CHAPTER 22: Abby
It was breezy and windy on the day before Veteran's Day, and I was getting some groceries out of my orange convertible when I saw Anna coming down the hall to her apartment, and carrying her violin case. She was apparently coming home from orchestra practice, where they were rehearsing for next month's Christmas concert. "Hi, Abby," she called, waving to me.
"Hi, Anna," I answered. "Want to come in for a while?"
"Sure," she said. "Here, let me give you a hand with those."
"Thanks."
I handed her a couple of bags, and we made our way down the hall to our apartments. Anna lives just around the corner from me, and we happen to live in the same building next to Jason's family. In case you're wondering, my apartment is completely dust-free, because I'd made sure to tell Steve—Jason's stepdad, who happens to be the building superintendent—about my asthma and allergies.
"I haven't really had a chance to talk to you since you got back from Israel," she said. "How was your trip?"
"Oh, it was great," I said as we made our way up the steps. "In fact, I got some pictures developed last week, and I'd like to show them to you."
"Okay."
I set my bag of groceries on the floor, dug into my purse for my keys, and unlocked the door. The two of us went inside, and Anna set her violin case on the kitchen table as I got a couple of peach wine coolers out of the fridge. Neither of us are very big drinkers. When I do, I prefer either Zima, Smirnoff Ice, Bacardi Silver, or Bartles & Jaymes wine coolers. I wouldn't touch beer, wine, or anything like that with a ten-foot pole. I also have to be careful about how much I drink, and how often, because of my asthma and allergies, or I could get really sick. Anna, on the other hand, isn't picky about what she drinks.
After we put the groceries away, I got the photo album down from the top shelf and sat next to Anna on the couch. "There's the hotel where we stayed," I said, opening the album and showing her the first picture. "And right across the road is a church, and that church is supposedly built on the same location where the Nativity took place."
"Wow," Anna commented.
As I flipped through the album, I showed her other pictures. There was one of the famous "Wailing Wall"; and there was one of Mom and me standing on the Mount of Olives, which was taken by one of the locals. In that one, I'm doing the same pose that Roger Daltrey did in Tommy. There was another of me making a silly face in my bed in our hotel room, as well as one of me standing about a hundred feet away from where Golgotha (the "Place of the Skull") supposedly was. My two favorites are of the trees that were planted in the name of Adam Walsh, as well as the one of what had supposedly been the entrance to the Garden of Eden. In case you're wondering, the sword that blocked the offending tree was still intact. If you ask me, that would've made a great nudist resort, because after all, it was the first one. I still remember the way Bill Cosby described it: "After Eve took a bite of the apple and gave it to Adam, the next thing you know, there's God with no patience left: '(WHISTLES) Okay, everybody out of the pool!'"
There was a page of other sites: the entrance to the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea with an inscription that read, "HE IS NOT HERE, FOR HE IS RISEN!" I'd even taken a whole roll of film of the surrounding area.
"Wow, that's really something," Anna remarked.
"Thanks," I said. "Hey, remember when I said the place where the Garden of Eden was should be a nudist resort?"
"Mm-hm," Anna answered. "And just for the record, you'll never see me going to one of those places."
"Yeah, right," I laughed. "Don't you remember Mom saying how much you hated wearing clothes when we were three? She also said you tried to take your dress off at Bebe Everett's first birthday party."
" thankfully, I've long since outgrown those days."
I stifled another laugh, remembering this one picture Mom had taken of Anna back then. She was fully naked and had on the plastic Daisy Duck mask she'd worn that Halloween. Even at that age, I wasn't about to let anyone see me without clothes on, but my sister was just the opposite. Now that I think about it, the only au naturel pictures of me that I know of are the one Gram Elsie took of me and Anna in the tub with one of our cousins when we were five, and the one Dad took of us the day we were born.
After I took another drink, Anna said, "Oh, I have something to show you." She held out her left hand, and on her ring finger was a platinum ring with a pear-shaped diamond on it. Obviously an engagement ring.
"Congratulations," I smiled as I picked up the empty bottles and put them in the recycling bin, which was hidden behind one of the cabinets. "Who's the lucky guy?"
"He's the conductor of the orchestra, and his name is Eli Weinberg," she answered.
"Have you set a wedding date yet?"
"Well, we're touring the UK in the spring, and planning to get married as soon as we return," she told me.
"Really? That's fantastic," I said. "When is this tour, and how long will you be gone?"
"We're leaving on May 1st, and we'll be gone the entire month. We're touring, in this order: London, Cardiff, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast, and Dublin. Depending on how busy we are, we may be able to do some sightseeing in between. And best of all, we've been invited to perform at—get this—Buckingham Palace!"
Both of us started bouncing up and down on the couch, and squealing like we were seven years old again. This was great!
After we'd calmed down, Anna said, "Oh, that reminds me: I'll have to go online and look up some travel information, and I'll go get my passport tomorrow. And to answer your question about the wedding date, Eli and I will be married on July 2nd."
"Have you told Mom the news yet?"
Anna nodded. "I told her over dinner last night. She's really happy for me, too."
"And so am I," I smiled. "Mazeltov." And the two of us hugged.
"Oh, be sure to take plenty of pictures on your trip, especially a picture of one of those guards," I reminded her.
"Are you sure I won't get into trouble?"
"Anna, think about it," I said as I picked up the photo album and opened it to where we'd left off. "You could do the entire 'Springtime for Hitler' number for them, and they wouldn't move a muscle. Hey, did I ever show you that picture of Kristy, Stacey, Mal, Jessi, and me with that one guard from the Tower of London?"
"Oh, you mean that one where you're all wearing your BSC T-shirts and making those faces?" Anna asked.
I nodded. "Kristy and I even gave that guard rabbit-ears. Poor bastard."
"Do you still have it?"
I grinned and nodded as I turned to the next page. And there it was, right next to the picture of me and Stacey in front of St. Paul's Cathedral. (Since Stacey told me that Mary Poppins happens to be one of her favorite movies, I'm surprised she wasn't singing "Feed the Birds" while we were there.) "How much you want to bet he wanted to turn the hose on us?"
"I know I would've felt the same way if I were him."
As we looked at the picture and laughed ourselves sick, I was happy for my sister, and I knew that Dad was proud of her, too.
