Free The Assistant by Bernard Malamud Page A

Sometimes she was racked by awful dreams. Then she awoke and sat up in bed, straining to hear noises in the store—of Frank packing huge bags of groceries to steal. But there was no sound. She dreamed she came down in the morning and all the stock was gone, the shelves as barren as the picked bones of dead birds. She dreamed, too, that the Italyener had sneaked up into the house and was peeking through the keyhole of Helen’s door. Only when Morris got up to open the store did Ida fall fitfully asleep.
    The grocer trudged down the stairs with a dull pain in his head. His legs felt weak. His sleep had not been refreshing.
    The snow was gone from the streets and the milk boxes were again lying on the sidewalk near the curb. None of the bottles were missing. The grocer was about to drag in the milk cases when the Poilisheh came by. She went inside and placed three pennies on the counter. He entered with the brown bag of rolls, cut up one and wrapped it. She took it wordlessly and left.

    Morris looked through the window in the wall. Frank was asleep on the couch in his clothes, his coat covering him. His beard was black, his mouth loosely open.
    The grocer went out into the street, grabbed both milk boxes and yanked. The shape of a black hat blew up in his head, flared into hissing light, and exploded. He thought he was rising but felt himself fall.
    Frank dragged him in and laid him on the couch. He ran upstairs and banged on the door. Helen, holding a housecoat over her nightdress, opened it. She suppressed a cry.
    â€œTell your mother your father just passed out. I called the ambulance.”
    She screamed. As he ran down the stairs he could hear Ida moaning. Frank hurried into the back of the store. The Jew lay white and motionless on the couch. Frank gently removed his apron. Draping the loop over his own head, he tied the tapes around him.
    â€œI need the experience,” he muttered.

Morris had reopened the wound on his head. The ambulance doctor, the same who had treated him after the holdup, said he had got up too soon last time and worn himself out. He again bandaged the grocer’s head, saying to Ida, “This time let him lay in bed a good couple of weeks till his strength comes back.” “You tell him, doctor,” she begged, “he don’t listen to me.” So the doctor told Morris, and Morris weakly nodded. Ida, in a gray state of collapse, remained with the patient all day. So did Helen, after calling the ladies’ underthings concern where she worked. Frank Alpine stayed competently downstairs in the store. At noon Ida remembered him and came down to tell him to leave. Recalling her dreams, she connected him with their new misfortune. She felt that if he had not stayed the night, this might not have happened.
    Frank was clean-shaven in the back, having borrowed Morris’s safety razor, his thick hair neatly combed, and when she appeared he hopped up to ring open the cash register, showing her a pile of puffy bills.
    â€œFifteen,” he said, “count every one.”
    She was astonished. “How is so much?”
    He explained, “We had a busy morning. A lot of people stopped in to ask about Morris’s accident.”

    Ida had planned to replace him with Helen for the time being, until she herself could take over, but she was now of two minds.
    â€œMaybe you can stay,” she faltered, “if you want to, till tomorrow.”
    â€œI’ll sleep in the cellar, Mrs. You don’t have to worry about me. I am as honest as the day.”
    â€œDon’t sleep in the cellar,” she said with a tremble to her voice, “my husband said on the couch. What can anybody steal here? We have nothing.”
    â€œHow is he now?” Frank asked in a low voice.
    She blew her nose.
    The next morning Helen went reluctantly to work. Ida came down at ten to see how things were. This time there were only eight dollars in the drawer, but still better than