When we get home from the deli and post office we eat some delicious fresh rye bread with kielbasa. Once when mom was sick, I had to go to the Kennedy's for lunch. Mrs. Kennedy gave me puffy white bread with bologna. I asked her for sauerkraut, but she didn't know what it was. She is quiet and never says anything bad. Their house doesn't really look that much different from ours inside. Mr. Kennedy works as a shipping clerk. I guess that has something to do with boats.
After lunch, Dad was tired and slept on the sofa for a while. I don't have afternoon naps anymore. During that time, I read more of Farley Mowat. When Dad got up, he asked what I'd like to do.
"Tobogganing!"
There is a big hill above the school park that everyone uses for tobogganing. We don't have a toboggan, but we have some thick plastic sheets that roll up. Dad carried them under his arm as we walked to the hill. We had a great time sliding. After a while, I found my friend Susan from school. Dad ran into an Armenian man he knows. Somehow, Dad always talks with recent immigrants. After a while, Dad went home while Susan and I played on the hill until dark.
Mom's plan had been to finish her English classes and then look for a job in a beauty parlour. In Poland she had worked as a barber and cut everyone's hair, but in Canada women only cut women's hair and men only cut men's hair. Whenever she mentioned working, Dad would mutter something about how he earned enough and how women weren't supposed to work. Then my parents would disappear into their bedroom and have some sort of argument. They never were very loud, so I couldn't hear what they said, but I knew it was in Polish. In this house, all important things were said in Polish.
Around this time, long before my Mom was through with English classes, her friend Sadie called. They had a long and excited phone conversation. Dad and I were playing a game of Parcheesi in the living room, but he kept stopping the game to listen to what Mom was saying. After they'd talked for a long time, Mom hung up the phone and came and sat on the living room sofa. My dad and I were playing on the floor.
In Polish, my mother said, "That was Sadie."
My father replied in Polish. "I gathered as much. That can only mean trouble."
"You know she runs the hair stylist downtown."
"Oh, no. Here it comes."
"Stop it. One of her girls there is pregnant and quit. Sadie offered me a job there."
"I don't think---."
"---I think it's a wonderful opportunity and I'm going to take it!"
There was more discussion in the bedroom and we never did finish our game.
