Ongoing Story | Imamother

amother

Wed, Jul 17 2013, 4:22 am

Ariella awoke with a start on sunday morning to hear the front door bang shut.
Moshe had left to yeshiva without even saying goodbye. Tears began to burn in the corners of her eyes. Frustrated, she shook her head furiously to stop them. When had she become such an emotional wreck? Lately she found herself crying over the silliest things. It was enough. She was acting like a baby. It was time to grow up.
Rubbing her eyes, she shuffled out of bed,washed negel vasser, and made her bed (Moshe's was made already, as always, with the expertise of a hotel chambermaid).
She opened her closet door with a flourish, deciding that today she was going to get dressed properly, like she used to in her single days, even if she had nowhere to go. Moshe had made a comment the other day about her slinky skirt and t-shirts that she had been wearing every day lately..
She scanned the contents of her bursting closet, packed with sweaters, tunics, dresses and skirts of all colors and styles.
She sighed happily as she chose a mustard yellow cardigan and a white button down shirt to wear underneath. She pulled out a pair of grey tights and a grey pencil skirt to go with it. And her mustard yellow ballet flats, of course. The ones Shira had chosen for her on one of their many Sunday shopping sprees at Macy's.
At the thought of Shira, Ariella felt a pang of guilt. She hoped Shira wasn't upset at her for avoiding her for the past three weeks. But life as a newlywed was so much more overwhelming than she had expected it to be! She just hadn't had a chance to call her.
When she was finally dressed, wearing her long, glamorous wavy sheitel and makeup, and feeling pretty and sophisticated, she made her way to the living room, trying to think of things she could do after she davened.
She was reaching for her siddur, the one Moshe had bought her when they were engaged, bound in shiny white leather with her name embossed on the front, when something caught her eye. On the worn wooden coffee table was a single red rose attached to a card, accompanied by a heart shaped plate filled with chocolates. She felt the color seep into her cheeks as she grabbed the card and opened it.
Dearest Ariella, (it read)
You're hilarious, you're smart, and-
you're strikingly beautiful.
I wouldn't change anything about you if you paid me.
Love, Moshe

June

Fri, Jul 19 2013, 6:48 am

Ariella brought the rose to her face and breathed in the captivating fragrance, feeling warm and cuddly and loved. Picking up her siddur once more, she reflected on how lucky she was; married at 19 to the most wonderful man ever and beginning a new life full of sunshine and promise.
Right after she began shmoneh esrei, Ariella heard the faint strains of Od Yishama coming from the bedroom. Moshe was calling her. She really had to change his ringtone - Od Yishama was so cheesy. Wait, she was still davening. She quickly finished, and ran to her room, just as the merry tune started up again.
Ariella grabbed the phone from the night table and hit accept. "Hi, love, what's up?"
There was an awkward clearing of the throat, and then an unfamiliar male voice responded. "Um, this is Chaim Fishman, Moshe's chavrusah. Is this his wife?"
"Y-yes." Ariella hated herself for sounding so scared. She took a deep, calming breath. "Is everything ok?"
There was a long pause. And then, "There's been an accident."

agreer

Wed, Jul 24 2013, 12:59 am

Chaya rolled over in her queen bed, snuggling deeper into her new luxurious sheets. She was so glad she had listened to her mother and gotten two queen-sized beds for her new room. True, there wasn't much room for bedroom furniture, but Chaya didn't care. Her bed was her sanctuary, and she had waited a long time to be able to sleep in a master bedroom with her husband. She was so glad she splurged on the nicer set of linen.

Even though she was only married a couple of months, Chaya was looking forward to moving to a house one day where she could have an exquisite master bedroom with plenty of room for regal, mahogany furniture. While her apartment was fine for two people, Chaya hated living in the development. She hated having so many neighbors to share the grounds, laundry room, and walls with. She hated thinking that her neighbors could hear her and Binyomin speaking, or peek in through her windows and see what was going on in her living room.

At that moment, through her thin walls, Chaya heard the faint sound of an "Od Yishoma" ringtone. Chaya snorted. "Uch, newlyweds," she thought. She remembered the first time she heard it. She'd been serving Binyomin a typically-simple supper of baked ziti and ready-pac salad and they hadn't started their dinner conversation. Chaya had taken a sip from her glass, heard the ring tone, and almost had to spit out her water. She couldn't believe someone was actually so sappy, and she was sure that even if she had gotten married at 19, she would never have behaved that way.

Another round of "Od Yishama" brought Chaya out of here reverie. She rolled her eyes and contemplated getting out of bed, as her neighbor had made it impossible for her to sleep in, when suddenly she her a shrill scream. Chaya bolted upright and felt her heart beat really fast. In less than a minute, Chaya was in her kitchen, washing negel vasser, when she noticed her new neighbor running out of her apartment in a panicked frenzy. She moved with lightning speed, but Chaya could see her puffy red eyes. It didn't take a detective to realize that something was very wrong.

Last edited by agreer on Wed, Jul 24 2013, 6:01 pm; edited 1 time in total

June

Wed, Jul 24 2013, 10:02 am

It took Chaya a minute before she realized that the girl was heading in the direction of her apartment. Then there was an urgent knock on the door.
"Just a minute," she called, running to her room to put on a skirt. She opened the door and saw panic. The girl's eyes were wide with fear and she was breathing heavily as she clutched her cell phone and purse. She opened her mouth, but no words followed.
"Good morning. Ariella, is it?" Chaya injected a cheerful note into her greeting, in an attempt to calm her neighbor.
"Yes. Um." Ariella seemed to be at a loss, but then everything rushed out of her. "My-husband-was-in-an-accident-and-I-need-to-get-to-the-hospital-but-don't-have-a-car. Can-I-borrow-yours?"
Chaya's heart melted. The girl was a mess; certainly in no condition to drive anywhere.
"Let me quickly get dressed and I'll drive you," she offered. Ariella's face lit up.
"Oh, would you? Thank you, thank you so much!

A few minutes later they were in the car, and racing to the hospital.
Ariella leaned her head against the seat back and tried to breath slowly. She still didn't know exactly what had happened or what condition Moshe was in. She turned to Chaya.
"This is really nice of you. I totally can't think. I have no clue where to go once I get to the hospital. I don't even know what happened!"
Chaya didn't take her eyes off the road as she responded, "I'm a nurse at the hospital. I'll come in with you. I also think you should call your parents and his."
"Thanks so much. I didn't even think to call anyone."
Just as she was about to dial, her phone started singing. Od Yishama.

realeez

Thu, Aug 15 2013, 9:50 pm

Od Yeshama. Chaya clenched the wheel tighter. She glanced quickly at the quivering passenger in the seat next to her.

"Ariella? Aren't you going to answer?"

"What? Oh, yeah." Ariella fumbled with the phone causing it to drop to the floor. By the time she retrieved it, the screen showed "one missed call."

She dialled Moshe's number but the phone went straight to voicemail. She tried again several times with no results.

"Ariella, just leave your phone. We are here already." Chaya's voice brought her back to reality.

"Oh my! Thank you for driving me. I never would have made it!"

She looked at her phone one more time and noticed a new voicemail. She pressed the necessary buttons to hear the message.

"Ariella, it's me, Moshe. I hope to see you soon at the hospital. It's not as bad as you think but in some ways, maybe it's worse. If you haven't yet called my--our parents, maybe it is best to hold off until we talk..."

peanutsmom

Thu, Aug 22 2013, 11:02 am

As Ariella made her way into the hospital alone, (after hearing Moshe's message she had told Chaya she would go into the hospital herself) she tried to calm her racing heart. She knew she needed to compose herself before going to see her husband. She entered the main lobby and went over to the receptionist's desk.
"Can you please give me the room # of Moshe Levy?" Ariella asked.
"Hold on a sec, young miss-let me check that name." The receptionist answered her sweetly.
"I don't see any patients with that name-would you like me to check by his date of birth?"
Ariella wanted to reply with the date-but she could not remember it for the life of her. "This is really embarrassing-I can't even remember my own husband's birthday" she thought to herself as she felt herself blushing.
"No, that's okay" Ariella replied as she walked over to chair in the lobby and sat down. She took out her cell and tried to call back Moshe. After trying a few times and getting his voicemail, she walked back over to the receptionist and told her what was going on.
"I just found out that my husband was in an accident and was taken here-where can I find him?" She spilled out nervously.
"Oh Hon-I'm so sorry to hear that, he was probably taken to the ER, let me tell you how to get to that section. Go through these double doors.......make another left-oh you know what let me jot this down for ya, cuz I'm sure you don't gotta head to remember this all".
"Thanks sooo much" Ariella replied.
"Well good luck, and I hope he's okay."
Ariella took the paper and started heading towards the Er section. She kept wondering what Moshe meant when he said they have to talk.

realeez

Tue, Sep 10 2013, 9:54 am

Ariella paused at the ER doors. She pumped a few good pumps of Purell and rubbed her hands, more for the distraction.

She stopped at the information desk.

"Can you please tell me where I can find my husband, Moshe Levy?"

"Your husband, dear? You don't look a day older than 14! Let me see... Follow that hall to the very end; he's in the last room. Have yourself a good day!"

Within seconds, Ariella found herself outside Moshe's room. Knocking softly, she entered the room and pulled open the privacy curtain just enough to go in.

"Ariella! Finally!"

She took a long look at Moshe.

"Wait! All this excitement for what? A sprained arm?"

Moshe sighed.

"I wish it would be that simple--"

"You couldn't have just said that in the message to spare me? Why can't you think of my feelings?"

"Ariella... Please let me explain. This isn't a simple sprained arm. I fell because I, well, had a seizure. My friends just think I'm a bit klutzy. Simpler that way!"

Ariella blinked rapidly, trying to hold back her tears.
"Have you ever had a seizure before?"

Moshe turned his face away from hers and answered softly.

"Actually, I did. Purim, while we were engaged... Overdid it on the schnapps a bit and was up all night with the other bochurim. We figured it was 'last licks' for me. The seizure was blamed on alcohol and sleep deprivation so that doesn't mean I'm epileptic...yet."

"Yet?"

"Well I was supposed to followup with a neurologist here for further testing but for some reason, they had the wrong number on file and never got through to me. This may all be chalked up to sleep deprivation again or worse. I'm just waiting for the MRI."

Ariella was surprised by this. Why hadn't she known what had happened to her then-chosson? She put on a brave face.

"You mean 'we,' Moshe. We're in this together, right?"

Moshe finally allowed himself a small smile. "Of course!"

"But wait a minute. What was that part of the message about not calling our parents?"

"Ariella, when I had my first seizure, my parents didn't want you to know. They were worried I wouldn't be good enough for you. That's why now that I'm finally coming clean I wanted you to hear it straight from--"

Ariella turned around to the sound of the curtain being pulled open abruptly.

"My Moisheleh! My poor baby!"

It was her mother-in-law.

June

Wed, Sep 11 2013, 4:59 am

"M-mom!" Moshe stuttered. "What are you doing here?"

His mother drew the curtains around his bed and sank into the chair that Ariella was just about to take.

"My little boy, my poor little baby. I'm here now," she crooned, stroking Moshe's bandaged wrist. Moshe flinched and tried to draw away. Ariella stood fiddling with her purse at the foot of the bed, not sure where to put herself.

"But Mom, what are you doing here?" Moshe persisted. He hadn't called her, Ariella hadn't called her, and his chavrusa who rode with him to the hospital hadn't called her. He groaned inwardly. His mom had some kind of radar for trouble.

Mrs. Levy dabbed ostentatiously at her eyes. "You know what I'm doing here. You're all alone in the hospital with who knows what kind of injury. I had to come. It's a good thing Auntie Marcia's grand-nephew from the other side saw the whole thing, and told Auntie Marcia, who told me, because you didn't think to call your poor mother who worries about you."

"Mom. I'm fine. I fell and sprained my wrist. And besides, I'm not alone. Ariella's here." His annoyance with his mother was tempered by the satisfaction of seeing his wife's face light up. His mother threw a glance at Ariella.

"And what exactly can Ariella do? You're both children. You don't have any experience. I came to speak with the doctors, get you discharged, and then I'm driving you both back to Brooklyn so I can look after you."

"Mom, that is so sweet of you." Ariella flashed her most dazzling smile at her mother-in-law. "You're such a devoted mother; Moshe and I are so lucky. Baruch Hashem, though, it seems this was nothing serious, so it would be a real shame for Moshe to miss more learning than he has to."

Mrs. Levy looked blankly at her son's wife. Then she stood up. "Of course Moshe shouldn't miss any more yeshiva. I'm going to find a nurse to get him discharged, and then I'll bring you kids home."

Alone again, Moshe gazed at his wife. "You're amazing, Ariella. I don't know how you thought of that so quickly."

"Well, I know the only thing that's more important to your mom than overprotecting her kids, is her kids' learning," Ariella smiled naughtily, and Moshe let out a laugh, feeling all the anxiety he always felt around his mother slip away. Then he turned serious.

"She better not find out about the seizure."

"If she does, we'll deal with it. She is well-meaning, and she might even be able to help."

Moshe nodded, loving how his wife tried to find the good in his mother. A companionable silence fell between them, and Ariella was suddenly exhausted; all the adrenalin from the mad rush to the hospital gone. She didn't know what was in store for them once the MRI results came back, but she was sure of one thing: she and Moshe would do this together. They were married adults, despite - or in spite of - his mother's opinion.