Recap: The principal calls and Libby is sure she will be fired, but that was not the purpose of the call. The girls’ mother is planning a visit and Marnie doesn’t want her to come.
One night, a few weeks before Pesach, I was cleaning in the kitchen and Marnie came into the room. She cleared her throat. I was scrubbing out a pantry.
“Tante?” she whispered.
I stopped in mid-scrub. It was the first time she’d called me that.
“Hi, Marnie, what’s up?” I asked, trying not to let my joy spill into my voice. I didn’t want to scare her away. She was like a small, frightened sparrow. The wrong words or inflection could send her back into her shell.
“I was just wondering if I could talk to you about something.”
I put down my rag. “Sure. Come let’s sit down.”
“I don’t want my mother to come. Can you tell Mrs. Kahn.”
I didn’t want her to come either, but I knew I had to do the right thing.
“Look, Marnie, she just wants to stop by and bring you presents for Pesach.”
Marnie was looking down at her hands. “I don’t want her presents. She gets Sabrina upset. It happened last time when we were at the other home. She came and Sabrina thought she was taking her home. It was awful. She was crying and crying. Sabrina is happy now. It’s different for her here. Please tell Mrs. Kahn.”
“I’m glad you told me about this. I’ll call her and see what I can do,” I said. “But I can’t promise. It’s not up to me.”
Marnie sighed like a grown up. She was an eleven-year-old who’d experienced much too much for someone her age.
“Marnie, what about your father.”
She flinched.
“He won’t come,” she said.
“I’m sorry, if you don’t want to talk about it.”
“He won’t come because he’s in another country. Didn’t Mrs. Kahn tell you?”
“No.”
“He’s in South Africa. He’s trying to make his business good so we – well he wants to make it good so he and my mother can work things out.”
“Oh, I see,” I said.
“Please call Mrs. Kahn.”
“I will, bli neder,” I said.
“Thank you.” Marnie headed back to her room.
…
Later that night, after I’d finished the pantry, Avi came home, and I told him what Marnie had said.
“Do you think Mrs. Kahn can stop the visit?”
“I doubt it,” Avi said. “I’m not sure if she should. Their mother wants to see them. It seems cruel to prevent that.”
“But she said that Sabrina was crying so much afterwards. It was like a tease to her. She thought her mother would take her home.”
Avi sat down at the dining room table and glanced through the mail. “Libby, I think Marnie needs to speak to someone. She’s got so much anger bottled up against her parents. It’s not healthy for her.”
“How do I accomplish that?”
“When you speak to Mrs. Kahn about the visit, ask her if she can recommend someone.”
…
The next day, I called Mrs. Kahn.
“I know it’s upsetting to the girls when she comes,” said Mrs. Kahn. “But, our policy is that parents must be allowed unless there is abuse, which there isn’t in this case.”
“Marnie is so upset about it. She says it really upset Sabrina before and ––”
“I’m sorry, but Mrs. Lerner must be allowed to visit. I will warn her about not encouraging false hopes.
“Mrs. Kahn, there is something else I wanted to ask you.”
I told her what Avi had noticed and she recommended a child psychologist. “He’s a very gentle person and sensitive to children who have been through difficulties. He would be the right one for her to see.”
“Thank you.”
I made an appointment for Marnie with Dr. Sommers and she agreed to go. I wished she could see him before her mother’s visit, but he was away until after Pesach.
…
It was the week before Pesach, and Mrs. Lerner was coming today to give the girls presents. “Girls, please make sure your room is neat.”
“Mommy is coming!” Sabrina was jumping around the house.
Marnie was reading in her room.
“Marnie, is there anything I can do to make this visit easier for you?”
“Tell her not to come. I don’t want her present.”
I sighed and closed the door.
The doorbell rang. Sabrina raced to answer the door.
A petite woman, wearing a dark sheitel and holding a large shopping bag, stood in the doorway.
“Mrs. Lerner, please come in.”
Sabrina wrapped her arms around Mrs. Lerner’s legs.
“Sabrina, let me come in and we can hug.”
“Can I go home with you now?”
Mrs. Lerner stepped inside and I motioned her to sit on the couch. Sabrina snuggled next to her.
She looked at me. “Thank you for taking good care of my girls.”
“They are wonderful,” I said.
She handed Sabrina a doll.
“Oh, she’s so pretty. Thank you, Mommy.”
“Where’s Marnie?”
I knocked on the bedroom door. “Marnie, your mother is here.”
I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. “It’s really not right to not come say hello. Your mother traveled here to see you.”
Marnie rose and followed me out of the room.
“Marnie,” Mrs. Lerner rose when her daughter walked in the room.
She handed her a journal. “I know you like to write.”
“Thank you.” Marnie took it without looking at her mother.
Sabrina was jumping around again. “I can go pack now, Mommy.”
“Sabrina, I can’t take you home today. I want to, but we have to wait. It will happen soon, I promise.”
“I want to come today.” Sabrina burst into tears. Marnie was by her sister’s side hugging her.
“You’re hurting her by coming,” Marnie said.
Mrs. Lerner’s face crumpled and she burst into tears.
I wished I could figure out what to say to diffuse the anger and hurt but I had no idea.
Mrs. Lerner headed to the door. “I love you girls. I’m sorry.” She left before I could think of how to convince her to stay longer.
“Mommy!” Sabrina yelled and ran to the door.
“She left,” Marnie said.
“I want Mommy!”
Sabrina’s sobs were heartbreaking.
It took most of the morning to calm and distract her.
Later I called Mrs. Kahn to report what happened.
“The visit was a disaster. Marnie was right. It upset Sabrina and Marnie and their mother as well.”
“Yes, I understand. I will speak to Mrs. Lerner. They are hoping to take the girls back in the fall. Perhaps it’s best to just do phone calls and no visits until she’s ready to take them back.”
“Yes, I’m not sure about phone calls right now. Sabrina doesn’t understand about time. If I say the fall, she won’t know what that means, and she’s devastated that her mother came and didn’t take her home.”
Why hadn’t Mrs. Kahn understood this before, when I’d called her? Why did the girls have to go through this awful experience, which I was sure was a repeat of previous disastrous visits?
I hung up realizing with a sinking feeling that the girls were only here a few more months and then they were going to leave.
To be continued….
Susie Garber is the author of Please Be Polite (Menucha Publishers 2022), A Bridge in Time (Menucha Publishing 2021), Secrets in Disguise (Menucha Publishers 2020), Denver Dreams, a novel (Jerusalem Publications, 2009), Memorable Characters…Magnificent Stories (Scholastic, 2002), Befriend (Menucha Publishers, 2013), The Road Less Traveled (Feldheim, 2015), fiction serials and features in Binah Magazine and Binyan Magazine, and “Moon Song” in Binyan (2021-2022).
