Thursday The Rabbi Walked Out

14

STANLEY DOBLE, THE JANITOR AT THE TEMPLE WAS NOT THE ideal employee. For one thing, he was unreliable, he had been known to interrupt a job of work, presumably to go for his lunch, and not return for several days because he had met someone who had suggested they drive up to Maine to bag a deer, also, he got drunk on occasion, although, in all fairness, usually on his own time. On the other hand, he was an accomplished handyman, who could do a skillful job of carpentry, repair the plumbing, maintain the heating and air-conditioning system and was knowledgeable about electricity. While frequently exasperated by his lapses, the temple authorities felt that on the whole, it was a fair trade-off. Moreover, since the wages they paid him were not high, they winked at the outside jobs he took on.

Most of the time, he was dressed in a dirty T-shirt and grease-stained overalls and sported a two days' growth of beard. When shaved, and with hair combed and wearing his 'good clothes,' however, he was quite presentable, although not tall, he was powerfully built and carried himself with a kind of truculence, as if to warn taller men that he was not to be trifled with. His face was coarse and fleshy, and his eyes small with the lids half-closed, as though he were peering at the sun, the nose was bulbous and a little askew at the tip, having been smashed once in a fight. But while not an attractive man, he was usually good-natured and friendly.

He was not wearing his good clothes when Martha Peterson bumped into him at the supermarket downtown, and there was a smudge of grease on his cheek, which was why she refused his invitation to "come and have a soda" at the drugstore. But when he asked for a date, she said. "Well, I'm free tonight."

His face fell. "Aw. Marty, today's Friday, they got a service at the temple tonight and I got to clean up afterward. I was thinking about tomorrow night."

Because she felt it was important for her to maintain her status as the arbitrary, even capricious, conferer of favors, she said loftily, "I'm sorry, but tonight is the only night I'm free."

And since the immediate was always more important to him than the responsibility of a later time, he said, "Okay, then. I guess I can make some arrangement at the temple. I'll pick you up at your place around seven."

"No, you pick me up at work."

"Why can't I pick you up at your place?"

"On account I don't want to go home by bus. I left my car to be serviced, so I won't have it to go home with."

"Aw, gee, Marty."

"What difference does it make to you?" she asked.

"Well, your boss, old man Jordon, him and me had a fight about some work I done for him, and I said I'd never set foot in his place again."

"You afraid of him?"

"Afraid? But where I said I wouldn't—"

"Well, if you can't. I guess there's other fish in the sea."

He looked at her calculatingly through slitted eyes. It occurred to him that in the light of the sacrifices he was making, she would feel obligated and make suitable recompense. "All right," he said decisively. "I'll pick you up at seven, but you be ready now, so when I ring tha bell—"

"I'll be ready."