A Voice From the Bronx

So Wifey and I went to visit her mother last night.  We entered the old woman's room, and she was fast asleep and talking.  Very loudly.  Whole conversations that changed from English to Polish to Yiddish to gibberish.  It was really something to see, and made clear why she keeps losing roommates -- they can't handle all the night talking.

We woke her, and she was fine, and we noticed that someone HAD moved in -- a neatly made bed, and photos.  My suegra said "She's some Spanish lady" but the photos told a different tale -- many of a couple from WW II -- in fact, one looked exactly like a favorite we have of my parents -- their wedding shot from Pasadena.

I went to the gazebo to wait for Wifey to get the old woman mobile, in a wheelchair.  I was enjoying the night breezes, and playing with flight radar, an app that tells me the ID and destination of airplanes that pass over wherever I am.  Then Wifey texted "Come back to room."

This was it, I figured, the old woman died.  Nah. Not yet.  The roommate had returned, and Wifey wanted me to meet her.  She was JUST like my mother.

Wifey was right.  She was pretty, and not at all Spanish speaking -- in fact, she had my Mom's identical accent.  She was mostly lucid, and I learned her name was Evelyn, and she was born in 1925, and was indeed from the Bronx.  In fact -- she had attended the same high school as my parents!

I played some Jewish Geography, thinking she might have known my folks' younger siblings, who would have been about Evelyn's age, but no dice.  Evelyn moved to Miami in '45, and helped her parents in their jewelry store.  Her husband stayed in the Army longer, and they were married.  She's lived all these years right in Kendall.

It was uncanny.  Her speech and mannerisms were exactly my Mom's.  She was delightful.  She was pleasant.  She told about her husband's brother, who liked her before her husband did:  "He said the gal is mine.  Hands off, buddy!"  It was like listening to a Sunny tale.  It was lovely.

As we spoke, my mother in law became visibly agitated.  She was jealous of the attention we were giving the much lovlier and pleasant lady.  We took her outside, like the difficult toddler she is.

The good news is Evelyn doesn't hear too well, so she might last as a roomie.  She said she is anxious to hear the tales of the Holocaust that my suegra shares with everyone.  We'll see.

Wifey adored Evelyn right away -- as she adored my mother.  She noticed how neat she was.  She's sure her mother will wreck this new relationship, as she is wont to do.

We'll see.  All I know is that for me, it was a warm blast of nostalgia.  It was if Sunny had visited for a while.  I was standing on the Grand Concourse, or at Yankee Stadium, listening to this Greatest Generation, Swell gal.

It was an unexpected treat for a meeting with a woman who never gives much pleasure to her guests anymore.