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So rather than going through the drive-thru of Leah’s coffee shop, which had the only other coffee Abi could drink besides her own, she had to settle for the drive-thru of McDonald’s(which had coffee that was so hot you couldn’t taste it even if you wanted to).
She probably could have gone through Leah’s drive-thru. But her sister would take one look at her and know Abi had spent the morning panic cleaning, and she would want details, which Abi would give her because if she didn’t, she would feel like a bitch, and then Abi would be late, and there would be a line of cars snaking behind her who were nowalsolate to wherever they were going, all because Leah insisted boundaries were for quitters.
At least, she felt that way when it came to anything that could possibly be considered a juicy detail about someone she cared about. Otherwise, Leah was shockingly well adjusted.
Abi sighed, glaring at the sixteen ounces of molten scorched dirt she risked her life for. Okay, fine, McDonald’s coffee wasn’t actually made with dirt. But the flavor was most definitely scorched out. She’d die on that hill.
“Hi Ms Meyer!” the small voice belonged to Dani Freedman. She was always the first child to arrive for Preschool since her dad got to the shul almost before Abi did most days. Abi peeked over her steering wheel, smiling what she hoped was a chipper, Monday smile. David, Rabbi Freedman, stood on the sidewalk in front of her car, scrolling idly through his phone while his daughter waved excitedly.
It looked like the little girl was holding a two-headed cat. Abi’s brow furrowed, and she opened her car door.
“Hey Abs,” David said. Abi smiled with the knowledge that they likely would have become friends even if he hadn’t fallen into ridiculous love with her best friend.
“Hi,” Abi said, maneuvering out of her car while holding coffee in one hand, and her purse, laptop bag, and the massive canvas bag that had all of her Preschool crap slung over her other shoulder. If this were a normal day, she’d have a decent coffee in her travel mug which managed to defy the laws of physics and have one of those super cool mouth-hole things that didn’t leak so you could hang it upside down in zero gravity or something. At least that way she could shove it in her bag. But not on this particular Monday apparently.
“See my new friend?” Dani said, waving the toy which wasdefinitelya two-headed something at Abi. She stood on the grass rather than the sidewalk, but she hadn’t skipped to the parking lot just yet. Abi and the teachers at the school spent a fair amount of time teaching the kids about safety, and there was an earworm of a rhyme one of the teachers for the two-year-old class made up about parking lots and needing a buddy.
“I do,” Abi said. “Your friend looks cool, can you tell me about them?”
“Yep,” Dani said, turning the stuffed creature to look at its face and smooth back some of its bright pink fur, “Shoshana’s friend made him for me. He’s a potype.”
“Do you mean a prototype?” Abi guessed, slamming the door of the car closed with her hip.
“That too,” Dani said, lifting the impressive tail and wagging it at Abi. It was black and gold spotted with a tuft of long pink hair on the end. “Isn’t he neat?”
“He’s very cool, does he have a name?” Abi said, catching David’s eye. Dani’s toy collection had grown significantly once Shoshana joined the Freedman household, and her toys had taken a turn for the weird. Shoshana herself had a style that was very muchThis is Halloween,and Dani was fascinated by oddities in ways that would impress the Addams family.
“He has two,” Dani said, turning the stuffed animal back so the two sets of glass eyes could consider Abi together. Abi noticed that it had two green eyes and one yellow eye, the head on the left had one of each, though the head on the right had a jagged, metallic embroidered X where the other eye should be. Also, the head on the left had a tiny bit of tongue sticking out, and the head on the right had what appeared to be a second large scar running down the side of its face to its chin.
“That makes sense,” Abi said because it did. The stuffed animal was of the cuddly, fur variety, filled with cotton batting. It was an important distinction because Shoshana’s artist friends could easily decide to go in the opposite direction. A few show-and-tells ago, David had needed to call Abi the night before so that she could explain to Dani that “yes, her taxidermy mice friends were lovely, and, of course, they were great to play with, but some kids might be squicked out by them so perhaps they should be at-home toys.”
Abi had a feeling David spent a good amount of time explaining to Dani about at-home toys.
“This one is Pinchos, and this one is Herman,” Dani said, pointing. Herman was the one with the scar. She also noticed the stuffed animal was wearing a grubby-looking tee shirt that seemed to be too big for him.
“Do Pinchos and Herman have their own wardrobes?” Abi said, and this time David laughed.
“We decided they should probably wear something to preschool since everybody else would be wearing clothes,” he said, then glanced at his watch, “are you running late?”
“If you were anybody else, I would think that was a noodge,” Abi said. “It’s okay I’m not offended, I just think it's funny.”
“I didn’t mean it that way at all,” David said, his tone saying he had to apologize anyway because that’s what he did. He gestured to her various bags, “Would you like some help?”
“Nah, I’m fine.”
He asked every day, and she said no every day. It was a ritual.
“Shoshana said you’re not sleeping well,” David said as Dani had skipped on ahead, showing Pinchos and Herman the areas of interest for a preschooler.
“Oh, I’m sleeping fine, it’s the waking up that’s the problem,” Abi said, outlining for him the annoyance that was the sounds coming from the trees behind her house. She couldn’t claim it was a surprise, because it wasn’t really. They’d known about the land clearing for a while, but they’d been fighting it with the county and until last week, were still hoping to find a resolution that didn’t involve leveling part of the terrain.
“Mayer Stewart is serious about the rebrand,” David said, “Shoshana said he wants to start some kind of downtown crawl for the local businesses or something as well.”
“I’m happy for him,” Abi said, she understood the rationale, and if it was happening in someone else’s neighborhood, she probably wouldn’t be so annoyed by it. She realized that made her the worst kind of homeowner and thought that was likely why her father only laughed when she called him asking about noise ordinances. She rolled her eyes. She hated having self-reflection before caffeine.
“May he be happy and healthy somewhere else, right?” David said, and Abi had to laugh at the old joke. She unlocked the doors to the preschool and shouldered her way inside. The high-pitched sound of the alarm beeping drowned out whatever he said next.
“Sorry, say again?” Abi said once she’d disarmed the alarm and returned the little plastic panel to its closed position.
