The girls were of slightly greater value to her, but not enough to gloat about. The parents of the girls lived in a classier neighborhood, the mothers forming a car-pooling system among themselves to keep their “precious princesses” as far from the boys as was reasonably possible, considering their age. The boys’ parents were largely blue-collar types, for whom Brenda had developed a profound revulsion. The boys came to class in school mini-vans and were dropped off by the driver on the sidewalk in front of the school.
Eight
Sedona was one of the most exquisite cities in Arizona. An easterner from a big city such as New York would have imagined Sedona, Arizona to be barren and bleak, just a small desert town with a few hundred inhabitants. To many, however, Arizona was the state to move to if you had asthma or any inhalation problems such as COPD. It was always so clean and dry, lacking dust, mites, and pollen. Allegedly, it was also very safe from crime.
That there were a few million people residing in Arizona would not surprise anyone, but it was surprising that only ten thousand residents lived in the city of Sedona itself. This was because during the prime tourist seasons it appeared to have at least a million and a half.
Its miniature Grand Canyon-like valley seemed to vibrate with all colors of the spectrum; even the surrounding mountains were striking red monoliths. Who would have believed mountains could have such bold colors, even though just made of rock. True, there was surrounding desert over the other side of the mountains, but the city’s environs defied imagination, with animals such as deer and rabbits everywhere, and more greenery and floral variations than many botanical gardens.
Shoppers and vacationers in this town wanted for nothing. The center of the city paralleled a lovely small stream called Oak Creek, well known to those living there. Tourists, and there were tens of thousands each year, came for many reasons. They golfed, walked, biked, and rode jeeps or horseback on the many lovely paths laid out for visitors and residents alike.
High above the valley below was The House of Apache Fires at Red Rock State Park, one of the most intriguing places of meditation and worship imaginable. Though Catholic in origin, it represented an invitation to all faiths to come and heal their souls together. It was built out of concrete in pockets of red rock mountain, giving one the impression that it could fall to the base of the canyon below, yet it was there to stay. It was truly spiritual architecture at its finest. Its outdoor promenade permitted marvelous views of the valley below. Newly married couples had their wedding photographers take more pictures of them at that location than any other spot. At night, it was a wonderful place to lie down and stargaze at all that was now so plainly visible of our brilliant galaxy.
Sedona received more than a million visitors per year. Many have referred to it as “the most beautiful place in the U.S.” And why not? Sedona was known as having a mild to moderate climate. Summers were a dry heat with no humidity, comfortable and not overwhelmingly hot, permitting one to remain outside. Winters could get down to the upper thirties and felt cold if not properly dressed, but just enough to wear a sweater or a sweatshirt.
The center of town housed shops, shops, and more shops as a hardscape Garden of Eden. Architecturally, there were many Mexican-style adobe buildings, along with old-west style storefronts of all description, largely catering to tourists with interests in art, antiques, and souvenirs. Many restaurants had outdoor seating, some of which played live music during dinner with light jazz quartets or folk singing duets and trios. In addition, there were ice cream shops if you chose not to partake of the restaurant’s dessert menu. The city left each vacationer with the warm impression that they had been to paradise and focused their attention on planning to come back, even before they left Sedona to return home.
One of the stores in town was Tea, Crumpets & Ice Cream, as advertised in newspapers and tourist magazines at the local hotels. It was a lucrative, yet quaint, cozy eatery belonging to the Rabbi’s aunt Lorraine. It was open seven days a week. The first dollar bill she had earned years before was framed under glass and hung on the wall behind the register. Lorraine had four employees in her shop. Two assisted her during the days and two during the evening hours until the 8:00 p.m. closing. All four servers worked on weekends. The store held eight tables for four, and six tables for two. There was also one long eat-in counter with stools along the far right wall across from the bakery counter. The bakery counter displayed homemade cookies, crumpets, muffins, chocolates, Danishes, and donuts. Also on display were four different pies and eight flavors of ice cream that were delivered to her shop each morning, the selection changing every month. In addition, Lorraine also made tea, coffee and hot chocolate with homemade whipped cream and offered five different liquid flavoring creamers.
Most weekends were so busy in the store that she requested Neil’s help after his golf game on Sundays, when customers often lined up outside the store waiting to get a seat for breakfast and early afternoon brunch. The Jewish customers always asked for the Rabbi to serve them rather than being served by someone else. After all, how many people in this country were able to say, “I was served tea, biscuits and ice cream by this
