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Show ally neutral. I said I preferred a Jewish place, I couldn't get enough of Jewish food, and we all piled into /WliVj car, the three Rubins in front, in back ftittt. between Ben and me. At dinner the conversation was constrained. They kept asking me how I liked it, they kept watching their manners, and I kept trying to keep my knife and fork in the right hands. Mr. Rubin was a short thin man with rusty hair and freckles. He smiled with good humor but everyji once in a while I saw just under the surface a larger worry than me, a tightness, a caution, as if he was remembering the three flights of stairs he had climbed to get to the girls* apartment, three steps and i rest, three steps and rest -- all the while waiting for the angina to strike. Mrs. Rubin was taller thani her husband, though not as tall as Amelia, a slender and still handsome woman who looked as if she had once been beautiful, with a narrow face and a tall arrogant nose. Her hair was blonde with dark roots. They smiled at me with polite nods. Then I went to the john and when I came back they were no longer watching themselves, they were smiling at me. Everyone was smiling, at ease. It was great. While we were walking toward the car, Mr. Rubin fell back to walk with me, trailing along behind. He nodded solemnly: Wnvty Nazi planes.'" He shook his head in awe. "The Congress Medal of Honor.'" "Uhhhhh . . . " He squeezed my arm. "And a member in good standing ADL." "Huh?" "Anti-Defamation League." "Oh, yeah, yeah." Ben didn't look back. Semi** I k«t» fj \JIWU of flit U*lut>*y hU*Ue>h. Uft thftx. +«d yt*h.t^r<t We went back to^the g i r l s ' place, Mr. Rubin j^Mfcne steps j^aaft/a^^tfUu**, sft-M «~»/ rest, and while everyone was talking there Kttft slipped me a brown paper sack. I jfasked what i t was, too loudly. It was my shaving gear, and Mr. Rubin saw and smiled. He was very tolerant of Free Love as long as i t was |
