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16: “A Hurricane Followed by a Walk in the Park”
“Bundle up everyone,” said George, “the news on the radio is that a major storm, a hurricane is headed this way.” Ali had noticed how the weather was changing. It was getting cooler, and throughout the park, beautiful leaves of red, and yellow, and gold were everywhere, falling on all the pathways and the grass. During the last couple of days, there was more wind than usual.
“Wear your slickers,” said Caroline to her children.
“If the storm gets real bad, they may even send you home from school early.”
“Yeah,” said Reynolds “hope it’s a really big hurricane”.
“If you do have to come home, come straight home and call me at work,” added their mother.
Well, the hurricane arrived in New York City and was unbelievable. It even had a name. It was called Hurricane Hazel. Kids were sent home from school and it was hard to walk in the wind and rain that poured down all over the city.
Caroline came home early, picked up the mail at the switchboard in the lobby and went upstairs to find the kids watching the hurricane out the living room window.
“Wow, you can hardly see through the window it is so rainy and windy,” said Reynolds. “You can’t even see the park out there.”
“Look mother, the windows are all blurry. Listen to the howling wind!” exclaimed Ali who was glad her mother was there with them.
“It’s a fierce one, that’s for sure. Coming down in buckets. Nevertheless, I want you both to start working on your homework now. I’ll get out of these wet clothes and start making some hot cocoa for all of us,” said their mother.
“With marshmallows?” asked Ali.
“With marshmallows” said he mother.
Caroline turned on the television, but the reception was particularly bad because of the hurricane. No matter how she twisted the rabbit ears, nothing came in. She turned on the radio, and sat down at the table with the mail and some hot cocoa. She opened the bills and set them to one side and then noticed a letter addressed to “George Spain” from someone named “Marsha O’Mara”. She quickly remembered her son referring to “Marsha, darling” a couple weeks ago and wondered about the contents of the letter. While the kids were working on their homework, she decided to open the letter even though it was addressed to George. After reading it, she started to cry which startled both Ali and Reynolds.
“What’s wrong, mother?” said Reynolds.
Caroline quickly put the letter out of sight and just said something about all the changes in her life recently made her emotional sometimes.
It was hard to sleep that night with the storm outside gusting around the corner of their apartment. Reynolds finally drifted off to sleep, but Ali’s eyes were still wide-open when she heard her father shut the front door and walk past her room. She wanted to get up and give her father a hug, but knew it was long past her bedtime, so she stayed in her snug little bed and listened to her parents a few feet away in the living room.
“What a storm, Honey! I’m soaked to the bone. Do we have some hot coffee?” asked George.
“Maybe Marsha darling can make you some,” said Caroline coldly.
Ali could hear all this, but it made no sense to her that someone named Marsha should make her father coffee.
“What are you talking about?” George said.
“I opened this letter. I don’t think it requires a lot of imagination to figure out.” Ali’s mother gave George the letter and after a minute or two, George said, “I don’t know what to say, Caroline”.
“Maybe, we need to re-think a lot of things, George. Maybe you need to stay in a hotel somewhere tonight until we can talk about everything.”
Ali could hear her father’s footsteps as he left the apartment and shut the door. She was really confused. Why was her father going back out in that terrible storm? Why would he go back to a hotel? Why did her parents need to talk about everything? And what was everything? A piercing howl of wind rattled the small window in the bedroom. She flew out of bed and ran into the living room to where her mother had opened the hideaway sofa.
“What are you doing up, Ali? Still awake at this hour?” said her surprised mother.
“The wind is scaring me. Why did Daddy go back outside?”
“You can sleep with me tonight, Honey. Jump in bed and get to sleep. We’ll talk about everything tomorrow.” Her mother pulled the covers over her daughter, and held her close until they both finally drifted off to sleep.
The next morning Caroline explained to her children that their father was going to be away for awhile, until everything blew over.
“What is everything, mother?” asked Ali who was definitely confused.
“Everything is a lot of different things. Some are adult things you wouldn’t understand right now, Ali. Now hurry-----both of you. It looks pretty good outside this morning. Wear your galoshes and rain slickers just in case. I’ll see you when I get home from work.” Reynolds just listened; he was bewildered as well.
Later that day, after school, Ali told Reynolds what she heard last night.
“Marsha darling, huh,” said Reynolds with a bit of a sneer on his face.
“She’s the phony lady who sings in the show with Dad,” said Reynolds.
“Dad likes Marsha darling,” added Reynolds.
“Come on let’s go down to the theater on the corner and see if Dad’s around----maybe they’re rehearsing or something,” said Reynolds to his sister.
They walked toward the theater. Ali was still trying to figure out her parents’ conversation last night, and Reynolds was mad at his father.
“Why did he bring us all the way to New York?” said Reynolds, not so much to Ali but just out loud.
Ali didn’t know what to say. She just followed him. When they got to the stage door of the theater Reynolds asked if his father was there. “Why, no son,” I think he’s across the street at the restaurant getting a bite to eat.
The children crossed the street and looked through the window. Their father was sitting next to a redheaded woman who was crying and holding onto George’s hands.
“There’s Marsha darling,” said Reynolds in disgust. Ali wondered why this woman was crying. What was it about her father that made women cry? Ali wondered.
George and Marsha never saw them standing there.
“Let’s get out of here,” said Reynolds as he began running down the street with Ali tailing after him. Ali didn’t see him, but Reynolds was wiping away tears from his eyes too.
George moved back to the Hotel Preston and explained to both Ali and Reynolds that just because he and their mother were having problems, he still loved them. Reynolds was upset with his father and mostly avoided him, but Ali missed seeing him. She was just getting to know him and then he was gone again.
One day George took Ali to Central Park and they walked a long distance down a pathway that had statues of famous writers on each side. One of Ali’s favorite was a man sitting with his dog. She loved dogs. If she got up on her tiptoes and held on to the tail of the dog and the right shoe of the man sitting with a book in his lap, she could climb up on the statue.
“What are you doing up there with Sir Walter Scott?” asked her father. “Better get down or you might get arrested,” he joked.
While they walked, her father would hum, and sometimes sang songs from the show he was in, right out in the open with people all around.
“People are watching you Daddy,” said Ali sheepishly.
“That’s OK, Pumpkin. I’m a singer and this is New York. No one cares if you sing or stand on your head,” he said with a smile. Her father set Ali standing on a bench and then backed away and bowed.
“I know this is your favorite,” said Ali’s father. He then began to sing the entire song “Rhymes Have I” from his show, all the while making gestures like a person on the stage. He continued singing as they strolled along and finally finished, taking a bow. Sev
eral people sitting on the grass and benches close-by applauded.
“Thank you. Thank you very much” said George who was enjoying himself.
They walked back toward the playground where Ali shared her favorite climbing rocks with her father. She climbed up the rocks like a mountain goat and then scrambled down again while her father watched. Next, Ali took her father to the swings near the fence. At first her father pushed her for a while and then sat alongside her in the next swing.
“Honey, I’m sorry if things are confusing for you,” started her father in a serious tone. Your mother and I are not getting along too well, I’m sure you’ve noticed that. It’s not her fault. I guess it’s mine. New York is wonderful, but maybe not the best place for all of us. You know I’ve moved to a hotel, but I want you to know you can visit me. Just call me and I’ll be there”.
“OK Daddy.”
“I know Reynolds is upset with me. How about you Pumpkin?” asked her father.
“I love you Daddy,” was all Ali could think to say to him.
Her father reached down and picked up a small piece of rope from the playground pavement and started singing a song from his show “Kismet” in a loud voice. He sang about Fate playing a trick with a twine and whether it was good or ill, and something about honey on his tongue. Ali wasn’t at all sure what he was singing about, but loved listening to him and watching him pretend he was on a stage in front of an audience. On the last note of his song, he held out his hand to Ali who took his and they began walking back to 59th Street toward the Osgood.