A Cry In the Night Read Online Free PDF Page A

address from her. Idecided to walk down to your apartment and ring your bell. Then right in front of me I see a pretty girl in need of help, and here we are.”
    She felt his arm tuck firmly under her elbow. Suddenly instead of feeling fatigued and depressed, she was absurdly happy. She glanced at his face.
    â€œDo you go through this every night?” he asked. His tone was both incredulous and concerned.
    â€œWe usually manage to get a bus in bad weather,” she said. “Tonight they were so full, there was hardly room for the driver.”
    The block between Lexington and Park was filled with high-stooped brownstones. Jenny pointed to the third house on the uptown side. “That’s it.” She eyed the street affectionately. To her the rows of brownstones offered a sense of tranquillity: houses nearly one hundred years old, built when Manhattan still had large neighborhoods of single-family homes. Most of them were gone now, reduced to rubble to make way for skyscrapers.
    Outside her building, she tried to say good night to Erich but he refused to be dismissed.
    â€œI’ll see you in,” he told her.
    Reluctantly she preceded him into the ground-level studio. She’d made slipcovers in a cheerful yellow-and-orange pattern for the battered secondhand upholstery; a piece of dark brown carpet covered most of the scarred parquet floor; the cribs fit into the small dressing room off the bathroom and were almost concealed by the louver door. Chagall prints hid some of the peeling wall paint and her plants brightened the ledge over the kitchen sink.
    Glad to be released Beth and Tina ran into the room. Beth spun around. “I’m very glad to be home, Mommy,” she said. She glanced at Tina. “Tina is glad to be home too.”
    Jenny laughed. “Oh, Mouse, I know what youmean. You see,” she explained to Erich, “it’s a little place but we love it.”
    â€œI can see why. It’s very pleasant.”
    â€œWell, don’t look too hard,” Jenny said. “The management is letting it run down. The building is going co-op so they’re not spending any more money on it now.”
    â€œAre you going to buy your apartment?”
    Jenny began to unzip Tina’s snowsuit. “I haven’t a prayer. It will cost seventy-five thousand dollars, if you can believe it, for this room. We’ll just hang in till they evict us and then find someplace else.”
    Erich picked up Beth. “Let’s get out of those heavy clothes.” Quickly he unfastened her jacket, then said, “Now we’ve got to make up our minds. I’ve invited myself to dinner, Jenny. So if you have plans for the evening, kick me out. Otherwise point me to a supermarket.”
    They stood up together and faced each other. “Which is it, Jenny,” he asked, “the supermarket or the door?”
    She thought she detected a wistful note in the question. Before she could answer, Beth tugged at his leg. “You can read to me if you want,” she invited.
    â€œThat settles it,” Erich said decisively. “I’m staying. You have nothing more to say about it, Mommy.”
    Jenny thought, He really wants to stay. He honestly wants to be with us. The realization sent unexpected waves of delight through her. “There’s no need to go shopping,” she told him. “If you like meatloaf we’re in great shape.”
    She poured Chablis, then turned on the evening news for him while she bathed and fed the children. He read a story to them while she prepared dinner. As she set the table and made a salad she stole glances at the couch. Erich was sitting, one little girl under each arm, reading The Three Bears with appropriate histrionics.Tina began to doze and quietly he pulled her on his lap. Beth listened rapturously, her eyes never leaving his face. “That was very, very good,” she announced when he finished. “You read almost as