The Sunset Gang Read Online Free PDF Page A

acquiescence,
another act of hypocrisy that was part of his old life.
    "I'm sure David has called the children by now,"
Genendel said suddenly. David always called the children in major crises. That
was another hurdle that she dreaded. Was it all worth it? she wondered,
watching Velvil. Her life with David had after all been tranquil. Hardly
anything had happened, except that they had produced children, fussed over them
for a few years, and had grown old. The children were the only thing they had
in common. They cohabited peacefully. Was this what one must accept of life?
David would survive, she concluded. He had his friends, his gin rummy, his
television set, and he would simply have to find himself another companion to
cook and clean for him. In Sunset Village, this nest of widows, it should be
easy enough. She reached out and took Velvil's hand, feeling the bond between
them, the friendship and communication.
    "It's no sin to want more," she said suddenly in
Yiddish, the inflection of the language reassuring.
    "We are in for some tough times in the near
future," Velvil said. He was thinking how the telephone lines must be
burning between his wife and their daughters.
    "I am prepared," she said calmly, her faltering
resolve shored up as she watched his face. "We will help each other."
    By the end of the day he had sublet a condominium and moved
some of his clothes out of the place he shared with his wife. She had sobbed
bitterly as he packed a small valise, wailing like a mourner at a graveside. I
am not dead yet, he thought to give himself courage, but he could not fully
control his pity. In ten, maybe fifteen years it will hardly matter to anyone,
he assured himself. Such a thought bolstered his courage.
    They had agreed to meet at the poolside that evening.
Genendel was late. When she finally came, he noted again the puffiness of her
eyes and a deepening in the lines of her face, which even in the dim light
seemed to have assumed a gray cast. They began to walk along the path that led
around the pool.
    "Your wife called me," Genendel said, her voice
breaking.
    "The bitch--"
    "Please, Velvil. I understand."
    "Was she hysterical?"
    "Worse. She accused me of being a whore, of stealing
her husband."
    "The bitch. I hope you hung up on her."
    "No. I listened. I listened to every word."
    "It wasn't necessary."
    "It was to me."
    He was agitated. He balled his hands and hit them against
his thighs in frustration. They walked for a while in silence.
    "Your children will be here tomorrow," she
announced.
    "My children?"
    "Both daughters and their husbands."
    "She told you this?"
    "And mine are coming too."
    "How awful." He was feeling his indignation now,
searching her face in the darkness for a hint of her reaction.
    "I agreed."
    "Agreed?"
    "When she calmed down, David got on the phone and they
decided that perhaps we should all meet."
    "Together?" It would be, he told himself calmly,
a new experience. Perhaps this was what was required. One big final meeting. He
shook his head. "It is sheer madness," he said. "They'll
overwhelm us. We wouldn't have a chance against them."
    "What could I say?"
    "You could have said no." He willed his anger
under control. "They have no right. We are entitled to our own life, to
our own decision."
    "I said that, but then your son-in-law called."
    "Larry?"
    "The lawyer."
    "That one. You should have hung up the phone. He's the
worst of the lot. He has ten women on the string, a miserable character."
He felt fear at this effort to pry them apart. "We must resist them."
    "We are going to meet tomorrow morning."
Genendel's voice broke as she said it. "How could I refuse? They're our
children. Our families."
    "I have finished my duty toward them," he said,
sensing the frustration of the impending confrontation. "I have made
enough sacrifices."
    "I felt we owed it to them," she said, holding
back her tears. "I knew it wouldn't be all wine and roses, but I hadn't
expected this."
    "Are you sorry?"
    "Not