"You have heard from Rabbi Small?" asked Rabbi Deutch. "Well, no, Rabbi, not directly."
"So you don't know his attitude in regard to the position here."
"Well, not in so many words, but I'm sure he's not interested. I mean, from the whole history of our negotiations with him, the board feels that he is not interested in coming back. We want to make sure we have a continuity, so we'd like to get this matter settled tonight by getting your signature on a contract."
"But Rabbi Small is likely to be home in a few days. Surely we can wait until he arrives before settling the matter."
At this point. Marty Drexler's patience gave out. "Look here. Rabbi. I'm a businessman, and I don't like to pussyfoot about a deal like Bert here. That's the legal mind at work. I'll put it to you straight. We don't want a fight in the congregation. We don't want people taking sides and arguing the pros and cons of which rabbi is better. Personally, I don't think that's dignified." he said virtuously. "Now. if you want to stay, we have a contract right here. You sign it, and that's the end of it. We're pretty sure Rabbi Small wouldn't argue about it. not if he's faced with what Bert here calls a. fait accompli. See? We sign the contract right here and now and everything is hunky-dory. We wait until Rabbi Small arrives, and there's a hassle."
Rabbi Deutch nodded his head slowly. "I see." he said, and he spoke in his normal rather than in his pulpit voice. "Well, when Rabbi Small comes home. I will talk to him. If he says flatly that he does not want the job and that he had no intention of returning to it. I will then sign your contract. If he is interested in the position, however, even if your board decides you do not want him and vote him down. I will not be interested in staying on."
Mrs. Deutch jerked her head in a decisive little nod as a schoolteacher might when a dull pupil answers correctly in the presence of the supervisor.
"But your wife said—" Marty blurted out.
"That's how I feel about it." said the rabbi decisively, "and that's how Mrs. Deutch feels."
When they had left, the rabbi said to his wife, "I'm glad that's over. My conscience has been troubling me ever since the idea of staying on came into my mind."
"I'm afraid I had something to do with it, Hugo," Mrs. Deutch said ruefully. "But to tell the truth, I really did think that Rabbi Small was not coming back. I mean, not writing to the president—"
"Well, I think I can understand that. He's quite young, and I think they hurt him. So he wouldn't write them. Not even a card saying he was having a good time."
"I suppose so." She hesitated. "Of course after what Dan told us he did for Roy, it was impossible for you to decide anything else. But I don't mind admitting. Hugo, that I'm sorry. I really enjoyed our few months here—"
"Well, I’ve been thinking about it, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve enjoyed being here not because it's this particular temple or congregation, but because it was new to us. And being temporary, everyone treated us exceptionally well."
"That's true, I suppose—"
"But don't you see, Betty?" he went on eagerly. "The trick is to be a guest. If I had accepted the appointment, that would have been over."
"What are you getting at?"
"I think we've gone about this retirement business the wrong way. The whole point of retiring is that you're free and you've got enough money to be free on. That means doing what you want to do."
"But you tried that and you were bored." she said.
"No. I did what other people thought I should do: I did nothing. And that's boring. I'll admit. But if you do what you want to do. that means doing nothing some of the time and then when you feel like it— working. I didn't tell you, but I called the seminary yesterday. I had a long telephone conversation with the placement office and I told them that I'd be interested in temporary jobs, substituting for rabbis taking a sabbatical or for someone who is sick and is likely to be laid up for some time, and that money was a minor consideration. I asked them to keep me in mind. I gathered that I'd have no difficulty getting all the jobs I want."
"You want to go back to work?"
"Only when I want to." he said. "I'd like to travel a little, perhaps to Israel. Maybe we could stay a few months the way the Smalls have done. Then I'd take a pulpit for a few months or half a year— if I wanted to; if I liked the place and the people. That way, where ever we went we'd be new— and independent. And if I say so myself. I do think I'm rather good at running a congregation."
"Oh, Hugo, one of the best." Betty said with a rush of excitement. "I do think it will work. too. And perhaps if they ask you to stay on—"
"I'd tell them I was sorry," he said firmly, "that I’ve retired and that I'm not interested in a permanent position."
"I suppose that would be best, dear."
They did not talk as they got into their car. each immersed in his own private thoughts. But as the car pulled away from the Deutch residence. Raymond asked plaintively, "Now what do we do?"
"Hell, what can we do?" Drexler demanded savagely. "We start planning a welcome home party for the Smalls."
Chapter Fifty-Three
The missus tells me you people are due over at our place tomorrow night." said Chief Lanigan. "but I happened to be in the vicinity—"
"Of course." said Miriam. "And you'll have a cup of tea, won't you?"
She got up from sitting on the divan and started for the kitchen. The chiefs eves flicked at her middle as she passed, and he said. "Well I see you weren't idle over there. David. And I don't know but that it might not justify the trip. But did you find what you went over for?"
"Oh, yes." said the rabbi as he helped Miriam with the tea things. He offered their guest cream and sugar. "It was there all right, and we found it— practically the day we arrived."
"Well, that's fine. Still, it was a mite foolhardy, wasn't it. leaving your job for three months especially where the competition was so good? Although I suppose this welcome home party they gave you proves you knew what you were doing..."he added grudgingly.
Was the chief scolding him for risking his job by staying away? The rabbi was touched. "Yes, he's a good man. Rabbi Deutch," he said. "They liked him in the town?"
Lanigan nodded vigorously. "Very impressive. He looks the part for one thing." He eyed the rabbi appraisingly. "You don't, you know."
"I know."
"Well, don't knock it. Impressing people is part of your stock-in-trade. It's not supposed to be the style now, they tell me. There's a fashion in ministers, I guess. But I'm not sure the new style will last. Like we've got a new curate down at the church. He came while you were away. He's the new type of priest. You see him around in blue jeans and a sweater. He sits on the floor with the kids and plays the guitar. Religious songs I'll admit, but they don't sound religious. At least not our kind. So what's the result? When I see him in front of the altar in his vestments celebrating the mass, all I can see is a hippie in blue jeans. And when he preaches, I find myself thinking: Prove it, prove it. I mean, if it's not magic, if it's just everyday argument, then he's got to convince me. And of course he can't."
"And Father Dougherty?"
"You never see him except in a Roman collar and proper black. So he always seems to be in his vestments, and when you see him before the altar, you believe him. Now Mike Dougherty is no great brain, but he doesn't have to be because you feel that it's Somebody talking through him. Maybe there's a lot of hocus-pocus in religion. Rabbi, but it works somehow."