Long Bridge Runner

Chapter 71-Kimberly's Decision

Copyright 1995
By David Rojay

THE LONG BRIDGE RUNNER
Book One/THE MIDWEST

The Kentucky Derby was still on Gurion's mind when he returned home at midnight. Kimberly was not there and there was no indication that she had been there. Gurion fought the infuriation he felt in his chest; he would take some morphine to calm down and drive to the hospital.

In reality, the Fairhaven "Hospital" was a glorified clinic with ten rooms, a Registered Nurse on each shift, a Physician on call and one or two backups in the general area. Operations could be performed during the day-tonsillectomies and appendectomies-anything more complicated fell to Gurion. Various clubs-the Elks, the Lions, the Moose and others were conducting a drive to buy an X-Ray Machine. The nearest X-Ray was in Olney-twenty-seven miles away. There was an Emergency Room of sorts where broken limbs could be set and simple wounds could be treated. This is where Gurion found Kimberly applying a bandage to an accident victim.

"She's been here all day," said Dr. Neurenberg, "got here about 10:00 this morning."

Kimberly was not a nurse, but she had assisted Gurion in applying dressings and administering injections. Upon seeing her hard at work, Gurion repented of his anger and let it turn to love. "Sweetheart," he said when she ran to his arms.

Later, as Gurion lay awake listening to Kimberly's slight snore (something she denied having), he realized that she had underestimated his anger, his thought of leaving the country, his inclination to blame the Goyim for his troubles. Truth be known, the Goyim had not hampered Gurion; every door had been opened. Part of this was due to his personality; he was a likeable guy with special skills and ironically, he seemed more German than Jewish-even to other Jews. But his greatest dilemma was his ignorance of Kimberly. She was not a Jewish wife; the warmth was not there, the loyalty wasn't there-at least that's the way he saw it. Now, for the first time since their marriage, he tried to imagine their graves-headstones with both their names. On the other hand, he reflected on Kimberly as a teacher and a "nurse," on her great social presence. She was beautiful, glamorous, charismatic to a fault. Everyone thought he was the luckiest man alive; but still, her affair tore at him. He didn't deserve this, he said as he went to sleep, "I don't deserve this."

Kimberly rolled over and caressed him. "You never held my tit," she said; and with that, she placed his hand on her left breast and then she was gone-back to the world of dreams.

Gurion was wide-awake now, going over things in his mind. He realized that the trip to the Derby had brought the reality of Abe's death home to him. All hope had died in the car with Daniel and he was left like an envelope around a beating heart, the way he had been on the train out of Poland (Chapter 21). His emotional energy was all used up-all gone. He was drained; there was nothing left. Kimberly lay beside him-smart, cultured, up to a point, but abysmally ignorant of his suffering. Still, he would capitulate to her. Her willfulness was stronger than his. In the morning he would let her decide about the future-about Provincetown and all that. The future would be Kimberly's decision.
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