Gerald Hirschberg and Hailee Cling were a cute couple. They worked well together. Physically, they were perfect for each other. They were roughly the same height and the both of them were thankful for that. They started their relationship at his family's deli in Hartford, Connecticut. She was seventeen at the time and he was nineteen. She was running errands for her folks who ran the bookstore a few blocks away. She had seen Gerald in her store a couple of times and exchanged polite "hellos" but that was the extent of their relationship before she walked into the deli. She walked into the store and found that it was crowded, as usual. She groaned in frustration and took a number from the counter, took a seat on the windowsill, and waited for her number to be called. She was dozing off until the door opened and she was awakened by a cold gust wind from the outside, blowing her sky blue dress around her legs.
"Oh, Christ," she mumbled under her breath. In the doorway was Jesse Owens, the daughter of the local movie theatre owners, decked out in mink and silk. She thought she was such a first-class dame because her folks owned a theatre. Jesse always looked down on Hailee's family because of their store. Books and movies didn't quite mix for Jesse, probably because she couldn't understand most of the books that were sold in Hailee's store. But nonetheless, Jesse always gave Hailee a hard time, and today was no exception.
"Oh," Jesse's high, annoying voice rang through the store. She looked down at Hailee's sitting form and sneered at her. "Seems like they're letting anyone buy things from here, aren't they?" Hailee just rolled her eyes and ignored her. Gerald and his little sister of eighteen, Stephanie, were hearing this from behind the counter. They couldn't stand Jesse and her snobbish ways.
"Why can't she just leave?" Stephanie asked Gerald. "She's a nuisance, a bitch, and she complains about the beef being too red. Have you ever heard of a human being say that, Gerald?" Gerald just shushed his sister and had her get back to work on wrapping up Ms. Heiztman's chicken breast. "I'm just saying that she should mind her own business. It's the middle of damn June, people are even crankier than they are the rest of the year, and she's causing a scene in a mink shawl! She's embarrassing herself."
"SHUSH STEPHANIE," Gerald sternly said to her. Stephanie sighed and handed Ms. Heiztman her chicken.
"Here, Ms. Heiztman. Thank you," Stephanie said, faking a cheery smile. Jesse pissed her off. She and Hailee were very close and when anyone messed with any of Stephanie's friends, they were going to get it. Stephanie was lost in thought when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Ms. Heiztman looking up at her and smiling. "Yes, Ms. Heiztman?"
"Deary, go teach that Jesse trollop a few manners. Your poor friend over there is being harassed by Jesse. Please do something." Stephanie just looked at the old woman with a helpless look on her face. She wasn't really into confrontations in front of a crowd. She looked over to her brother in hoped that he would get the hint.
"Please, Gerald. I can't do it. Please help her." Gerald looked at his little sister and nodded an okay. Stephanie breathed a sigh of relief as she watched her brother tear off his apron and walk towards the windowsill where Jesse remained with Hailee. Jesse was still making snide remarks towards Hailee.
"Oh please! You think you're so great! Your family owns a bookstore! They're stuck in the past, whereas my family looks to the future where, hopefully, you're not in it!" Then Jesse grabbed at Hailee's hair and brought her to her knees. Hailee gasped in pain and the patrons of the deli looked at the scene in shock. Stephanie was about to bound over with a boning knife when Jesse started to exclaim in pain. "OW! Get your Jew hands off of me, Hirschberg!" Gerald had taken Jesse's hand out and away from Hailee's hair and twisted it behind her back. Stephanie was still standing behind the counter, shaking with anger. How dare Jesse call her brother that?
"I've had about enough out of you, Owens. Get out of here," Gerald yelled at her as he yanked the door open and pushed her out onto the sidewalk. "And don't come back until you've learned some manners!"
"You should learn some manners first, Jew!"
"THAT'S IT," Stephanie shouted from the counter. She tore her apron off of her red dress and bounded towards the door. Before she could get to Jesse, she felt Gerald and Hailee's arms wrap around her waist, holding her back. Jesse was frozen in fear as she saw the angry, teenage, Jewish girl trying to strangle her. "GET OUT OF HERE! DON'T EVER CALL MY BROTHER THAT AND DON'T EVEN LAY A HAND ON MY FRIENDS AGAIN! IF I HEAR YOU STEP FOOT IN HERE EVER AGAIN, YOU'LL BE SORRY. NOW GET THE HELL OUT!"
"You'd better listen to her. Right now, I'd be shitting my pants if I was you," Gerald told Jesse. The girl didn't hesitate to turn on her pink heels and run, crying, towards her family's theatre. The whole deli was silent except for Stephanie's ragged breathing. Hailee and Gerald still had their arms wrapped around her just in case she went running down the street after Jesse. The silence was broken with a single applause. The trio turned and saw a big, burly, handsome man with dark eyebrows applauding the Hirschberg girl. Stephanie smiled weakly, got out of Hailee and Gerald's grasp, and headed back towards the counter where the man followed her. Gerald groaned at the sight and just shook his head. He turned to Hailee and smiled at her. "You okay?" He asked her. "That Jesse has got quite a grip. Sorry that had to happen to you."
"No," Hailee began. "It's fine. It's not your fault. But thank you for pulling that crazy off of me. For a moment there I thought she was going to rip all of my hair out," Hailee chuckled.
"I wouldn't have let her," Gerald started. "if had pulled one strand of your gorgeous hair out of your head, I wouldn't have held Stephanie back at all." Hailee smiled and blushed at his remark.
"Well, thank you," Hailee said, looking at her feet.
"Hey, don't mention it," Gerald said, lifting her face to see her eyes. "You have nice eyes." Hailee blushed furiously at this and giggled a little bit. Gerald was about to say something else but was cut off by a shrill shout from the counter.
"Gerald! Help me! Too many people!" Gerald saw Stephanie drowning in a crowd of customers and his eyes widened. He ran off to help her and left Hailee at the door way. Hailee was about to leave when Gerald ran back and gave her a peck on the cheek. He held out a package of beef out for her and, confused, she took it.
"I know your folks' usual. Here it is. On the house." He gave her another peck on the cheek and a wink before he sped back to the counter to help his sister. Hailee walked out of the deli in a daze and floated back to her parent's bookstore.
Gerald flipped the sign from "open" to "close" while Stephanie was mopping up the floors. The both of them had goofy smiles on their faces. Gerald noticed his sister's first and looked at her suspiciously.
"What're you smiling at?" Stephanie looked up from her mopping, dazed, and continued to smile. "Does it have anything to do with that guy that applauded you? Because let me tell you something, Mom and Pop would NEVER let you go with him."
"Well…too bad for them because I'm seeing him next Friday." Her brother's jaw dropped to the floor and he ran towards his sister as she took refuge behind a table. Gerald chased his sister around the room trying to get information of the stranger out of her.
"What's his name? Where's he from? What does he do? Is he Jewish? Give me answers!"
"Hold your damn horses, Ger-Bear. I'll tell you, but only if you tell what the hell is going on between you and Hailee! Deal?" Stephanie held out her hand to shake. Gerald hesitated but soon took his sister's hand and shook it. "Okay," she started, taking a seat in one of the chairs. "His name is Donny Donowitz. He's from Boston and he's a barber. His family owns a barber shop. He's as Jewish as Jewish can get, Gerald. He loves baseball and he loves the Red Sox and…GOD, he's just perfect!" Gerald could see his sister practically drooling over the image of this guy. He reminded himself that he needed to meet this guy and give him what for if he hurt his sister in any way, shape, or form. "Okay, Gerald," she said after she'd stopped swooning. "Your turn. What's going on with you and Hailee?" Gerald turned a slight red and tried to hide the huge smile that was forming on his face.
"She's cute. I like her. She can hold her own. She's nice." Stephanie stared at him in disinterest.
"Is that it? That's everything about Hailee that you like?"
"No! I mean…she's pretty and nice and…well…my height." Stephanie burst out laughing and Gerald sighed and held his hands over his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Yuk it up, little sis."
"Oh God! Oh my God…that's great stuff. Whew," she said while wiping her tears away. "Okay. I think I've heard enough. Okay. You can date my friend. In fact," she said turning to look at the clock behind her. "Why don't you go ask her right now? It's only 7:30. Her store closes at 8:00 and it's a fifteen minute walk from here. Go get her, Mr. Smooth." Gerald turned red, grabbed his coat, and ran out the door to the bookstore. "Tch…Mr. Smooth my ass. He couldn't even sweet-talk a Hershey bar. Aw well."
Haille was sitting at the register, reading The Hobbit. She loved this book and when she heard the bell ring, she got annoyed. She put her books down and looked up at the person who interrupted her, ready to scold them. She opened her mouth to say something but no sound came out. The familiar face held a dashing smirk as he walked up to her.
"Hey, Gorgeous," Gerald said as stopped and leaned on the counter. "What're you reading?" He glanced down at The Hobbit and picked it up for closer examination. "The Hobbit, huh? You know, I never really got into these kinds of books. It doesn't really happen in real life. Now Water for Elephants. That's my kind of literature. The ringmaster's a first-class ass though. So what've you been up to Sweetheart? Anything exciting happen in your day?" Hailee had remained frozen and dazed ever since he walked in the door. She stuttered a little but managed to get out a sentence or two.
"I uh…I sold a couple of John Steinbeck books. They're really popular. And excitement? Not really. Not since that crazy lady grabbed my hair," Hailee replied, with a small smile. Gerald chuckled as well and looked at her. Then a small voice in his mind told him to just go for it. He lightly grabbed her face and kissed her full on the mouth. Her eyes widened in shock but she slowly melted into it. She closed her eyes and let Gerald kiss her. When she heard footsteps approaching from the back she shoved him away and shoved a book in his hands. "Have a good day, sir! I'll see you next week? Enjoy the book in the meantime, alright?" Gerald smiled at her and backed out the door.
"Of course, Miss. Thanks for this!" He made it outside and waved at her through the window. She made a movement to shoo him away and he grinned at her actions. He walked about a block down when he threw his hands up in victory. "WHOO HOO!" He jumped into the air and sprinted back to the shop. He bolted through the door and started talking a mile a minute. "Steph! I did it! I got the girl…" He trailed off as he saw his little sister kissing the man known as Donny. "Oy vey." Stephanie heard her brother and she lightly pushed Donny away from him, blushing furiously.
"So this is your brother?" Donny made his way over to Gerald and shook his hand. "Don't worry about your sister, kid. I'll take good care of her." Donny flashed Gerald a big, toothy grin and Gerald nodded his head in understanding.
"Thanks. Now if the two of you will excuse me, I gotta get some sleep. Running around town really does a number on ya. Night all!" The couple said their good nights to Gerald and watched Gerald disappear into the back of the store.
"Now, where were we, Dollface," Donny asked with another toothy grin. Stephanie laughed and pushed him away.
"Not right now, Donny. You gotta go home before my mother or father comes down and finds us. You can meet her later. Go visit your brother! Go on now!" She shooed him out the door as he blew her kisses from outside the window. She shook her head, waved to him, and closed the blinds. She turned to go shut off the lights when she heard a loud "WHOO HOO!" being shouted from off the streets. She shook her head, shut off the lights, and headed towards the back of the store where the house was located.
In all of the time that Gerald spent running from store to store, he never really saw what book Hailee gave to him. He looked down at it and laughed. She had given him The Hobbit. He decided to give it a chance. He opened the book and a small note fell out. "Dear Gerald, Your sister called ten minutes before you got here to tell me that you were coming. I'll see you next Tuesday for a movie? Maybe we could scare the hell out of Jesse? Just a thought. Love, Hailee."
"Stephanie, you little rat…I gotta remember I gotta thank ya for this."