Aftermath
by Philippe de la Matraque
Epilogue
It had been a long bus ride back to New York City. But Aiello was there to meet him just the same. Zussman smiled when he saw him.
"Eh! You've grown!" Aiello teased.
"Mama made sure of that," Zussman told him. "Looks like you've grown a bit, too."
Aiello patted his stomach and laughed. "Well, found me a good woman. Cooks almost as a good as my mama. What about you?"
"Maybe," Zussman hinted. But Lina wasn't a maybe. She was the reason he woke up every morning. She was the one he was going to marry, only she didn't know it yet. He'd bumped into her in the market one day, causing her to drop her produce. He was taken first by her beauty. But as she bent to pick them up, she exposed the tattooed number on her arm. He hurried to help her. Touched her arm briefly, offered to buy her a coffee to apologize. They were seeing each other, but she needed time to love and trust again. She had a story, too. And one day she'd share it with him, and he'd tell her his so she could know he understood at least some of her pain.
But that wasn't why he had come all the way to New York. "How is your mother? She managing now that you've got your own place?
Aiello shook his head. "That is not how an Italian family does things. Mama gets to relax a little more. But me and Lidia take care of her now." The streets were crowded but they found a cab to take them to the harbor. "I checked the papers. Dock twenty-three."
"I really thought Johan-I mean John-would go to Palestine," Zussman admitted.
"Everybody needs family," Aiello said. "Theirs is here. You ready for that? Two more people to worry about? You'll have to show them around, help them with the lingo, and all that."
"Mom and Dad can't wait," Zussman replied. Aiello paid the cabby and they got out. "They moved into a bigger apartment. Left the old one to me."
Aiello raised an eyebrow. "Now you're all alone?"
"Hopefully not for long."
"Hah!" Aiello clapped his back. "There is someone!"
A crowd was starting to gather. A large ship was pulled in at the dock. Some of its passengers were out on deck, waving. Others were unsure. Zussman wasn't sure he would recognize them. It had been two years. But that's why they had signs. They held them up as the passengers began to disembark. Zussman had Sofia's sign while Aiello had John's. They'd both been learning English in the DP camp, and they had wanted more English-sounding names. Sofia, in particular, didn't want to be German anymore.
Finally, they found them. Zussman put down the sign and hugged each of them. He introduced them to Aiello, saying he fought with him during the war.
"Welcome to America!" Aiello offered.
John was staring at the buildings. "This is big!"
"Biggest city in the whole country," Aiello told him. "Chicago's not exactly small, but it can't beat New York."
Zussman offered to carry Sofia's bag. Her hair had grown out, and she was wearing a nice dress and heels. He was sure her feet were sore from those shoes.
"We'll go to Chicago today?" she asked him.
"Not today," he told her. "It takes the bus a few days to get there."
"You'll stay at my place today," Aiello told them. "The ladies are making fettuccine Alfredo."
"Is that good?" John asked Zussman.
"Home-cooked Italian food is very good," Zussman told him. "We'll catch the bus tomorrow. I'm not so comfortable taking the train."
"Bus is good," Sofia said. "I don't like trains."
"We'll be hungry on the bus," John commented, worry dripping from his words.
"Not if Mama can help it," Aiello assured him.
"She provisioned me when I came home," Zussman agreed.
Aiello hailed another cab. He got in the front with the cab driver while the three of them squeezed in back. John craned his head to try and see the tops of the skyscrapers as they travelled.
When they reached Aiello's place, his mother welcomed all three with kisses on both cheeks. Lidia was right behind her. She gave them all hugs. When they left the next morning, the Aiellos sent them with fruit and sausages (kosher, of course) and a bottle of wine to boot. They brought some soda pop at the station and saved the wine as a gift to Mama and Papa. Three days later, they all shared a toast around the dining room table. "L'Chaim!" To starting a new life as a-now bigger for some, smaller for others-family.
The End