Summary

In Chapter 2, Grandmother’s coffin had been left open despite the Jewish ritual that the mourners were to remember the deceased as living. At the burial plot, the members of the family shoveled dirt onto Grandmother’s casket. The family went home to Bertha’s meal after the funeral. Among the relatives were two Rudinskys. Although the Gelmans and Rudinskys had come through immigration together the families had parted ways when Garik Rudinsky asked Slava’s Grandfather for money to invest in a fleet of limousines. Slava and the Rudinsky’s daughter, Vera, had played together as children. The fact the Vera and her grandfather, Lazar, had attended the funeral wasn’t enough to please Slava’s Grandfather.

As Slava looked at Vera he tried to find the girl who had played with him as a child. The girl his parents, and her parents...