The Sunset Gang Read Online Free

in the box.
    After Mimi had gone to her afternoon game, he made an
effort to calm himself, to rationalize his position, to go over his options. He
was, after all, a lawyer. But contemplation of what a divorce might entail
boggled his mind, made him tired. His wife's harangues would be hysterical. The
children would think he was a monster. Would he hate himself later?
    He did consider having a clandestine affair, but it was so
foreign to his nature and his morality that he could not bring himself to
accept such a possibility. What he concluded was that he could accept any
pain--from Mimi, from his children, from anyone, pay any price--for the
privilege of spending the rest of his life with Genendel. Anything was worth
that.
    He was again tempted to call her on the telephone, but lost
his courage, deciding instead to suffer through the long night and day until
the meeting of the Yiddish Club. It was not an easy assignment.
    Feigning a slight cold, he was able to escape from Mimi's
patter by squirreling himself in bed for most of the next day.
    "You're going to the Yiddish Club?" Mimi asked as
he dressed.
    "I feel better."
    "You're acting strangely, Bill."
    "I know," he mumbled, wanting to shout out at
her, to tell her what was happening inside of him. Instead he walked out into
the warm night, hoping that in a few minutes he would be once again in the
presence of the woman he loved. But the slight optimism that he felt as he
walked quickly dissipated when he arrived and it became apparent that she was
not coming. He listened listlessly to the speakers, walked out early, and
roamed through the clubhouse.
    In the long cardroom, he saw David playing gin. He moved
toward the table and watched the game for a while, waiting for the moment to
ask him news of his wife.
    "Where's Jennie?" he asked casually. "Missed
her at the meeting."
    "Said she missed the kids. Went up north to visit for
a few weeks." He poked Velvil in the stomach. "Look at this," he
said, holding up the score. "I got him on a triple schneid."
    Her absence made his longing more intense and he spent his
time in long solitary walks around Sunset Village. You must come back to me, he
begged her in his mind.
    "What's wrong with you, Bill?" his wife asked
with casual but persistent interest.
    "I am sad and lonely," he said in Yiddish.
    "That again."
    "You give me no pleasure," he said, again in
Yiddish.
    "This is ridiculous."
    "You are ridiculous," he said in Yiddish.
    "The hell with you," Mimi responded with anger,
slamming the door behind her as she rushed off to the clubhouse. He savored his
cruelty, yet knew that it was wrong.
    After the first shock of Genendel's departure wore off,
leaving him only with a gnawing emptiness, he still participated in the morning
cycling and the Yiddish Club. He went through the mechanical process of the activities
in the hope that when she returned, she too would fall into the same old
patterns. What was her life with David like? he wondered. Was she prepared to
compromise her remaining years? For that?
    When she finally returned to the Yiddish Club two weeks
later he felt that the curtain had been raised on his life again, and he could
barely sit through the meeting waiting for a few private words with her. By
then he had convinced himself that he would take half a loaf, to leave it as it
had been. Even a few moments of her time were better than to endure the
suffering of her absence.
    When the meeting was over, he dashed over to her, stumbling
over a chair. "Did you enjoy your trip?" he asked, stammering, unable
to control the frantic beat of his heart.
    "It was all right," she responded.
    He imagined that he could detect sadness in her eyes.
"Would you like to take a walk?"
    She nodded. He had gone over and over this request in his
mind and could hardly believe that he had made it.
    They walked along the familiar path in silence.
    "I promise," he finally said.
    "Promise?" She paused and turned to look at him.
    "I promise I won't