Son of a Smaller Hero Read Online Free PDF

voice came up from the back yard. “Hallo, hallo! HEY, ADLER . You got maybe by you a bottle opener?”
    Wolf looked at Leah and Leah nodded.
    “Waddiya think this is – Woolworth’s?” Wolf yelled. “And you. You got maybe a bottle?”
    “We got Jack Benny in person living upstairs yet,” Mort yelled back.
    Wolf got the opener off the hook and stepped out onto the balcony and tossed it down to Mort. All the Greenbergs were sprawled out in the yard. They had a watermelon and a case of cokes. They’re having a lot of fun, Wolf thought. Mort winked, and motioned for him to join them. Wolf shrugged his shoulders, and returned to the kitchen. They’re having a lot of fun, he thought.
    “All right,” Wolf said. “Have it your way. But he’ll be back. Don’t you worry. He’ll find out that money doesn’t grow on trees. It’ll be an experience for him. Let’s go to bed.”
    “Bed, bed, bed. He won’t be back. He’s got a job driving a taxi nights.”
    “You mustn’t tell Paw.”
    “Look at him, afraid of his own shadow.
I’m a lady
. He left because
you’re
common. You know what Mrs. Leventhal said to me at the Mizrachi meeting last Tuesday? You’re a lady, she said. My Jack had one look at you and he said to me: ‘She’s a lady.’ Some lady! I’m married to a coal dealer.”
    “If war was declared tomorrow I’d be the villain.”
    Leah tightened her fists. She stared at him, this man who epitomized all the injuries of her years, who had become the injustice and the hardship – stared, her eyes hardening, and was nourished. My father could see what he was, she thought. Why did he marry me to him? “For two cents even I’d leave you. Noah would take care of me. You bet your life he would.
He’s
not afraid of your father.”
    “Noah’s a fresh kid. He has no respect. I should have taken the strap to him long ago.… Leah – don’t … Leah … Leah.…”
    “I’m not crying!”
    “I didn’t say that you were crying!”
    “If my father was alive I wouldn’t have to go through this. If … He was a man! Not like you. A – a …”
    Again from the yard. “Wolf! HEY, JEW-BOY . What, tell me, is de definition of an Eskimo with a hard-on?”
    Leah scowled. It’s not
my
fault, Wolf thought.
    “Nu
. Speak! YOU DEAF AND DUMB ?” Mort yelled.
    “I don’t know,” Wolf said weakly.
    “A rigid midget with a frigid digit.”
    A burst of laughter followed. Wolf tried not to grin, but he made sure to remember the joke. And, from upstairs, Mr. Ornstein yelled: “Hey, Mort. We got minors up here. Keep it quieter. You want my missus should wash out your mouth wid soap?”
    “Listen, Wolf, why don’t you leave your father? You could start on your own like Max. I’d help. I could hold my head up when we walked down Park Avenue. Did you know that Max is going to buy a duplex in Outremont.”
    “Max married into the Debrofskys. What did you expect? He should live on St. Dominique? He had the breaks. Paw would have made me a partner if not for the depression.”
    “A partner! You should live to see the day. You’re a truck driver for him.”
    “What’s the good, eh? Okay, let’s say I leave Paw. So what happens? I go to a
Goy
for a job. Go ahead and tell me that a
Goy
is gonna hire a Jew. So I go to a Jew for a job. Right away he thinks what does this Jew want to work for me for? In two months he’ll be in business for himself. A wiseguy. I should teach
him
the tricks! The hell with him I should give him a job. So I go into business on my own. You can be a lady. Hold your head up. Comes the first depression and bang goes your head on the floor. Not me. No, sir. Did youread in the
Digest
last week what General Whats-his-name said? ‘When I was twenty I thought my father was a fool. But when I was thirty I …” ’
    “Noah says the
Digest
is hooey.”
    “Noah says. If Noah knew better than the
Digest
he’d be a general too. Do you know how many million people read