Enemies: A Love Story Page #7

Wait, wait, wait.

Don't, d-don't, uh, d-d-don't go.

Look, since Yadwiga knows,

we can all be friends. Ja?

No, it's good. This way

I'll have fewer lies to tell.

- [Knocking At Door]

- [Screaming, Babbling Hysterically]

[Knocking]

Mr. Broder,

is your wife at home?

She's in the, uh, in the toilet.

A dear soul.

This is Mr. Pesheles, from Sea Gate.

I told him you sell

books and you write.

He's very interested in books.

Look, Mrs. Schreier,

I'm terribly sorry.

- This is a very bad time for me.

- It will only take a few minutes.

- Mr. Pesheles is a rich man.

- Oh!

President of the biggest home

for the aged in New York.

- He's on the board of three hospitals.

- Mrs. Schreier, please.

I don't need publicity.

If I need a publicity agent,

I'll hire one.

Well, uh, come in.

[Door Closing]

- [Clears Throat]

- And, uh, thi-this is a friend of mine.

She's, uh, she's from Europe.

She's just here a few weeks.

But you're not like

a greenhorn at all.

You look like an American.

And gorgeous!

You know what?

Let's all go down to your place.

I'll send out

for some bagels and lox

and maybe even some cognac.

And then we'll all

have a nice chat.

Now, what kind of books

did you say you wrote?

[Phone Ringing]

- [Ringing]

- Would you excuse me,

please, for one second.

[Rings]

Hello?

Broder? This is Rabbi Lembeck.

So you do have a phone, huh?

[Chuckles]

But not the Bronx, Brooklyn.

"Esplanade-2" is somewhere

near Coney Island.

Yeah, well,

my friend moved.

I'm not as big a fool

as you think I am, Broder.

I know everything.

Absolutely everything.

You married some woman named

Masha. You wouldn't even tell me

so I can congratulate you.

Listen, I'm calling you because

I gotta see you right away.

You made several serious errors

in the cabala article. It does

neither of us any credit.

If we can make the corrections

immediately, they'll hold

the presses until tomorrow.

So, give me your address.

I don't... I don't live here.

I live in the Bronx.

Again with the Bronx.

Where in the Bronx?

Honestly,

I can't figure you out.

Look, look, I will

explain everything to you.

I... It's a... I live here

temporarily, that's all.

Temporarily?

What's the matter with you?

Maybe you have two wives.

Two, m-maybe three.

Well, whatever the case,

give me your address.

I'll be there in an hour.

And don't be nervous,

I won't steal your wife,

no matter how many you have.

[Chuckling, Stammering]

Uh, 4-4-7-0 Jerome Avenue.

[Man On Television]

I'll buy you another one,

you should live so long!

Fix it. Fix it!

- Uh, I'm afraid that

I must go now.

- I must go too.

Oh, hey. Well, it looks

as though you're not going

to accept my invitation.

- No. [Chuckles]

- Some other time, perhaps.

- Yeah.

- Come, Mrs. Schreier.

By the way, I...

I didn't get your name.

- Uh, Tamara.

- Miss or missus?

Whatever you like.

Well, Tamara what?

Surely you have a last name.

- Tamara Broder.

- Broder?

- Also Broder?

- Cousins.

[Chuckles]

Small world.

- [Chuckles]

- Extraordinary times, huh?

My regards to your wife.

These days, a Polish peasant

who converts to Judaism...

is quite a phenomenon.

- Good night.

- Good night.

- Don't leave me, Mistress Tamara.

- I have to go, Yadwiga.

You are not going!

The rabbi is waiting.

If I don't go now,

if I don't meet him...

he will fire me...

we would starve to death.

- [Heavy Gasps]

- I be back, Yadwiga.

[Neighbor's Baby Crying]

It's a lie! A whore is waiting

for him, not a rabbi!

I'm going to have

an operation tomorrow.

They're going to remove

that bullet from my hip.

You know, sometimes,

in the middle of the night...

I hear my father

talking to me.

"What have you accomplished?"

He asks.

"You make yourself,

everyone else miserable.

They're ashamed of you

here in heaven."

Think of me

once in a while, Herman.

Forgive me.

## [Swing]

[Masha Laughing]

[Knocking]

- Mazel tov, bridegroom!

- Don't stand at the door!

It's your home. I'm your wife.

Everything here is yours.

What a catch, Broder!

Next week, you're

coming to my house.

- [Laughing]

- ## [Swing Continues]

- You sure

I picked the right dress?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Maybe I should have

taken the red one.

- [Groaning]

- Do you know, Herman? The red one

looked very nice too.

- It looks fine.

- Well, maybe I made

the right choice.

## [Whistles]

## [Violin]

Eileen, they've arrived!

- Ohh.

- [Chuckles]

Is that a beauty? He nabbed

the prettiest woman in America.

- Hello.

- Look at that face.

- My husband's told me

so much about you.

- He has?

- I'm really glad that

you came to our party.

- Yeah!

Won't you come in?

Come and have some drinks

and hors d'oeuvres...

and make yourself at home?

Good. Good. Oh, excuse me!

I'll be back soon.

[Chattering]

Oh. Could I offer you

an hors d'oeuvre, sir?

Take a napkin.

Excuse me.

[Muttering]

[Speaking Foreign Language]

Pesheles.

Nathan Pesheles.

I came to your apartment

a week ago.

Oh! I'm sorr...

[Chuckles]

I'm sorry, it's so

confusing, that I...

I didn't know that

you knew Rabbi Lembeck.

But who doesn't?

- Where's your wife?

- I've lost her.

- She's here somewhere. I...

- Come.

Let's find her together.

Mrs. Schreier's told me

so much about her.

A Polish girl that converts,

I'm dying to meet.

Herman! [Chuckling]

This is Yasha Kotik.

You remember, the actor

I told you about...

who was with me

in the camps.

- This is Herman.

- So, you're Masha's husband.

Congratulations.

Tell me, how do you do that?

I was searching for her

through half the world...

- and you marry her, just like that.

- [Masha Laughing]

And who is this

debonair gentleman?

W-What? [Stammering]

This is Mr. Pesheles.

- I met Mr. Broder in Coney Island.

- Coney Island?

I played there once.

A whole audience full

of old woman, and all deaf.

- [Laughing]

- I played every spot

in the Yiddish theater...

from Miami to the Warsaw Ghetto.

- And even a hungry audience

is better than a deaf one.

- [Laughing Continues]

And, uh, where do you live?

Also Coney Island?

What's all this talk

about Coney Island?

Well, I, uh, I went

to visit Mr. Broder there.

I thought the woman

who converted was his wife.

Turns out, he has

a pretty little one right here.

You refugees certainly

know how to live.

We Americans are only

allowed one at a time.

- And then, guess what? Guess what?

- It's not what you think.

I go to the hospital last week

to visit a friend with

a prostate problem.

And I meet that other pretty

woman who is also at your house.

She was having a bullet

removed from her hip.

She was probably delirious, but she

said she was also your wife.

What was that name?

T-Tam... Tamara!

- That's right, Tamara Broder.

- Tamara? I thought she was dead.

- I tell you, my dead wife

is living in America.

- She was old and ugly.

- But that's what all men

tell their wives!

- Well, here we are.

You all know each other.

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