Wednesday the Rabbi got wet

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

It was her mother Leah told, because her father was not home and she couldn't wait for him or keep it in any longer. "His name is Akiva—"

"Akiva? Spanish?"

"No, Akiva is his first name. You know, after the famous Rabbi Akiva, the one who—"

"Then his folks must be terribly religious," said Edie.

"I haven't met them yet, but I understand they're not. You see, it's his own name. I mean, he chose it for himself." Leah finally got the story told, editing it a little along the way. How she had met Akiva quite accidentally when he brought Jackie across the road from the beach and it turned out she knew him "because he used to come from around here." How he had come back that night because of the terrible storm and his concern for their safety— hers and Jackie's. "He had this long beard and I joked about it and told him I didn't like it." And then how she had not heard from him for days "and I assumed it was one of those things" and then how he had suddenly appeared again and he had shaved his beard off, and how they had been seeing each other every night and how much he liked Jackie and Jackie liked him.

"But what does he do? How does he make a living?" her mother asked.

"Oh, I thought I mentioned it, he's a pharmacist, working for his father."

"You've got to be practical about these things, Leah," said her mother gently. "I mean where he's only a pharmacist working in a drugstore—"

"But that's what's so wonderful about it. When he told his folks about us, his father offered him the store as a kind of wedding present. You see, he had this heart attack— his father did, I mean— and he's supposed to take it easy. So he'll work for Akiva—"

"Where is this store?" asked Mrs. Kaplan, her voice suddenly very quiet.

"Why, it's right here in town, over by the Salem line. I'm sure you know it. It's one of the oldest stores in the area."

"Town-Line Drugs? Marcus Aptaker's store?"

"That's right, and Akiva is Arnold Aptaker."

Chester Kaplan arrived home shortly after Leah had left, he was overjoyed at the news.

"So what do you intend to do?" asked Mrs. Kaplan.

He rubbed his hands gleefully. "Do? What's to do? We'll invite the young man to dinner, and a week or so later, we'll invite his folks, then I suppose they'll invite us—"

"You forget his father is in the hospital."

"That's right," he said. "So we'll invite Mrs. aptaker, and maybe we can go visit him in the hospital."

"And what if she should refuse to come?" Edie asked. "Why should she refuse? We're not good enough for her?"

"Because if it was me, I'd refuse," his wife replied. "I'd feel that where you were pushing my husband out of business and maybe gave him a heart attack on account of it, I wouldn't want to eat at your house. I'd feel the food would choke me."

"I gave him a heart attack? Because we sold the block and I told him to apply to the new owner for a renewal of his lease? And when I file suit against somebody and he gets a heart attack, it's my fault?"

"That you have to do because it's your profession. This you didn't have to do, and Aptaker asked you for the renewal before Safferstein made an offer for the property."

"Sure but Safferstein told me he was interested in the property as soon as the terms of the will were made public. So naturally, where I’ve got a possible buyer, am I going to spoil it by giving leases?"

"And the rabbi is against it."

"It's a matter of interpretation of the law," he said loftily. "You wouldn't understand about that."

"But how the Aptakers will feel toward you, that I can understand. I'd be surprised if they even came to the wedding."

"So show me where it's written that the parents of the bride have to be friendly with the parents of the groom," her husband said. "The Schneursons and the Feldmans don't even talk to each other, the Blackmans were in Florida all winter last year and Sidney Blackman told me that not once did his son's in-laws invite them for even a cup of tea."

"And if the boy feels the same way toward you?" Edie asked.

"Then we won't be friends," he said philosophically. "As long as he makes Leah a good husband. I can stand it, believe me."

"But now that the rabbi has moved for reconsideration," she pointed out, "you have a chance to make everything right."

Her husband was shocked. "What are you saying? You want me to turn against my friends, the people who backed me, for my own personal interests? No, sir! I'll fight the rabbi, and I'm going to beat him."