes around in his back pocket, brings out a flattened notepad. He takes a pen from his jacket, flips to a free page in the notebook, writes something down. Then he says, looking over the pad of paper, “I can’t say.”
“Is it likely?” I ask. “That’s all I want to know. What are the chances?”
The man studies me. He begins to understand. “You want to see him again.”
I start to cry. The man turns and stares ahead, waiting for this to pass. I heave deep, shuddering sobs, wanting it to pass too.
“Tell me what I need to do to meet with him,” I say, when it’s over.
“You can begin by telling me how it all happened,” the man says.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Maddy Tarnofsky, tenants’ rights attorney, who gave generously of her time to help me understand the intricacies of New York City landlord-tenant law. Susan Sugar, Karen Baicker, George Diggle, and Robert Levy provided supplementary information and in some cases dug up helpful documents. John Wender and Doug Reeves answered questions about, respectively, architecture and tax law.
Cindi Leive read an early incarnation of this book and Michael Lowenthal a later one. Each offered excellent advice and invaluable encouragement. Elena Sigman cannot possibly guess how much her support and deep understanding buoyed me during the revision process. Robert Robin was a sounding board at a critical juncture. The gang at the Writers Studio regularly fed the waters of inspiration.
On the home front, caregivers Tara Lissade and Kathy Melillo provided me with the time, and the peace of mind, that enabled me to complete this novel. It made all the difference to know that the children were in wonderful hands.
My editor, Jin Soo Kang, was a writer’s dream: patient, accessible, frighteningly insightful, always putting the good of the manuscript above everything else.
Anna Stein and Tin House Books (Tony Perez, Nanci McCloskey, et al.) brought The Understory a new chance in this beautiful new edition.
Finally, to Jonathan, Abraham, and Hannah: my profoundest love and gratitude, always, for giving me a life beyond the page.
The Understory was a finalist for both the 2007 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction and the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. Pamela Erens’s widely acclaimed second novel, The Virgins, was a New York Times and Chicago Tribune Editors’ Choice. For many years Erens worked as a magazine editor, including at Glamour. She lives in Maplewood, New Jersey.