Persuaded – Chapter XXII

Effi

Effi knew from the moment he woke up the following Sunday morning that it was a bad idea to let Avraham twist his arm to go out with Lieba Moskowitz. She was a nice girl, a pretty girl even, who was lively and ambitious, but he felt quite sure she’d probably be too immature for him. His sister Shiffy had rolled her eyes at the very idea of it, but Avraham, in his pigheaded determination to get him married, had railroaded him into giving it a try. And in the end it was literally disastrous.

He’d picked her up in the early afternoon, not the standard, but she was working during the days and in school most nights. Having heard about the fancy homes in Deal, and curious to find out for himself what the big deal was with Deal, he thought maybe a quick day trip there—an hour there and back that could include a drive near the beach homes and stop for a drink or pizza—seemed like an original idea. It would certainly be better than the standard drinks-in-a-hotel-lobby date, the very notion of which bored him to tears by now. An old yeshiva friend of Effi’s, Ralph Harari, had settled in Deal and seemed happy, and Effi was curious to see what this mostly-Syrian Jewish beach town was like.

Since the Moskowitzes already knew and adored him, it was no big deal to pick Lieba up. Greeting her parents was friendly and informal, not the usual farher-by-the-father type of meeting. Lieba came down in a flouncy skirt and high heels, looking giddy with excitement, a thin sheen of sweat coating her forehead.

Effi found he didn’t have to try too hard to make conversation after picking her up. Words poured from Lieba like water burbling from a fountain, continually replenishing themselves. It meant that very little effort was required on his part, but on the other hand, after the first 15 minutes he knew he could never marry a girl like this. He’d never get a word in edgewise, and while she was friendly and ebullient, she wasn’t particularly witty or deep. He wondered if the chattering was a sign of nerves. Maybe Lieba hadn’t been on many dates yet. But she seemed pretty self-confident. The loquaciousness just seemed part of her personality.

His sister Shiffy was right. This was just dumb, a date born out of desperation to find someone already, and when he gave a no to the shadchan later, it was going to hurt this poor sweet girl and possibly damage his family’s good relations with her family. It was bad enough the Moskowitzes’ son Chezky was married to an Elman and he found himself running into Chani at Chezky’s house! At this rate, he was likely to find himself in situations where he’d be forced to face not one, but two failed shidduchim staring at him across the Shabbos table. Or he’d have to avoid the Moskowitzes altogether, which would be a shame because he really liked Chezky, and his family, and it was good to have found a new friend in Brooklyn.

But Effi was a gentleman, and so he spoke to Lieba in a friendly, courteous way that seemed to flatter her, uttering the occasionally, “Really!” or “That sounds crazy!” to her winding, breathless tales of office politics and family episodes, and comments on the Tesla he was driving.

The clouds that had lightly covered the sky when they left Brooklyn had become dark and ominous by the time they approached the town an hour later. Just as they drove in, close to the beach, a summer storm broke out, pouring such torrents of rain that Effi had to pull off the road to a side street.

They sat in silence watching the rivulets stream across the windshield, until they ceased as suddenly as they had begun. Something occurred to Effi. “You know what,” he said, “I bet there’s nobody on the beach after this rain! Why don’t we take a quick walk along the boardwalk before the swimmers come back?”

He found an entrance and parked the car, and they began strolling along the wet planks of the boardwalk, the air sharp with the scent of algae and iodine. The sun began to peek through again, and seagulls squawked as they circled overhead and glided down swiftly to pick at abandoned crusts of bread. There was a stand selling kosher ices, and he bought one for each of them. People would return shortly soon to swim, but they could leave once the scenery became immodest. Ralph had recommended a hotel called Ocean Place to get a drink later, and also gave him the names of a couple of restaurants.

The first disaster happened as he went to dump the empty wrappers from their ices into a nearby bin. He turned around, and suddenly there were Chezky, Mindy, Hennie, and Chani down the boardwalk with the kids, waving wildly at them! What a crazy, mortifying coincidence!

He hadn’t told anybody where he was planning to take Lieba! It had been between himself and Ralph! Yet somehow here they were, Chezky and Mindy grinning ear to ear, Hennie chortling as she realized where her sister had so mysteriously gone off to all dolled up, Chani shrinking back and taking a sudden interest in wiping drips of ice cream off Shloimie’s shirt, and Lieba’s face various shades of beet. Yet Effi’s eyes reflexively picked out Chani, noticing that she looked tanned and casual, pretty in a light blue top that brought out her eyes.

“Effi! Lieba! What are you guys doing here!” Mindy yelled, running up to greet them, her eyes gleaming like a cat who’s found a canary. “We had no idea you’d be here!”

Effi managed to keep his composure. “My friend Ralph was telling me I should come check out Deal,” he said casually. “He told me there are beautiful homes along the beach and good places to eat, and Lieba was nice enough to come check it out with me.”

“It’s gorgeous!” Lieba said, playing along. “Did you get a load of the homes here along the water? Hey, did you get stuck in that rainstorm? It was so heavy we had to stop the car!”

“We also pulled over,” Chezky said, staring at the two of them with amazement. “We came to the boardwalk figuring it would be nice and empty if everything was still wet.”

“The boys really needed to get out of the car and run a little,” Mindy said. “This was perfect for them. Oh no, Chezky, look—Shloimie’s wandering off again. We better go chase him!” She shot Lieba a look that said, “How could you not tell us?” and then took off in the other direction. The others were discreet enough to take this as their cue to follow, waving goodbye and clearly doing their best to act casually.

As they began walking away, with Lieba exclaiming, “How embarrassing! OMG how embarrassing!” on repeat, a man a little above Effi’s age, wearing designer sunglasses, a yarmulke, and an expensive-looking polo shirt, strolled by their party from the opposite direction, almost bumping into Chezky. He nodded a greeting, frum person to frum person, but Effi could see his eyes lingering on Chani perhaps a split second longer than was appropriate. The man continued on, then turned and seemed to trail them for a few minutes. He stopped and shaded his eyes with one hand to get a better view of the Moskowitz group in general—or Chani in particular. Finally, apparently satisfied, he turned and continued in the other direction.

Who was this guy? Effi hadn’t noticed any particular flash of recognition on Chani’s part. Chani’s face was still stony as she gripped Shloimie’s hand and led him down the boardwalk. An unexpected stab of anger—jealousy?—ran through him, dampening his mood.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said to Lieba.

To be continued.