I am, says Ruth to the Doktor, bending him back and forth at the waist. Really, it’s great that you’re dating. But this guy, Trudy . . . I don’t know. Because now I know where I’ve heard his name before: I called him myself, about participating in the Remembrance Project. And he seemed . . .
What?
A bit rough.
Rough?
Angry, says Ruth, setting the Doktor on the desk. He was really very rude, actually.
Trudy sits back.
Well, I already told you he’s like that, she says. But that’s just a front. He has some— some difficulty when he’s confronted with talking about the past.
Ruth snorts.
No kidding, she says. Believe me, that came through loud and clear. Trudy, I hate to say this, but maybe you should rethink being involved with him. I’m not sure it’s the wisest course of action.
Trudy bristles.
Oh, really? she asks. Why is that? Because I’m German and he’s a Jew? You know how you’re acting, Ruth? Like a Jewish mother, like any yenta who disowns her kids if they marry outside the religion and sits shivah if they do—
Ruth is tolerating this outburst with a patient, candid gaze, and Trudy stops, ashamed. She knows this is not the case at all. In fact, Ruth’s husband Bob is only half-Jewish, and the couple has had to suffer the disdain of Ruth’s family because of it. But why is Ruth treating her in this patronizing fashion, as if Trudy were a teenager dizzy with her first crush, as if she is incapable of seeing for herself that the boy who is taking her to the prom is really a juvenile delinquent?
I’m sorry, Trudy says. Please ignore everything I just said. But I don’t understand why you’re reacting this way.
I don’t want to see you get hurt, says Ruth. That’s all.
Ruth, that’s not going to happen. Rainer’s a good man. Really. He’s the best person I’ve ever met.
Ruth reaches for her toy again.
I’m sure he is, she says. But you know, you’ve been out of the swing of things for so long that . . . I’m just a little concerned. Now listen. I really do think it’s great that you’re putting yourself out there again. So before you get too heavily involved with Mr. Goldmann, maybe you should consider dating somebody else too, for balance? As a matter of fact, there’s a man I’ve been dying to introduce you to. A new colleague of Bob’s at the firm, recently relocated here from St. Louis. Not divorced. A widower. Three children, but all grown, and he’s really a wonderful . . .
Trudy watches Ruth throughout the rest of this sales pitch, smiling a bit acidly. She understands Ruth’s objection now. For a long period after Trudy’s divorce, the well-meaning Ruth, desperate to see Trudy remarried, introduced her to a parade of prospective candidates. And Trudy played along for a while, enduring countless dinner parties where she would be seated next to whatever available bachelor Ruth could provide—he could be pompous, balding, fat, flatulent, it didn’t matter, as long as he was breathing and single. Trudy still remembers the scalding humiliation of Ruth’s final attempt about seven years ago, which consisted of Trudy listening in horror while her date described, with huge enthusiasm, a recent singles’ cruise where the introductory activity consisted of standing in the ship’s pool passing a rubber ball from person to person using only one’s chin. After this, Trudy gave up, telling Ruth that having a partner was perhaps simply not in her cards.
And Ruth must have been thinking of Trudy in this particular way ever since: the ungrateful recipient of social charity, the sad sole monkey on Noah’s Ark. Of course she is disconcerted to see Trudy so suddenly changed. People hate it when others step out of their neatly labeled little boxes.
Ruth is looking at Trudy with bright expectation.
Well? she says. Sound good? I could set something up for next week.
Trudy smiles gently at her.
Thanks, she says. I’ll keep it in mind. Maybe somewhere down the road . . . In the meantime, though, could I have those travel brochures?
54
ONCE THE PAMPHLETS RUTH HAS RELUCTANTLY GIVEN Trudy are safely tucked in her briefcase, Trudy drives back across the river to Rainer’s house. She will now implement step two of her wonderful scheme: she will whisk Rainer off to lunch at Le P’tit, and there she will reveal the trip they will take together. The anticipation of Rainer’s reaction—and of introducing her new lover to her ex-husband—is so delicious that Trudy starts to sing again, at the top of her lungs, smiling and waving at the other drivers who catch her belting like a Wagnerian soprano at stoplights.
But when she runs up his front steps and twists the key to his bell, Rainer doesn’t come to answer it.
Trudy tries three more times. When Rainer still fails to appear, she walks slowly to his porch swing and sits, puzzled. Has Rainer mentioned some appointment this afternoon that Trudy has forgotten about? A routine checkup, a meeting with his accountant, the dentist? Trudy doesn’t think so. Maybe he is running an errand. She sifts through the brochures while she waits. Palm trees, aquamarine waters, couples strolling hand in hand along sugar-sand beaches. Quite a contrast to what Trudy sees when she looks up, rain puddling on the sidewalks and street, ankle-deep over the ice. Canned game-show laughter and applause come from one of the neighboring houses: another retiree, perhaps, hard of hearing, the volume turned all the way up. Nobody else is home this time of day, except maybe an exhausted young mother or two stealing an hour’s rest while her children nap. Everyone else is at work.
After forty-five minutes have passed, Trudy starts to grow concerned. Also cold. Unfolding herself stiffly from the swing—her limbs chilled, the seat of her coat damp—Trudy tramps through the remaining snow to the backyard. Rainer’s car is not in the driveway where it usually is, and she feels a moment’s relief. But when she checks the garage, peering through the dusty windows, the Buick is there among the cobwebs and garden tools: an improbably long white shape in the shadows, like a submarine.
Really worried now, Trudy rushes to the back door and pounds on it.
Rainer, she yells. It’s me! Open up!
She backpedals to the middle of the lawn and squints up at the bedroom, cupping her hands around her mouth.
Rainer!
When there is still no response, Trudy retrieves from beneath an overturned flowerpot in the garden the spare key Rainer hides there. This is an effort, since the key has frozen into the ground. And it is an unnecessary one, for when Trudy uses it she locks the door instead of opening it; it has been unsecured all along. She hurries through the kitchen, the metallic taste of fear in her mouth. Has Rainer had a heart attack? A stroke? As he often jokes after an especially energetic session in bed, he is no longer a young man.
Rainer, Trudy yells. Can you answer me? Where are you?
She runs up the stairs and nearly collides with him halfway, as he is coming down.
Goodness, what a ruckus, he says.
Trudy grips the banister and lets out a shaky breath.
God, you scared me, she tells him. I thought something bad had happened to you.
Rainer smiles. Is it really so easy for you to give me up for dead, Dr. Swenson?
It’s not funny, Trudy snaps. Why didn’t you answer the door?
Rainer looks sheepish.
I wasn’t expecting you until later, he says.
Didn’t you hear me knocking? Ringing the bell?
I did indeed. I thought it was a particularly irritating salesman.
But Rainer looks away as he says this, and Trudy feels another frisson of unease. He is lying. Something is still wrong. She notices for the first time that he is holding an armful of sweaters.
What are you doing? she asks.
Packing.
Packing?
Trudy follows Rainer to his bedroom, which is in atypical chaos. On the bed is a garment bag, unzipped and bulging with trousers, and next to it is an open suitcase. For a bewildered second Trudy thinks Rainer has read her mind about the trip she has been planning, or even intended to sugges
t one himself. But the amount of clothes on the comforter soon puts paid to that idea. There are mounds of cardigans, pajamas, pairs of socks. Wherever he is going, he expects to be there for a long time.
What are you doing? Trudy asks again.
I should think it is fairly obvious.
But I don’t understand. Is there some sort of emergency? Has something happened to your daughter?
Rainer wedges a packet of undershirts into the suitcase. He seems to be avoiding Trudy’s eyes. Or is she imagining it?
I was going to leave you a note, he says.
A note?
A letter.
Trudy braces herself against the door. The rain has stopped, the droplets trickling down the windowpane casting sinuous shadows on the opposite wall, and the room is filled with watery gray light. She can hear the drip of melting icicles, the coo of a mourning dove in the gutter. The latter conjures images of green lawns, shadows at twilight, the clink of ice cubes in cocktail glasses. How can this be happening?
Where are you going? she asks.
Florida.
Florida?
Do please refrain from repeating everything I say, Rainer tells her, but without heat. He has yet to look at Trudy.
I’m sorry, she says. I’m just so...Why are you going to Florida?
To visit my daughter and granddaughter.
For— For how long?
Now Rainer does turn to face her.
Trudy, he says.
Trudy stares at him. The resignation in his eyes tells her everything she needs to know.
No, she cries.
Rainer shoves a pair of loafers into the suitcase.
It is for the best, he says.
How can you say that? That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. How can you possibly think that’s true?
Rainer stands with his hands in his pockets, studying the bed.
It is true, he says. And it is not the end of the world. In any case, I am not certain how long I will stay. I have deliberately left my return date open. Perhaps I will find I am not suited for a tropical climate after all.
His tone is sardonic, but Trudy sees the muscles working along his jaw. She crosses to him and tugs his sleeve.
Rainer, look at me. Please. Is it something I’ve done? Something I’ve said? That thing last week, about you being the most German Jew—
No, no, says Rainer. But he remains immobile, his forearm like a cord of wood beneath Trudy’s hand.
Trudy takes a painful breath, tears building behind her eyes. Is it because of who I am? Because of him—my father?
Of course not. You must never think that, Trudy.
Then it has to be my Project. I’ll give it up. Today. Right now. As of this moment I’ll never do another interview—
Rainer sighs. Don’t be preposterous. That is the last thing I want.
What do you want, then? Trudy says. Please, Rainer. Please don’t go. Or take me with you—
Then she remembers her mother. What will happen to Anna if Trudy leaves? But Trudy is too frantic to care. She’ll think of something.
Please, she says again. Don’t do this. Why are you doing this?
Finally Rainer looks down at her and clasps Trudy’s hands in his.
It has nothing to do with you, he says. You must believe that.
Trudy stares at their laced fingers and shakes her head. She feels nothing except the certainty that she is the butt of a cosmic joke. Has she really dared to think happiness is for her? She has been a fool. Somewhere the gods are slapping their giant robed knees and laughing.
Without you, she tells Rainer, I’ll have nothing.
Ah, Trudy.
Rainer lets go of her hands to enfold her in his arms.
You will have plenty, he says, his voice a vibration on Trudy’s cheek. You had a full life before we met, and you still do. Your classes, the students to whom you are so dedicated, your research, your project. You will be fine. Better than fine.
But Rainer—
As usual, I beg you not to argue. I must do this. You are only making it worse.
Trudy presses her face against the scratchy wool of his sweater and permits herself one last inhale of the cologne whose fragrance she has so rejoiced to find lingering on her own neck, in her hair; beneath this, Rainer’s distinct scent, clean like wood chips, like cedar.
Then she pulls away from him.
You still haven’t told me why, she says. You owe me that much, at least.
Rainer moves back to the bed. He selects a tie and holds it up, examining its subdued stripes as if he has never seen it before. Then he winds it into a roll and tucks it into the suitcase.
Why does any old man go to Florida? he asks, his voice not quite steady. A kinder climate. A perpetual summer. And in my case, the yearning to be with family. You forget I am older than you, Trudy. I do not know how many good years I have left, and I should like to spend some time with them.
All right, says Trudy. That sounds valid enough. But it’s not the real reason. Is it.
Rainer gazes at his clothes, his fists clenched at his sides.
I do not deserve to have this, he says finally, very low. I am not meant to be this happy.
Trudy starts to protest this as well, but then she finds she can’t. She suddenly feels very heavy. It is the weight of the inevitable. Who is Trudy to argue when she has felt the same conviction not a minute earlier? Part of her has known all along that this cannot last. The moment upon them now has been decided for them both long ago.
She releases a long trembling sigh and steps next to Rainer. She touches the pile of cardigans. She knows each and every one of them intimately. Something sharp catches in her throat, then swells until she can barely breathe.
Around it she asks, Why are you bringing all these sweaters?
Air-conditioning, Rainer replies. Everything down there is climate-controlled. My daughter’s house is like a meat locker.
Ah, says Trudy.
She picks up the top cardigan and folds its arms behind its back, then doubles it and sets it in the suitcase with the rest. Rainer fetches another suit from the closet and lays it in the garment bag. Trudy senses him standing close to her, so close she can feel the warmth radiating from his skin. He is breathing with effort in deliberately controlled measures, his breath coming short and hard through his nostrils, and Trudy knows he wants to touch her again. But he does not, and she helps him pack without saying another word. They orbit around each other in organized, well-choreographed rhythm, like husband and wife who have been sending each other off on trips for years.
55
WHEN TRUDY GETS HOME, SHE WALKS STRAIGHT PAST A startled Anna in the kitchen and down the hall to her study, where she slams the door. It occurs to her that Anna will find this behavior rude or even alarming. But Trudy doesn’t spare it a second thought. She can apologize later. Or perhaps she won’t. What does it matter now?
Without removing her coat, Trudy sinks into her desk chair and looks dully around the room. There are her texts and papers and books, the history periodicals to which she subscribes, her interview transcripts and Lotte in Weimar recording and CDs of German composers. The tapes of her subjects, alphabetized on a shelf in the television cabinet above the VCR. Headphones. Legal pads. Binders of class plans organized by year. Year upon year of them, in fact, stretching back through the decades. This, then, is the sum total of Trudy’s existence. How has it come to be this way? This was not how it was supposed to be. Trudy tries to remember a time when she might have wanted something else and what that might have been, but she can’t. And when Trudy attempts to picture simply going away, to Florida for instance, or one of the islands in those glossy pamphlets, what comes to mind is an image of herself on an old wooden ship, sailing and sailing until she reaches the end of the world and falls off.
You will be fine, Rainer has told her; your work, your students, your research, the full life you had before you met me.
Trudy leans forward and
sweeps everything off her desk. She kicks her briefcase, which spills her lecture notes and the travel brochures onto the rug. Then she puts her head down on the blotter and covers it with her arms.
Some indeterminate time later there is a tentative tap on the door. Then it opens and Anna comes in. She switches on the floor lamp next to the sofa and Trudy looks up, blinking. She has not noticed how dark the room has become. It is already evening. And where is Rainer now? At the airport? On a plane?
Anna tucks the spatula she is holding into the pocket of her apron and extends her hands. Trudy stands, takes off her coat, passes it to Anna, and sits down again. Anna disappears with it, to hang it in the closet, Trudy presumes. She does not expect Anna to come back.
But Anna does. She stays in the doorway for a moment, assessing the mess on the floor. Then, with a small grunt of effort, she stoops and begins to tidy it up.
Leave it, Mama, says Trudy.
Anna blows at a long strand of white hair that has escaped her wreath of braids. Then she continues stacking the papers into orderly piles.
I said, leave it! Trudy says.
She puts her hands over her face.
Oh, God, she cries.
Anna straightens and walks to the side of the desk, setting a sheaf of transcripts on it.
So, she says. He is gone, then.
What? says Trudy.
Your man. The man with whom you have been keeping company.
Trudy lowers her hands and stares at her mother. Anna is looking down at her, neat and sturdy as always in a navy blue dress. There is a smudge of flour high on her cheekbone.
How did you know that?
Anna smiles.
Ach, Trudy, she says. Do you think I am a fool? Those times you did not come home for dinner. Those nights you did not come home at all. Where else would you be but with him?
Trudy nods and sighs.
He has gone away now, Anna repeats.
Yes.
For good?
I don’t know, says Trudy.
She waits for Anna to offer some condolence, some platitude of reassurance or advice, but Anna says nothing more.
You know who it was, Mama? The man whose interview you watched. The night I came in here and you were viewing the tape.