Chapter 31 Summary: Larry is taken to the hospital with chest pains, as a reaction to his conversation with Ari. Yaffa and Ilana are upset that Ari unilaterally decided to reveal to their parents that they’d read the will. At the hospital, Larry and Gail tell the children that they want to explain themselves.

Ari’s muscles tensed as he waited for his mother to continue speaking. Next to him, Debbie leaned forward, her eyes narrowed. Yaffa’s foot was going tap, tap, tap on the white hospital tile. Through the phone he held in his hand, he could hear Ilana’s loud breathing.

“We want to explain what you saw in our will,” his mother repeated, looking just as nervous as they all felt. “It goes back to something that happened about thirty years ago.”

She glanced at Larry for confirmation.

“Thirty-three,” he said.

She took a breath. “Dad should really be telling this, because it’s his story. But he can’t, so I’ll have to try my best.”

Ari’s heart suddenly went out to his mother; having to be the one to relate an emotionally sensitive story wasn’t really a big deal in the scheme of everything else she would now have to do instead of his father, but it somehow encapsulated the poignancy of what she’d been experiencing these past few weeks.

“Thirty-three years ago, when you were all young, Dad was looking for a way to make some money. He knew that college and weddings were coming up, and though Dad always made sure to put aside money into savings, the salary he made as a store manager wasn’t really so much. Then one day, one of his friends gave him a tip about a great investment. A ‘hot’ tip, I think it’s called?”

Ari smiled and Yaffa said fondly, “You got the lingo, Ma.”

“Anyway, it required quite a lot of money, and we didn’t have it. So Dad approached an old friend – I don’t know if you remember, we called him Uncle Jerry though he wasn’t really an uncle – and asked him to lend him money for the investment.”

Ari saw his father frown deeply. It was hard for him to picture Dad asking anyone for money.

Gail continued. “Jerry agreed, and he was the one who put in most of the money. But then, the investment that was such a sure thing… well, it went bad.” She looked at Larry, who was staring down at his hands. “And we lost all the money.”

Debbie looked up sharply, and threw a quick side glance at Ari. Ari continued to gaze intently at his father, embarrassed to catch her eye.

“How did Jerry react?” Yaffa asked.

“Fine,” Gail said. “He told us it was fine, that it wasn’t our fault.”

But Dad was shaking his head agitatedly. “Not – fine! He – only – said – that! It – killed – him.”

Larry’s fist was clenched in the air. Gail looked at him in alarm.

“No, Larry! Don’t think that, you know it’s not good for you! You didn’t kill him. He lived another four years.”

Larry scowled at his lap. “I – lost – his – life – savings. He – never – the – same.”

Still casting her husband an anxious glance, Gail said, “Anyway, it was only after Jerry passed away that the investment somehow turned around. I don’t understand exactly how these things work, but apparently the money that was lost was found again? Whatever it was, we suddenly came into a lot of money. It was quite breathtaking. But Dad insisted that it wasn’t ours.”

To Ari’s horror, he saw tears dripping from his father’s eyes. Yaffa noticed them too; she started to stand up, then sat back down.

“I – stole – Jerry’s – money,” he said.

“No, you didn’t!” Gail said sharply.

Ari cleared his throat. “Why couldn’t you give his portion of the returns to his heirs?”

“He had no heirs,” Gail replied. “Jerry had never married and at the time of his death, he had no living relatives.”

“So then, what’s the problem?” Yaffa asked. “If it belonged to you legally and there was no one else to claim Jerry’s money, why should you feel it’s not yours?”

But Dad’s lips were set stubbornly. “It – wasn’t – mine.”

Gail sighed. “That’s when Dad decided that we’d use the money we made from Jerry’s investment to give tzedakah in his memory. Since he had no descendants of his own, this would be his legacy. But Dad only wanted to give the money away after we died, because he wanted to first make sure we had enough to support ourselves in our old age. So that we would never be a burden on you. And that’s the story.” She looked at Larry once again, as if to ask, how did I do?

There was silence in the room. Yaffa seemed stunned; a glance at the phone in his hand showed Ilana crying. Ari didn’t know what to say. For his father to have carried this burden of guilt around for so long… But then again, was it reasonable for Dad to have decided that all of his earnings on all of his subsequent investments didn’t belong to him – or his children?

It was Debbie who broke the silence. In a voice much softer than usual, she said, “I really respect that, Dad.”

Ari stared at her in shock. Yaffa swiveled her head towards Debbie, her mouth open.

Larry picked his head up to look at his daughter-in-law and nodded. “Gail,” he said. “You – forgot – to – tell – them.”

Gail clapped a hand to her mouth. “Oh goodness, I forgot the most important part! Right, well, after hearing from Ari how hurt and upset you all were, Dad and I discussed it and decided to reconsider. We see how wrong we were to not have thought about how you all would take it. I’ve happened to read some stories recently about children who were disinherited by their parents, and how much damage it did.”

Ari’s mouth twitched and Yaffa turned red. Debbie coughed and said, “Don’t believe everything you read, Mom.”

Gail waved her hand. “Of course, this wasn’t our case. We’re not disinheriting, you see; it’s more like Dad felt it was never ours to give.” Her eyebrows furrowed. “But, of course, it really is. So we discussed it and decided that we would give a nice donation in Jerry’s memory and leave the rest for our children.” She smiled.

Ari’s eyes widened. After all the emotional upheaval of the past few weeks, this announcement seemed so… anticlimactic.

“Thanks Mom, Dad,” Ari said quietly. “We really appreciate your thoughtfulness.”

The moment was interrupted by the doctor. “Mr. Taubman,” he said heartily, “Let’s see if we’re able to discharge you.”

Ari, Yaffa and Debbie jumped up and immediately left the room, as if they were all relieved to escape. As soon as they reached the hall, Yaffa grabbed Ari’s phone to face Ilana and said, “Guys, we need to talk.”

Ilana nodded. “Is this what we want?”

“What do you mean?” Ari asked. “This was exactly what we were hoping for!”

“Right, but…” Yaffa was rocking back and forth on her feet; she looked like she was revving up for a passionate oratory, and Ari braced himself. “Is this what we want to stand for? Is this the great family legacy we want to leave? That our parents intended to create a major tzedakah foundation and we insisted they give it to us instead? Are we, like, the anti-chessed team?”

The anti-chessed team. Ari could just imagine what Debbie was thinking right now, and decided to say it before she did. “Yaffa, it’s very nice to be idealistic, but don’t you think we’ll all feel resentful down the line?”

“Personally, I plan on using some of my money to start an organization anyway,” Ilana said.

Yaffa nodded. “Me, too.”

Ari caught Debbie’s eye roll. Should he feel guilty that his sisters were so altruistic-minded and all he could think of was the fact that now he’d be able to recoup his own investment losses and make Debbie happy?

Or maybe keeping his wife happy was also a worthy goal?

He flashed Debbie a grin. “That leaves us, Deb. Whaddaya say we start a tzedakah to help people who are hopelessly anti-chessed?”

Debbie pretended to swat him. “Speak for yourself, buddy. I’ve been making meals and shopping for your parents for years.”

“That’s true,” Yaffa said seriously. “The way you help Mom and Dad – you’re two of the most chessed-minded people I know.”

“Aw, thanks, sis,” Ari said. “So you’re saying that, as a family, we’re not so bad after all?”

Yaffa smiled at them. “I’m saying that as families go… we’re a pretty impressive bunch.”

THE END.

Ariella Aaron is an internationally published writer with a unique talent for writing stories that are entertaining and thought-provoking, with characters who are eminently relatable. A former resident of Northern New Jersey, Ariella has now transplanted her family to Israel, where she is happily living the dream of raising her brood in our homeland.