The Day the Flowers Died

  Rebecca smiled at the name Ruben, her favorite chef of the four they’d had over the years. He always had a way of adding flavors she could never quite name, but never forget. Eli went back to the car while Rebecca and Mildred paused in conversation, and returned with Rebecca’s small suitcase. She’d insinuated before they left that she might stay a few nights before returning to Munich.

  Eli planned to leave at the end of the night, hoping to impress her parents well enough to be invited back again. But, since Rebecca’s father was German and her mother Dutch American, raised to honor German values, Eli worried about his reception and acceptance. Social pressures and financial morass plagued 1931 Munich. A Jewish man was not the typical choice for an classy German born daughter. For this reason, he bolstered a hard confidence, like a stone wall, to keep his innermost weaknesses hidden.

  It drove him to always work twice as hard as his colleagues, proving himself to be of service to this German world, proving himself to be of value to his German peers. Most important of all, he knew he would have to be twice the man a German would have to be to win the hearts of Rebecca’s parents.

  Stepping inside behind Mildred and Rebecca, who were busy rekindling their fondest memories, Eli saw a butler holding the door. He greeted Eli with a nod, took Rebecca’s suitcase, and motioned him to proceed.

  “This way. This way.” Rebecca grabbed Eli’s wrist and pulled him through a long corridor of marble floors and stone white walls adorned with original art. In her excitement of Eli meeting her parents, she forgot herself momentarily until she reached the dining hall. Her mother sat at the teak engraved table, peering from behind a large vase filled with vibrant Marsh Marigolds.

  Her mother’s hands rearranged the flowers Mildred had arranged in the morning and Rebecca remembered why she felt reluctant months ago to tell her parents of her relationship. Her mother never approved of anything she did, not moving to Munich, not going to college. And now, instead of accepting her mother’s choice in Carl, a man she wanted Rebecca to date and eventually marry, Rebecca invited Eli home.

  When Rebecca entered the dining hall, her confident demeanor dropped to one sheepish grin and she knew her mother still had power over her. After all this time, she still yearned for her mother’s approval, despite the impossibility of ever obtaining it. Eli walked in behind Rebecca, his hand on her shoulder to soothe the tensions he felt boiling inside of her.

  Gliding to her mother sitting on the left side of the long table, Rebecca kissed her mother’s cheeks, signifying her gratefulness at the reception. Rebecca’s golden brown silk gown, which wrapped around her waist and draped over her ankles, contrasted her mother’s beige white lace gown. Her mother had called to tell her what she would be wearing so Rebecca could find something suitable.

  Rebecca couldn’t bear to have her mother’s disapproving glare aimed at her throughout Christmas dinner because of any untamed manners. Her greeting, garb, dining, cordial conversation and salutation for the night would all be without reproach. Rebecca had escaped the clutches of her mother’s cultural refinement when she immigrated to Munich. However, her strict upbringing, enforced primarily by her mother, remained with her.

  The freedom Munich gave her allowed her to fill her apartment with too many flowers, to leave her laundry sometimes unattended for a few days, and to charcoal dinners in her attempts to learn how to cook. This achieved freedom remained concealed to keep it from seeping out of her and spoiling the night, a night she hoped would belong to Eli and his impressive accomplishments.

  Eli unwrapped his beige trench coat from his body and draped it over his left arm while waiting for instruction on where to leave it. The butler, appareled in black and white and who had held the door for them upon arriving, scurried to Eli’s side, took the coat and carried it away.

  Rebecca’s father sat on the right end of the elongated table positioned horizontally to the dining hall entrance; her mother sat at the opposite end. Eli addressed Rebecca’s father with an outstretched hand. Her father shook it, his sharp blue eyes reminding Eli of Rebecca’s, and he unconsciously smiled.

  “I’m Ralph Baum, Rebecca’s father.”

  “Eli Levin.”

  With the last name, Deseire swallowed hard on her appetizer of ham.

  “And this,” he pointed across the table, “is my dear wife, Rebecca’s mother, Deseire. We call her Dessie. Please, have a seat.”

  Eli sat closest to the door where he first entered. Rebecca kept her eyes locked on his to give him support and herself comfort as she took the seat across from him. Genuine silverware bordered each placemat and crystal stemware sparkled at the top. Eli straightened his dark beige slacks which matched his jacket. Rebecca especially picked out his tie because of the hint of gold infused into its fabric which she knew would compliment her gown and the garb of her parents.

  Her father wrestled with his brown suit jacket, and then waved with his fingers to the butler for help while he struggled to take it off his arms. Over the years, Ralph had gained a few extra pounds which harbored in his upper body, stomach and arms. The butler helped wrestle the brown jacket off of him and carried it away in a quickened pace.

  Deseire glanced at Eli with a polite smile and sharp hazel eyes, reminding him of someone at the meat market picking out steaks. Servants carried the food out on silver platters with Ralph’s company name engraved along the sides.

  Three servants, also in black and white, held the plates high in their hands. Two males and one female with brown hair tied into a bun set the platters and plates around the table without much sound and then became invisible again, disappearing through the door behind Deseire.

  Roasted duck sat at Rebecca’s end and honey roasted ham at Eli’s. Boiled potatoes and peas decorated Ralph’s side of the table and cranberry sauce, sauerkraut and corn sat near Deseire. Rebecca lifted her fingers to snitch a piece of duck, but pulled away at her mother’s glare burning into her hand.

  Ralph filled the delay in waiting for the servants to serve the main entrée with opportune inquiry.

  “So, Eli, Rebecca tells us you are a lawyer. That profession must keep you very busy.”

  “It does.” Eli smiled lightheartedly.

  “She tells me you graduated from Ludwig Maximilians University.”

  “Yes, two years ago, and I’ve been working ever since.” Eli answered with an ease learned from working cases in the court room.

  “You found work after graduation; that is serendipitous,” Ralph commented, while his wife’s gaze flickered between the two men.

  “Ralph owns factories throughout Germany,” Deseire remarked with a curt smile. The servants prepared each of their plates with a slice of ham and duck and a few spoonfuls of corn and peas and lastly a dip of sauerkraut.

  “Looks delicious,” Eli remarked and dug his fork into the corn.

  “It really does. I can’t wait to taste Rueben’s duck,” Rebecca agreed.

  When Rebecca picked the duck up with her silver fork, the red brown sauce dripped and the green herbs aromatically filled the space between the plate and her nose and she closed her eyes, whiffing in the seasoned flavor. Ralph dug his fork into the duck and then the ham, savoring both meats at the same time. Only his love of food surpassed his love of business.

  “Where did the two of you meet?” Deseire intruded on the moment of succulence. Eli’s wide eyes widened further and his lips stretched with pleasure in memory.

  “I live above Rebecca and noticed her in the building.”

  Rebecca cut in. “He kept receiving some of my mail by mistake and kindly brought the letters to me.”

  “Did any of our letters make their way somewhere else?” Deseire snipped.

  “I don’t think so, Mutti. I’m sure I received every one of your verbose letters.” And out it popped, the civility Rebecca tried so desperately to hold onto throughout the night.

  “Verbose?” Deseire cleared her throat and the wrinkles around her eyes intensified as if preparing f
or war. “Darling, we never hear from you and some-one in the family has to keep communication. We don’t know if you’re alright or what kind of strange people may be involved in your life.”

  Eli’s shoulders jolted back into his chair, creating a gap between him and the dining table, hoping to become invisible and avoid the bickering about to take place.

  “Mother,” Rebecca used the elongated form instead of mutti whenever she was frazzled by her. “I only mean that your letters are very long and I am busy between work and University.”

  “Rebecca’s right. She is a very busy young college woman these days and we can’t expect her to contact us with every free moment.” Ralph interrupted the growing feud before the embers had time to burn and explode.

  “But a phone call a night is not asking too much, Rebecca. How else are we to know you’re safe? If you don’t have time to read my letters and respond, then at least phone us.”

  “I do, Mutti. I called you just…” Rebecca replayed the past couple months in her mind and couldn’t recall a night when she had phoned her mother recently.

  Deseire took advantage of her daughter’s delayed response. “You see, you cannot even remember a time, because it was so long ago. All I’m asking for is a little more communication so that I know my only child is still alive.”

  With her mother’s last words, Rebecca crumbled in her seat, resenting the correction, especially in front of Eli.

  “Alright, Mutti, I will try to make more time to talk with you by phone, but I can’t promise you anything with writing. I just don’t have the time.”

  “That’s all I ask,” Deseire concluded.

  As the discord between Rebecca and her mother settled, Eli found it comfortable to lean towards the dining table and eat again. Ralph took a spoonful of peas to his mouth and soon the plates around the table sat empty.

  “Dinner was absolutely delectable,” Eli said and pushed himself out of his seat. The butler handed him his trench coat. “Thank you.” Eli brushed his hair back and took the coat from the butler’s hands. Rebecca finished licking red brown sauce still on her plate with her fingers and then glided over to Eli with her arm squeezing under his.

  “Eli has to get going. He has a big day tomorrow with his family,” Rebecca said. Ralph stood, walking to Eli to shake his hand. Eli reciprocated.

  “It was nice meeting all of you.”

  “It was a pleasure finally meeting you,” Deseire said. “I have been waiting awhile to meet the secret man Rebecca has been hiding.”

  “I’ll see him to the door,” Rebecca said. The two of them strolled out of the dining hall and Rebecca nestled her mouth to Eli’s ear. “You ate your ham.”

  “Yes, well, I was trying to be polite. I didn’t want to offend your parents,” he thought for a moment with a childish grin, “or the cook.”

  Rebecca nudged his shoulder and they walked out to his car.

  “I guess I’ll see you after Christmas.”

  “Do come to my New Year’s Eve party. It will be at my place and everyone will start arriving around eight. You will meet my friends, or at least some of them.”

  “I’ll be there.”

  Eli’s lips moved towards hers and, after a brief moment of passion, Eli slipped into his car and Rebecca watched him drive away, back to Munich, back to her home.

  Retracing her steps to the lavishly decorated house, she saw the curtain in the side window wrinkle back over the glass and the silhouette of her mother disappear. Rebecca’s muscles tightened and her lips pressed hard, knowing her mother’s hidden disapproval and peering eyes always kept watch on her, even after all these years. She did not want to walk through those doors, back into the house, knowing the discourse she would have, defending the man she was with, defending the university she attended, defending her choices in life. Rebecca sighed and opened the large oak doors, entering to the living room where her parents waited with Mildred’s strong smile telling her she would be fine.

  A large Christmas tree sat in the corner of the room with a red silk rug engulfing its base. Five presents packaged in silver, gold, green, white, and red wrapping paper waited underneath the tree’s boughs. Rebecca passed her mother and sped to the tree, as if she were twelve again, to examine the gifts, then tried to sneak out of the room.

  Deseire watched Rebecca ignore her and followed Rebecca into the corridor before she escaped to her room upstairs.

  “We have to talk about this,” Deseire insisted.

  “I don’t want to have this conversation with you, Mutti. It’s Christmas Eve and I don’t want our arguing to spoil anything. Can’t you just wait until after Christmas?” Rebecca implored and, with that reasonable suggestion, Deseire’s tightened jaws loosened and Rebecca’s tightened muscles relaxed.

  “After Christmas morning, but we will have this discussion,” Deseire insisted. Rebecca turned from her mother, rolled her eyes and pouted her lips, then pranced up the stairwell to her private room with a tub.

  Rebecca knew the conversation her mother wanted to have, both of them pulling a string in opposite directions, each insisting they knew what was best for Rebecca’s life. Only Rebecca did know best without the doubt that plagued her in previous times when they argued.

  Doubt questioned, when she insisted on leaving for college, if Munich would work out for her. Doubt made her choice of Nursing uncertain. But Eli — she knew in the deepest parts of her heart Eli was right for her and no amount of whining or arguing from her mother could change that. Rebecca took a bath and Mildred helped her get into bed. Before turning out the lights, Mildred sat beside Rebecca’s pillow and kissed her forehead.

  “You’ve always had a strong will just like your father, your own mind to do things. But your mutti is just trying to do what she thinks is best for you. You might not think about such things, but these are worrisome times and she doesn’t want to see you get hurt. She does love you, dear.”

  Mildred rubbed her calloused hands over Rebecca’s thick hair and then left the room. Rebecca fell asleep with those words on her mind, worrisome times.

  The morning whistled into Rebecca’s room with the curtains drawn by Mildred and the birds singing songs for the new day. “It’s time to get up dear. You don’t want to miss opening the presents,” Mildred urged. Rebecca yawned, lifting her arms above her, and nestling her head in her warm silk sheets once more before pulling herself off her bed and into her bathroom where Mildred had drawn the bath.

  “I’ll see you downstairs for breakfast.” Mildred’s words muffled behind the closed bath door. Rebecca heard her bedroom door shut and Mildred’s heavy walk down the steps.

  When Rebecca made it into the dining room for breakfast, she found her parents already there, eager to start their day.

  Ralph walked over to his daughter and placed a small pink box in front of her after she sat down.

  “Daddy,” Rebecca’s stern face, kept that way from a night of anticipating her mother’s conversation the next morning, soothed. “You didn’t have to do this.” Rebecca caressed the package with her fingers, investigating with tactile concentration.

  “Well, go ahead, open it,” her father said. Rebecca loosened the thread of pink ribbon to undo the bow and then lifted the box lid. She peeked inside, noticed a metallic key and then closed the box to keep the gift safe.

  “You didn’t, Papa!” Rebecca leapt off her chair and rushed to hug her father. Ralph let out a guffaw at being squeezed.

  “You need a new car. You have no way of getting around in that big city and we worry about you. Besides, now you have a way to visit us more often and we won’t need to hear anymore of your mother’s bickering to come see us.” Ralph glanced at Deseire at his last words and winked. Deseire smiled.

  “Thank you so much, Papa!”

  “Well, let’s go see it.”

  Rebecca sprinted out of the dining hall, past the butler holding open the front door, and to her new car. The blue Audi tickled Rebecca to uncontrolled elation as Ralp
h and Deseire caught up to Rebecca. Even Deseire smiled at her daughter’s enthusiasm.

  “Adorable!” Rebecca became giddy, swinging the door open. “Can I drive it?”

  “Of course. Take it for a spin and then head back for breakfast,” Ralph said in a fatherly tone. Rebecca jumped into her new car and heard her mother say, “You shouldn’t spoil her like that. It was her decision to go off to University.” But the wind from the rolled down windows brushed over Rebecca’s hair and face and her mother’s words, like the wind rolling off of her, blew away.”

  Rebecca returned to the dining hall with breakfast already served on the large burgundy breakfast plates. They ate breakfast without the daunting conversation Rebecca had been waiting for, but her mother’s eyes had peered at her more than once during the morning meal. Rebecca knew she would not return to Munich without speaking to her. The three of them left the dining hall to enter the living room where the tree and gifts waited. Rebecca’s cheerful demeanor from receiving a most unexpected gift in the morning spread to her father and the servants, leaving everyone, except her mother, in a jovial mood.

  Four presents sat under the tree for Deseire and Ralph. Her parents opened them, revealing a pearl necklace and a broach for her mutti and a silk neck tie and a leather wallet for her papa. One last gift remained for Rebecca from Deseire. Rebecca opened the silver wrapped present to find a small white box much like the box her father had hidden the Audi key in. She opened the lid and found a small silver band ring that matched the one her mother wore on her index finger.

  “I hope you like it, Rebecca. Is it modern enough for you?”

  “Of course, Mama, I love it.” Rebecca slid the silver ring over her left index finger and gave her mother a hug, who held her tight and then let go while still holding onto her arm.

  “Rebecca, we need to talk about your future.”

  Rebecca pulled free and sat in the chair across from the sofa where her mother made herself comfortable.