He Said/She Said

He owned a grocery store, working six days a week from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm. He never wanted her  to work, but she went to college and became a teacher. She was always late while he was always early. He drove her to school to get her there on time.  He was constantly throwing out the junk mail and emptying out the shopping bags she kept bringing home.

She kept making new friends and brought a story home every time she went out of the house. He gave out candy to everyone he did business with, including his friends in the bank, the stockbroker and his neighbors.   He was always tired of the mess around the house and she was tired of his losing all his money in the stock market. 

He walked ten blocks from our home to Ocean Parkway almost every day of his life. He swam at Jack La Lane as a lifetime member. He collected silver dollars, liberty head dimes and silver nickels. His favorite meal was sour cream, radishes and scallions. He drank tea and ate Stella Dora cookies. She loved eating the pumpernickel bread and cream cheese sandwiches at the local Chock Full of Nuts counter, and snacking on Yankee Doodles and Ring Dings.  She collected used wrapping paper, postcards and matchbooks. She left her bra, girdles and support stockings hanging behind the door in the bathroom.  He left his wet bathing suit in the shower.

He lived through the Holocaust, survived by hiding in the forest and eventually joining the Russian army. She lived through the Great Depression and lost two cousins in World War II. She was dancing at the Jewish Community House and complaining there were no guys left to date while he was fighting for his life and running from the Nazis. They argued about who suffered more during the war.

She couldn’t remember how many cups of coffee she drank. She forgot where she lived. She didn’t remember her caregiver.

He moved her into assisted living.

She kept asking when she was going home.

He asked me to call him every day to see if he woke up. He wasn’t feeling well. Had a headache that wouldn’t go away.

He walked three miles to see her. The elevator was slow and he had no patience. Left the facility and went home.

She didn’t remember if he came or not.

He had a stroke the next day. 

She visited him in the hospital. Came with her walker and barely made it up to his room.

He died the next day.

She didn’t remember that he was gone. She wondered why he wasn’t visiting.

For the next three years, her number one question was “Where was Leo?”

Leo and Gladys are resting now together. In her family plot, near her relatives.  I hear their voices. I argue with my husband over the clutter and the bills. Their voices are coming out of my mouth.  I am reliving their history. I hope I only have to relive their happy times.