On Tuesdays, They Played Mah Jongg Read Online Free PDF Page B

Michael said.
    “Michael, we are not having sex,” Dr. Mikowsky said. “You are just telling me a story.”
    Michael felt assured by the doctor’s answer, so he took a deep breath.
    “OK. Then, here goes,” Michael began. “I am going to tell you a story about five menopausal Jewish women and one strange year.”
    ~~~~~
    Hannah was standing at the front door of her house on Dresden Drive saying goodbye to the last of her guests. She closed the door and turned around. She walked in front of the mirror in the foyer and stopped to check her hair and makeup. Hannah never walked by a mirror without looking at herself. She absolutely loved the way she looked.
    She turned around and walked into her living room, which was decorated in oranges, greens and yellows, in a style left over from the late 1970s that she refused to update.
    ~~~~~
    “You know, Doc,” Michael said. “My mother thought she had the best taste of any of her friends, and strangely, they often sought her advice. But frankly, I thought that if anyone ever broke into our house, rather than take anything, they would redecorate.”
    ~~~~~
    Hannah walked around the living room and picked up the dirty ashtrays and made her way to the kitchen with its orange countertops and wallpaper with large sunflowers.
    ~~~~~
    “To this day, I have a fear of sunflowers,” Michael said.
    “What happened in that kitchen?” Dr. Mikowsky asked.
    “Oh nothing,” Michael assured him. “I was just having a Sybil moment. You know ‘the kitchen with the sunflower wallpaper, the dishtowels. Not the dishtowels!’” Michael was holding his hands up as if he were recalling some childhood abuse, but the doctor rolled his eyes.
    “Michael, if you are going to joke around, what is the point of telling me the story?” Dr. Mikowsky asked.
    “You are right,” Michael answered. “I will do my best to be serious.”
    Dr. Mikowsky was used to Michael’s humor, and he smiled at his patient as he continued with the story.
    ~~~~~
    Rona and Florence were in the kitchen finishing up the dishes. Rona was washing while Florence was drying. Hannah handed the ashtrays to Rona, who poured a little water into them before emptying them in the trashcan as people did back in the day when guests were allowed to smoke indoors. She then washed the ashtrays and handed them to Florence to dry, and none of the women said a word.
    Hannah poured herself a cup of coffee, adding one Sweet-n-Low, and sat down at the kitchen table, with its high-back chairs upholstered in a yellow fabric with the orange birds of paradise pattern. She had framed a three-foot square piece of the fabric and hung it on the wall over the buffet thinking it was chic. Hannah watched as her two friends finished the dishes.
    Hannah asked, “I wonder where Doreen had to rush off to? She didn’t even say goodbye.”
    Rona turned around, dried off her hands, and removed her apron. While she poured herself a cup of coffee to which she added only a dash of milk, she answered Hannah, “I think she ran off to see Barry.”
    Florence also removed her apron and poured herself a cup of coffee, which she drank black. She corrected Rona, “Barry was last month. She is seeing Lawrence now.”
    Surprised, Hannah asked, “Dr. Lawrence Eidleman?” And the three of them laughed as Rona and Florence seated themselves at the table.
    “Isn’t he the proctologist?” Rona asked.
    And again, Florence corrected her, “The plastic surgeon, but with Doreen’s mouth would it make a difference?”
    Rona then chimed in with, “She’s got so much shit coming out of it that after he is through with her, he may change his practice.”
    And again, they laughed.
    ~~~~~
    “Now that I am telling you this, I realize that when I was 22, I wrote some awful dialogue,” Michael said. “It is hard to believe I actually wrote this drek.”
    “I am not here to criticize the story, Michael,” the doctor said.
    “There is something else, Doc,” Michael