After school Alex came over and they went out for a falafel at the shopping center; Alex liked falafel, Momik didn’t, but it was exciting to pay and eat out for once, and in the end he gave his half to Alex; Alex used so much hot sauce the falafel man said he’d have to charge him double. Then they went home and did their homework and then they played checkers. It was definitely more fun to play with another person. Momik made up his mind that night to be a man from now on and keep his mouth shut like Alex, but he couldn’t not talk, because what are friends for? What, were they supposed to just keep quiet like a couple of blockheads? And he went on asking Alex questions about Alex and Alex’s homework and about where Alex came from, and Alex gave him short answers and Momik was afraid Alex was getting bored and that he’d leave, and he ran to the kitchen and climbed up on a chair and reached into Mama’s hiding place and took out the bar of chocolate which isn’t for company, but this was an emergency, as they say, and when he offered it to Alex he told him that Grandma Henny died not long ago and Alex took one square of chocolate and then another square and said his father died too, and Momik was excited because he knows about things like that, and he asked if his father was killed by Them, and Alex didn’t understand what he meant by Them and said that his father was killed in an accident, he was a boxer and he was knocked out, and now Alex was the man of the house. Momik was silent thinking, What an interesting life this Alex has, and Alex said, “Over There I was the best runner in my class.”
Momik, who knew the record times of all Olympic runners and class champions by heart, said that to be on the team here you had to run sixty meters in 8.5, and Alex said maybe he wasn’t in condition right now, but if he started working out he’d make the team for sure. He liked to talk big, and he never smiled at Momik, and he ate up square after square of the chocolate bar that would normally have lasted a month. “They called me an Ashkenazi Bech Bech,” said Alex woodenly, “and that’s why I’m gonna make the team.” Momik said, “They’re Ashkenazim too, you know, not all of them, but the ones who called you that.” “Nobody calls Alex a Bech Bech.”
Alex had so much confidence that Momik was sure he would win, but at the same time he felt kind of glum and he didn’t know why. Alex hung around for a little while longer, shamelessly touching everything in sight. He twirled the sewing machine wheel roughly, asked questions guests aren’t supposed to ask, and then he said he was sick of being in the house, so Momik jumped up and asked if maybe he wanted a nice cup of tea, because that’s what you say when the guests (like Bella or Idka and Shimmik) say they’d better be going now, but Alex made a face and said, There’s nothing to do around here, and Momik thought a minute and said maybe they could go hang out at Bella’s café because she always had very interesting things to tell, and Alex made another face and asked Momik was he always like this, and Momik didn’t understand and asked, Like what? and Alex asked, Aren’t there any kids on this street? and Momik said, No, it’s not a very big street. He was surprised because he’d thought that Alex, since he was a new immigrant, wouldn’t want to play with the other children, that’s why Momik hoped he and Alex could be buddies, because Momik is well behaved and nice and he doesn’t make fun of people or cuss and things like that, but Momik thought, Well, Alex is still a new immigrant and he doesn’t know what’s what yet exactly, and it might take a little while for him to catch on that Momik has more in his little finger than all those hooligans and ruffians who laugh and run the sixty at 8.5. So anyway, they walked down the street together, and it was autumn, and the old pear tree in Bella’s yard was full of half-rotten fruit, and Alex looked up and said, What?! You’ve gotta be crazy to let this go! and he sneaked into the yard and swiped a couple of pears and gave one to Momik, and Momik, whose heart was pounding, took a bite and chewed but didn’t
