Getting Old is a Disaster Part 27

Splazit se! Hide! Hide!

Schvat se. Run! Run!Nein! Das zaun! The fence! The fence! Electrfiziertes! Electrfiziertes! Electric! Electric!

Banging

Tearing.

She needs to run. To hit!

To smash back at them.

She can't . . . She must.

She closes her eyes. She cannot bear to look into his eyes again. his eyes again.

She moans.

She screams.

Evvie wakens abruptly, hearing the hard knocking on her door. She struggles into her robe and hurries to answer. It's Denny, looking wild-eyed and frightened. "Something's wrong with Mrs. Slovak," he cries.

Denny's apartment is directly below Enya's. He continues breathlessly, "There's banging and screaming. I can hear it from my ceiling. It's scaring me. I don't know what to do."

"Okay," she says, "wait here." She dashes into her living room, where Joe sleeps on the couch. She shakes him awake. He is groggy. "What-"

"Come. I need you," she says. He grabs his robe and they rush outside. At Enya's door she and Joe can hears sounds of things breaking. And Enya shouting.

Evvie pokes Joe. "Go back to my place and call Gladdy. We may need her help." As he runs, Evvie moves to Enya's door and rings the bell.

Hy and Lola, also in robes, call from their doorway at the other end of the same floor. "What's going on over there? Why is everybody up?"

Evvie says, "We don't know. Go back to sleep. We'll tell you tomorrow."

Hy is about to protest, but Lola pulls him inside. Denny, glad not to get involved, goes downstairs to his apartment again.

Evvie rings Enya's doorbell again and again.

Joe comes out of her apartment. "Gladdy's on her way."

"Joe, grab the master keys on the hall table."

Joe once again is happy to do her bidding.

It looks as if the place had been robbed and tossed by vandals. Chairs are knocked down. The pillows on the couch have been thrown every which way. Books are ripped and hurled from overturned shelves. The curtains are torn from the living room windows. From the kitchen door Jack and I see dishes smashed, cupboards open, pots and pans flung across the room.

I call, "Evvie, where are you?"

"In the bedroom. Hurry."

We rush to the bedroom, where Evvie and Joe are gently trying to stop Enya as she tears her bed apart. I am surprised-such unnatural strength from so fragile a woman.

"Enya, dear," I say firmly, "let us help you."

Between the four of us we get her to sit on the edge of her bed.

The dresser drawers have already been upended. The bedside lamp lies on the floor, spotlighting the ceiling.

She stares at us, befuddled. "He's come," she says. "I won't let him take anything from my home. I leave him nothing."

I find a blanket to wrap around her. But Enya pulls her arms out in order to grab my hands and clutch them. "I am going crazy. Help me. Madness. All I see is madness! Put me in an asylum in a straitjacket."

From the wildness in her eyes, I'm afraid she's telling the truth. She drops her arms; her eyes seem blank and far away.

Jack says, "I think we should take her to the emergency room."

"Even the smell of him," Enya cries out. "How can I remember? Such a thing as a smell? Can a smell last so long?"

"Who are you talking about?" I ask quietly.

Enya cries out to me imploringly, "He was fatter then. Fat with his importance. How he loved to see the skin cling to our bones. It gave him such an appet.i.te."

We look from one to another, not knowing how to help her. She is shaking now. I'm at a loss to know what to do, other than let her talk.

"His face. The beard. I did not see it because of the beard."

Joe says, "Should I get some whiskey?"

Evvie nods. "We have to try something."

Joe runs out again to go to Evvie's.Enya asks pleadingly, "Where are his boots? I was always so frightened of his boots."

I say, "Maybe we should should get her to the hospital." get her to the hospital."

Enya's eyes seem to whip about. "How is it possible? Such a nice man. Such a religious, good man. What can I be thinking?" She stares at the wall leading to the kitchen. "It can't be. No. It's me. I am crazy."

She is sobbing by now. "It's the scar. Under his eye. It's the scar!"

Jack tries. "Enya, please," he says softly. "Tell us who you're talking about."

She walks out of the bedroom, into the living room. We follow her. She continues walking until she reaches her kitchen.

Joe returns, whiskey bottle in hand. All of us watch as Enya points to the kitchen wall. The one that connects to Abe's apartment.

She wipes the tears from her face, then whispers in an almost childish voice filled with awe, "Shhh, it's him. Don't let him hear you. Er ist Der Er ist Der Oberfuhrer. Er ist Der Bosewicht, Oberfuhrer. Er ist Der Bosewicht, the evil one with the evil eye. He will be very angry." the evil one with the evil eye. He will be very angry."

40.

What Can It Mean?

There's a knock at the door. Jack goes to answer it. It's Mary, our nurse friend who lives right above Hy and Lola. She carries what looks like a doctor's bag. She says, "Lola called me and said there was a problem. Perhaps I can be of a.s.sistance."

I'm very glad to see her.

Evvie says, "They shouldn't have wakened you."

Mary shrugs. "Comes with the territory." She glances around, taking in the mess and the nearhysterical woman on the couch, who sits there with a coat around her shoulders.

Joe says, "We were just about to take Enya to Emergency."

Enya rears back, terrified. "No, I don't want to go."

Mary examines her. Takes her pulse, her blood pressure. Listens to her heart.

"Mary."

Enya begs, "Don't let them take me away."

"It's all right, dear," she says. "Maybe you just need to sleep."

Enya nods, childlike. "I haven't been able to sleep."

"Do you have any prescription pills?"

"The doctor gave me some, but I was afraid to take them."

Mary looks to us. "See if you can find them."

Jack and I go into the bathroom and look through Enya's medicine cabinet. We bring back the few bottles we find there and hand them to Mary.

She picks one out. "This will do fine." She tells us, "Mild tranquilizers."

Evvie goes into the kitchen and brings a gla.s.s of water. Mary hands Enya a couple of the pills. "These won't hurt you. I promise. And you'll be able to sleep."

Enya takes them and pats Mary on the cheek. "You're a good girl. Thank you." She leans over as if to impart a secret. "He had this terrible scar, you know. It circled his left eye. From a knife fight, perhaps. He was very lucky not to lose the eye."

With that, she lies back and turns her face into the pillows.

"I'll stay with her," Mary says. "You all look exhausted."

Mary walks us to the door. We stand there whispering. Mary asks, "She tore the place apart herself?"

"Yes," I say.

"Hopefully it's not a psychotic episode," Mary says. "Seems like she's having some kind of breakdown. I'll get in touch with her doctor as soon as I can."

We thank her profusely as we go outside. She closes the door behind us.

The four of us stand there, utterly done in. Joe scratches at the bald spot on the back of his head. "Wow, that was bizarre. What got into that poor lady?"

Evvie sighs. "G.o.d only knows."

Jack puts his arm around me. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't think clearly right now."

"Let's meet in the morning with the girls and discuss this," I say needlessly. With last-minute hugs, we head for our own apartments.

As we head downstairs, I can hear Joe saying, "I don't get it. What's with the pointing at Abe's apartment?"

"Want me to make some coffee?" Evvie asks as they get inside.

"No, I wanna crash," Joe says, yawning, heading for the living room couch. "I desperately need to sleep."

"Joe," Evvie says quietly. "Sleep with me."

He looks at her for a long moment. "And then the next night back on the couch? No thanks. I feel like a yo-yo."

She goes over and pulls him along to the bedroom. "No more yo-yo. Just yo."