“See, on Friday, Michael came to town with some kind of big news and wanted to take a father-son stroll on the beach with his dad, tell him all about it. That’s why he bought Dr. Rosen that battery-powered beach wheelchair.”
“Did they take their walk?”
“Are you kidding? Dr. Rosen told Michael his ‘Mars rover’ was a ‘monstrosity.’ That the neighbors would laugh at him if he ‘so much as sat down on it.’ So, when Michael gets to the house on Friday morning, after flying all night from L.A., the first thing he hears from his father is what a ‘foolish wastrel and spendthrift’ he is. That means he spends money like it’s water.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Anyway, I like Michael, so I come out of my room to see if I can help him.”
“Christine was on duty when Michael arrived at the house Friday?”
“That’s right. Anyway, Dr. Rosen, he gets all snippy with his son. ‘What’s this big news, Michael? Just tell me!’ But Michael, he says, ‘No. This isn’t the proper setting.’ See, Michael works in Hollywood. Setting and mood are important to people in Hollywood.”
“I imagine so,” says Ceepak.
“That’s when I pipe up. ‘Why don’t you make your big announcement at dinner tonight? Someplace special.’ Michael? He hugs me. Says it’s perfect and I should move to Hollywood and write movie scripts. I might. I got a knack for storytelling. Anyway, Michael being Michael, he makes a reservation at the fanciest restaurant in town.”
“The Trattoria?” I say, remembering what Christine told us.
“Uhm-hmm. ‘Let’s invite David and Judith to join us,’ says Dr. Rosen. ‘Make it a family affair.’ Michael didn’t like that idea. Insisted that it just be what he called ‘the real Rosens.’ The two boys and their father.”
“So, Saturday morning,” says Ceepak, “Judith and David really came over to complain about Judith’s exclusion from the family dinner?”
“That’s right. Kicked Christine out of the room and made me wake up poor old Arnie. ‘Aren’t I family?’ Judy says, getting all weepy. ‘Don’t I deserve a dinner at the finest restaurant in town? I gave you your only grandson. How dare you let Michael treat me like that?’ On and on she goes.”
“How did Dr. Rosen react?”
“Like he always does when she starts ragging on him. He just nods and says, ‘Yes, dear; you’re right, dear’ a lot. But inside I know what he’s probably thinking.”
“What’s that?”
Monae laughs. “‘I spend too much money on your liposuction treatments for you to be stuffing your face with lasagna and cheesy bread.’ But he didn’t say it out loud. He only said that kind of stuff when it was just him and me in the house.”
“Dr. Rosen wasn’t pleased with his daughter-in-law’s weight problems?”
“No, sir. Said her tuckus was too big. Tuckus is a Jewish word. Means butt.”
Ceepak dutifully makes a note in his pad. “But you went to that Friday-night dinner, correct?”
“Well, I took Dr. Rosen. Drove him over. Wheelchaired him into that private room they have in the back. Then I sat by myself at a table near the kitchen and had some spaghetti and meatballs. They call it Pasta Vesuvius, but it’s just spaghetti and meatballs, even if they do charge twenty-four ninety-five for it.”
“What was Michael Rosen’s big announcement?”