Too Many Men

by Lily Brett

  That night she slept soundly. She dreamed about the gypsy woman in Warsaw. In Ruth’s dream, the gypsy woman’s baby was clean and well nourished. Ruth woke up feeling peaceful. She showered slowly and got dressed. She put on a pair of earrings. They were small gold hearts she had had since she was a child.

  Edek was waiting for her at breakfast. He was sitting at a table in the far corner of the room. His shoulders were slumped. He was staring down at the table. He looked forlorn. Lonely. Alone. Ruth ran up to him. “Hi, Dad,” she said, and kissed him on the cheek. “How are you?” she said.

  “I am okay, as usual,” Edek said.

  “You don’t look quite okay,” Ruth said.

  “There is nothing wrong with me,” Edek said. “I am always okay.” Edek looked at Ruth. “You do look very nice, today, Ruthie,” he said.

  “Thanks,” she said. “It’s been a big trip, hasn’t it?”

  “You can say that again, brother,” Edek said.

  “It’s almost over,” Ruth said. “We’ll be out of here, out of Lódz, and out of Poland, very soon.”

  T O O M A N Y M E N

  [ 4 9 9 ]

  “Yes,” said Edek. He still looked flat.

  “I’m so grateful you came to Poland with me,” Ruth said. “So grateful.”

  Edek seemed surprised.

  “I did think you was not so happy you did come to Poland,” he said.

  “You’re right,” she said. “It hasn’t been a picnic. It hasn’t been one fun-filled event after another.” Edek laughed. “But I’m glad I came,” she said.

  “I needed to do this.”

  “You did want to do this for a long time,” Edek said.

  “I’ve wanted to do this for a very long time,” she said. “Let’s eat.”

  “Okay,” said Edek. Ruth got up to go to the buffet. Edek stayed seated.

  “I am not so hungry to tell you the truth,” he said. Ruth looked at him.

  “You’re always hungry in the morning,” Ruth said. “You always eat a good breakfast.”

  “Today I am not so hungry,” Edek said.

  “Come on, Dad,” she said. “It’s important to eat breakfast.”

  “Ruthie darling,” Edek said. “A girl what eats birdseeds for a breakfast shouldn’t talk about it is important to eat breakfast to an old man like me who does know what is a breakfast.”

  “I don’t eat birdseed,” Ruth said. “And you are definitely not an old man.”

  “You go to the buffet, Ruthie,” Edek said. “I will wait here.” Ruth felt alarmed. Edek never lost his appetite. This was not a good sign.

  “Are you worried about this morning?” Ruth said.

  “Maybe,” said Edek.

  “Whatever is buried there or not buried there,” Ruth said, “it’s in the past. Whatever it is we will deal with it. You and me.” She looked at Edek.

  “There is nothing that we can’t deal with, Dad,” she said. “As long as we’ve got each other.” She put her arm around him. “Do you understand that?”

  she said. Edek looked as though he was about to cry. “Please have something to eat, Dad,” Ruth said. “What about a hot chocolate?” Edek straightened his shoulders.

  “Okay, I will have a hot chocolate,” he said. “Just for my daughter.”

  Ruth ordered the hot chocolate. She brought Edek a slice of sponge cake from the buffet.

  “This will be good with the hot chocolate,” she said.

  “You is still going to eat the birdseeds?” Edek said.

  [ 5 0 0 ]

  L I L Y B R E T T

  “What can I do?” she said. “I just happen to like birdseed.” Edek laughed.

  Ruth was relieved to hear him laugh. Anything that bothered him enough to take away his appetite was serious. What was bothering him?

  The prospect of what were they going to find this morning? There was probably nothing there, she thought. The Poles would have raked through that earth pretty thoroughly. She wondered what it was that Edek was looking for. She had no idea. She also wondered why she was so calm. The thought of seeing the old man or his wife was not exactly a pleasing prospect. The calm she felt was probably because she knew that this trip was almost over, she thought. She knew that she was on her way home.

  “They got compote on the buffet,” Edek said. “You want me to get you some compote?”

  “Oh, thanks, Dad,” she said. “I feel like a bit of compote.” Edek got up.

  He ran to the buffet. The buffet was ten feet away. “A small bowl,” she called out after him. The portion of compote Edek brought back was enough to feed six people.

  “I did ring the lawyer, in Melbourne,” Edek said.

  “When?” said Ruth.

  “Last night,” Edek said. He shook his head. “Before I did come to Poland I did want very much to get back what did belong to us,” he said.

  “But now it does not seem so important, to me.”

  “Now, you just want to get out of Poland,” Ruth said.

  “That is the truth, Ruthie,” he said. “I am ready to leave Poland.”

  “What did the lawyer say?” Ruth said.

  “He did say that because they was successful with the Swiss banks what agreed to give the Jews back their money, they are now going to sue some big companies,” Edek said. “Big companies who did use slave labor.”

  “That’s good,” said Ruth.

  “The lawyer did tell me that, also that a few big insurance companies in Europe did agree that an international commission will work out the details of what should be paid to Jewish people whose insurance policies was never paid,” said Edek.

  “You want some of my compote?” Ruth said. “Maybe a little bit,” said Edek. Ruth spooned a few spoonfuls onto a plate. Edek took a mouthful.

  T O O M A N Y M E N

  [ 5 0 1 ]

  “This compote is very good,” he said. Ruth was very relieved that Edek looked better. Relieved he had had something to eat.

  “I’ve hired the interpreter I used before, Tadeusz, to come to Kamedulska Street with us,” she said.

  “You did hire an interpreter?” Edek said. “What for?”

  “Because I thought that we needed someone who was not emotionally involved,” Ruth said, “in case we have to negotiate anything.”

  “For what would we need to negotiate?” Edek said.

  “For the right to dig,” said Ruth.

  “We do not need an interpreter,” Edek said. “I speak a perfect Polish. I can speak for myself.”

  “Of course you can,” said Ruth. “But I wanted things to go as smoothly as possible. You can’t underestimate that old Polish couple.”

  “All right, all right,” Edek said. “But it is a bit crazy. You are spending money for nothing.”

  “It won’t be the first time in my life,” Ruth said.

  “That is right,” said Edek. “Look what you do pay for shoes and for dresses. This interpreter will probably cost you less than one sleeve of the dress what you are wearing.”

  “Possibly,” said Ruth. She laughed. “My clothes aren’t that expensive,”

  she said. “Not for New York.”

  “I do not care,” Edek said. “You do deserve what dresses and shoes you do buy.”

  “I’ve hired the doorman, too,” Ruth said. Edek opened his mouth to reply. “Don’t say anything,” Ruth said. “I’ve hired him to intimidate the old couple and any other neighbors who happen to be present.”

  Edek closed his mouth. “That,” he said, “is a good idea. This doorman is a big man.”

  “And he looks like he means business,” Ruth said. Edek laughed.

  “I did tell you not to be rude to this doorman,” Edek said. “It is always good to be on the good side of a doorman like this.”

  Edek finished his compote. Ruth had already eaten hers. She felt full.

  This was the biggest breakfast she had had since they had been in Poland.

  “Are you ready, Dad?” she said.
/>   “Okay,” he said. “Let us get it over with.” He stood up.

  “Oy a broch,” said Edek, suddenly.

  [ 5 0 2 ]

  L I L Y B R E T T

  “What’s wrong?” said Ruth.

  “We have not got with what to dig,” Edek said. “It is Sunday. All the shops in Lódz will be for sure closed.”

  “The doorman is getting a spade for me,” Ruth said.

  “Thank God,” Edek said. “It is a very good thing, Ruthie, that you do think of such things.”

  “I’m going to go to the bathroom before we leave,” Ruth said.

  “I will go to see if the doorman is here,” said Edek.

  Ruth found Edek, and the doorman, and Tadeusz, and the taxi driver standing in a huddle near the front door of the hotel. The sight of them almost made Ruth laugh. The doorman was holding a collection of spades and shovels. Out of his doorman’s uniform, he looked even bigger. More like a thug. More threatening. The assembled men with their assorted equipment, Ruth thought, looked like a gathering who were preparing to leave for a war zone. Even Tadeusz had tried to look rugged. He was wearing a plastic jacket and had his hair slicked back.

  “I have a very strong box,” the doorman said, when he saw Ruth.

  “Thank you,” she said. “But we won’t need it. The object we’re looking for is small.”

  “I will bring the box in case it is necessary,” the doorman said.

  “Okay,” said Ruth. She introduced Tadeusz formally to Edek. They shook hands. Tadeusz introduced himself to the doorman. There was more handshaking. Edek introduced the driver. “And this is the driver,” he said, with a flourish. “I am Robert,” the driver said. There was a final round of handshakes.

  “Robert is not such a Polish name,” Edek said.

  “It is also not such an unusual name in Poland,” the driver said.

  “That is correct,” said Tadeusz. “I myself know two Polish Roberts.”

  “I also know a Robert,” the doorman said.

  Ruth’s head began to spin at the surreal turn the conversation had taken. She wanted to laugh. There was something utterly Polish about the situation, but she wasn’t sure what. There was a brief silence. All the men looked at each other. The doorman looked at his watch. “It is 9:01 A.M.” he said. “Are we ready?”

  T O O M A N Y M E N

  [ 5 0 3 ]

  “We’re ready,” Ruth said, trying not to laugh. This really was no time for laughter, she told herself sternly. She smiled at the doorman. The comedy of this gathering had removed her anxiety. She felt worryingly carefree. She had better sober up, she told herself. A degree of tension in these circumstances was probably not a bad thing. Edek looked cheerful. He was obviously feeling better, Ruth thought.

  “I will sit in the front with Robert,” Edek said.

  “Where would you like to sit?” the doorman said to Ruth. Not next to you, would not be the right reply, Ruth decided. “Tadeusz,” she said. “You sit in the middle.”

  “Tadeusz is smaller than you,” Ruth said to the doorman, in an effort to explain the seating arrangements. “I need to sit by a window, so it’s best if Tadeusz sits in the middle,” she added.

  “Of course,” the doorman said.

  Ruth was relieved. She really hadn’t wanted to sit next to the doorman.

  And she hadn’t wanted to offend him. She was surprised that she hadn’t anticipated a need for a seating strategy. Oh well, she thought, she couldn’t think of everything.

  “I think,” Ruth said to the doorman, “it will be better if, when we get there, you wait in the car.”

  “As you wish,” he said.

  “I’ll call you when we need you,” Ruth said.

  “I will be ready for your call,” he said.

  Ruth settled back into the seat. She tried to prepare herself for the sight of the old man and, possibly, his wife. She looked out of the car window.

  Every street looked bleak. Bleak and gray. She was glad that she and Edek were only here briefly. She couldn’t imagine ever wanting to come back to this city. She thought that she had finally grasped that what was gone from Lódz was gone. Completely gone.

  “I know two Roberts, not one,” the doorman said.

  “Then I am wrong,” Edek said, from the front seat. “Robert is not such an unusual name in Poland. But I myself did know not one Polish Robert.”

  “I know one Polish Robert, too,” Ruth said. “But there probably weren’t that many Jewish Polish Roberts, Dad, which would explain why you didn’t know any.”

  “Probably not,” Robert, the driver, said.

  [ 5 0 4 ]

  L I L Y B R E T T

  They were in Kamedulska Street. The conversation about the Polish Roberts had distracted her. She started to feel nervous. “Are you all right, Dad?” she said.

  “Of course,” said Edek. The car pulled up outside number 23.

  “Who would think we would once again be here,” Edek said.

  “Not me,” said Ruth.

  “Not me, too,” said Edek.

  Ruth, Edek, and Tadeusz got out of the car and walked to the front door of the apartment block. “I will for sure not come back here again,” Edek said to Ruth.

  “That makes two of us, Dad,” Ruth said. Edek walked up the stairs in front of her. Ruth looked at her father, putting one foot after another, on the stairs he must have walked up and down so many times. He was the lone survivor of so many people who had walked up and down these stairs.

  And here he was, at eighty-one, needing a guard and an interpreter to be in his own building. It was enough to make you cry.

  “Are you all right?” Ruth said to Edek again. Edek stopped for a moment.

  “I am all right, Ruthie,” he said.

  Edek and Ruth stood in front of the door to his old apartment. Tadeusz stood behind them.

  “Shall we get it over with?” she said.

  “Let us get it over with,” Edek said. He knocked loudly on the door.

  “I hope they’re home,” Ruth said.

  Almost before she had finished the sentence, the door opened. The old woman stood behind the half-open door and stared at Ruth and Edek.

  Ruth stared back at her. It was hard not to stare. The old woman was wearing a blond wig. A very big blond wig. Ruth looked more closely. The old woman was wearing two wigs. The top wig, which covered the top half of her head, was a different color and texture from the blond synthetic hair that circled the woman’s neck.

  “I am very surprised to see you,” the old woman said to Edek and Ruth.

  “She says she is surprised to see you,” Tadeusz said.

  “I can understand perfectly what she does say,” Edek said.

  “I was translating for your daughter,” said Tadeusz.

  “I’ll ask you to interpret when I need it, Tadeusz,” Ruth said.

  T O O M A N Y M E N

  [ 5 0 5 ]

  “Very good,” said Tadeusz.

  “My husband told me about the interpreter,” the old woman said. She looked at Tadeusz. “Not a bad-looking young man,” she said to Ruth.

  “Does he do anything else for you?”

  “She said—” Edek said.

  “I understood,” Ruth said. “She is as repulsive as her husband.”

  “Ruthie, are you starting already?” Edek said.

  “It’s okay,” Ruth said. “She can’t understand.”

  “It is not so okay,” Edek said to Ruth. “Please behave yourself.”

  “Good morning, madam,” Edek said to the old woman.

  “Good morning, sir,” she said. “Come look who is here,” she called out into the apartment. “It was lucky you caught us,” she said, turning back toward Edek. The old man came to the door.

  “What a surprise,” he said. “We didn’t expect you.”

  Looking at the old man made Ruth feel sick. She tried to take some deep breaths to counter her nausea.

  “It was lucky you caught us,” the old
woman said again. “We were on our way to church.”

  “I knew the two of you would be churchgoers,” Ruth said.

  “Ruthie,” said Edek.

  “They really can’t understand what I am saying,” Ruth said to Edek.

  “Your father is right,” Tadeusz said. “It is better not to speak like this.

  The tone of your voice suggests what you are saying.”

  “I don’t care,” she said.

  “Do you wish to accomplish what you came here for?” Tadeusz said.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Thank you, Tadeusz,” Edek said.

  “To what do we owe this pleasure?” the old woman said.

  “Gold,” the old man cried out. “They came here for the gold.”

  “Shut up,” the old woman said to her husband.

  “It’s not gold,” Ruth said. “Tell, them, Tadeusz, that it’s not gold.”

  “I can tell them,” Edek said.

  “Dear, kind people,” Edek said. “We have not come here to look for gold.” Dear, kind people, Ruth thought. What a joke. Why was Edek addressing the old couple so politely? She wanted to say something. She looked at Tadeusz. He shook his head.

  [ 5 0 6 ]

  L I L Y B R E T T

  Ruth decided to hold her tongue. She and Edek were on a mission. Why shouldn’t Edek address the old couple in whatever form would best get this mission accomplished? Mission accomplished. This whole thing was sounding more and more like a military maneuver.

  “We have come here to look for something small,” Edek said. “Something of no value to anyone.”

  “Something of value to you,” said the old man.

  “That is right,” said Edek. “We need to dig a small hole in the backyard.”

  The old man slapped his thigh and grinned. Ruth had to look away. She couldn’t bear another viewing of those stained, rotted teeth. “I told you they buried something,” the old man said excitedly to his wife. He slapped his thigh again. The slap made a thin reedy sound.

  “So you want to do some digging on our property?” the old woman said.

  “Yes, madam,” Edek said. Ruth kept her mouth shut. They hadn’t flown all the way back to Lódz for her to argue about who owned the property.