New York - The Novel

Friday, she was talking to another girl who she was quite friendly with. They were talking about one of the tellers, a bad-tempered fellow who had been complaining about her friend. “Don’t mind him,” she’d told the girl, “he’s always
kvetching
about something.” She’d said the Yiddish word quite without thinking, hardly even realized she’d said it, though she did notice the girl looking at her oddly.
    “And do you know, I can’t prove it, but I believe that girl followed me home to Brooklyn. Because the next Monday morning, I saw her talking to the manager, and at noon that day he fired me. For being Jewish.”
    The incident had changed her mother’s life. “After that,” she’d declare, “I said to myself, enough of the
goyim
. And I went back to my religion.” A year later, she’d married Daniel Adler.
    These memories were soon interrupted, however, by Michael and Nathan arriving for their breakfast. Sarah helped her mother dish up, while her father continued his piano playing downstairs.
    After her brothers went out, Sarah and her mother tidied up the kitchen for a while.
    “So,” her mother said, when they had put everything away, “you’re still happy in the apartment you have?”
    Her mother had not been too pleased about her move to the city, but the apartment had been a stroke of luck. The brother of one of her father’s patients owned the apartment in Greenwich Village. He was going to California for a year or two, he wasn’t sure for how long. On condition that she would vacate at once if he needed it back, he’d been glad to rent it for a very modest amount to a family his brother assured him he could trust. So Sarah had a nice little one-bedroom place where she could live, even on the tiny salary the gallery paid her.
    “It’s fine,” she said, “and I love my job.”
    “Will you be coming home next weekend?”
    “I think so. Why?”
    “You remember I told you about Adele Cohen’s grandson. The boy who went to Harvard? The one that’s a doctor now?”
    “The one who went to Philadelphia?”
    “Yes, but he has a position in New York now. He’s just moving there.And he’s coming out to see his grandmother next weekend. I believe he’s very nice.”
    “You’ve never met him.”
    “If he’s Adele’s grandson, I’m sure he’s very nice.”
    “How old is he?”
    “Adele says he’ll be thirty next year. And he’s very interested in art. He bought a painting.”
    “You know this?”
    “Adele told me. She thinks he’s bought several.”
    “What sort of paintings?”
    “How should I know? They’re paintings.”
    “We should marry.”
    “You could meet him.”
    “Does he have money?”
    “He’s a doctor.” Her mother paused as if to indicate that this should be enough. “When his father married Adele’s daughter, he was an accountant. But he didn’t like accounting, so he set up a business selling heaters for houses. He sells air conditioning too. All over New Jersey. Adele says he’s done very well.”
    So, Adele’s grandson had money. Sarah smiled. She could imagine her mother and Adele arranging all this. And why should she complain? Perhaps he would be perfect.
    “I’ll meet him,” she promised.

    As she returned from Brooklyn late that afternoon, however, it was not the doctor who occupied her thoughts in the subway. It was Charlie Master.
    She’d flirted with him at Sardi’s, of course. She’d gently challenged him about his age. And he’d been interested, she was sure of it. But he’d been cautious, too, and she thought she knew the reason.
    He wasn’t going to do anything that, if it went wrong, might jeopardize the exhibition of Theodore Keller’s photographs. He really cared about the work, and she respected that. So, half of him was attracted to her, and the other half wanted to keep the relationship professional. That challenge made the business of seducing him all the more interesting.
    Sarah Adler liked her work. She loved her family. She respected her religion. But now and then, she also liked to break the rules.
    Sarah Adler was not a virgin. Her parents did not need to know this.
    Charlie Master was an interesting older man, and she was curious to know more about him. She wanted to learn what he knew. And, of course, he wasn’t Jewish.
    So he was forbidden.
    It was certainly something to think about.
    The next day, she began to prepare a potential layout of the Keller show. As she thought about the balance and