Benny, the War in Europe, and Myerson’s Daughter Bella Essay

When sesame was displace overseas in the autumn of 1941 his father, Mr. Garber, image that if he had to give up one son to the army, it might as well be Benny who was a quiet boy, and who wouldnt push where he shouldnt and Mrs. Garber thought my Benny, hell take care, hell watch out and Bennys brother Abe thought when he comes back, Ill have a store of my own, you bet, and Ill be able to give him a job. Benny wrote any week, and every week the Garbers send him parcels full of good things that a Judaic boy should forever and a day have, like salami and pickled herring and shtrudel. The food parcels were always the same, and the letters coming from Camp Borden and Aldershot and Normandy and Hol land were always the same too. They began I hope you are all well and good and ended foolt worry, all the best to everybody, thank you for the parcel. When Benny came home from the state of war in europium, the Garbers didnt make much of a fuss. They met him at the station, of cou rse, and they had a small dinner for him. Abe was thrilled to see Benny again. Atta boy, was what he kept saying all evening, Atta boy, Benny. You shouldnt go back to the factory, Mr. Garber said. You take upt need the old job. You can be a sustain to your brother Abe in his garage. Yes, Benny said.Let him be, let him rest, Mrs. Garber said, Whatll hap drop a line if he doesnt work for two weeks?Hey, when Artie Segal came back, Abe said, he said that in Italy there was nothing that guy couldnt get for a duet of Sweet Caps. Was he shooting me the bull, or what? Benny had been discharged and displace home, not because the war was over, but because of the shrapnel in his leg, but he didnt limp too badly and he didnt talk approximately his wound or the war, so at first nobody observe that he had changed. No body, that is, except Myersons daughter Bella.Myerson was the proprietor of starts Cigar & Soda, on Laurier Street, and any day of the week, you could find him there put on a worn, peeling kitchen chair playing poker with the manpower of the neighbourhood. He had a glass-eye and when a player hesitated on a bet, he would take it out and polish it, a gesture that never failed to intimidate. His daugh ter, Bella, worked screwing the counter. She had a club-foot and mousy hair and some more hair on her face, and although she was only twenty-six, it was generally supposed that she would end up an old maid. anyway she was the one the first one who noticed that the war in Europe had changed Benny. And, as a matter of fact, the very first time he came into the store after his homecoming she said to him Whats wrong, Benny? ar you afraid? Im all right, he said.Benny was a quiet boy. He was short and skinny with a long shorten face, a pulpy mouth that was somewhat crooked, and soft black eyes. He had big, conspicuous hands, Thich he preferred to keep out of sight in his pockets. In fact, he seemed to want to keep out of sight all in all and wheneverpossib le, he stoodbehind a chair or in alight so thatpeople wouldnt notice him and, noticingchase himaway. When he had failed the ninth grade at Baron Byng High School, his class-master, a Mr. Perkins, had sent him home with a note saying Benjamin is not a student, but he has all the makings of a good citizen. He is unprejudiced and at tentive in class and a hard worker. I advocate that he learn a trade.