Page 54 of The Dreidl Disaster

“Too many rabbits staring at watches for my taste,” he confirmed with a smile.

“As long as there aren’t any pumpkins riding horses you’re fine,” Batya said.

“That’s North Hollowville, and I’m unconcerned,” Artur replied, wrapping himself in the banter. “If we have a ghostly writer asking how a pumpkin looks in the dark, then we have a problem.”

Abe shook his head. “You are hopeless.”

“You know you love us,” Batya replied, grinning.

This was perfect. Except for the…thing he saw out of the corner of his eye. It took up a bit of the corner of the backyard, on the opposite side of the smoker.

What was it?

A hut. A hut with lights and vegetables on the roof.

But why?

The harvest holiday of Sukkot had passed, as had the celebration his friends had where they erected the sukkah, the hut in question, before he’d started working in Briarwood.

“Speaking of hopeless,” he said, pointing at the glass doors and their view of the sukkah. “Why is your sukkah still up?”

Batya grinned. “We can leave the sukkah up till Thanksgiving,” she sang, echoing a popular parody song. “This is our house; being Jewish is cool.”

“Please tell me it’s not staying up till November,” Abe said. Of course.

“Hey,” Batya said with a grin. “People leave Christmas lights up till January. We can leave a sukkah up till November.”

“But Christmas lights don’t involve produce,” Abe said, echoing what Artur knew to be a long-standing argument.

Batya raised an eyebrow and Artur stepped away from the conversation. “And you think the plastic lifelike items in the sukkah are more perishable than lights?”

Abe turned away from the smoker briefly, allowing Artur to see his eyes. They were bright and twinkly and excited. “Fine,” he said with a laugh. “It’s our, our, our, our…custom.”

Apparently this was just another act, which Artur appreciated.

“This,” Batya said with a laugh of her own, “is why I love him. And why I’m leaving because it’s very clear you need to consult him.”

“Thanks, B,” he replied. “Very much appreciate it.”

And she left the room, leaving him and Abe alone.

*

At five p.m.,Liv stretched, and put down the book she’d been reading about the history of the county legislature, knowing Naomi would arrive shortly.

She headed toward the front window of her town house, and lo and behold, Naomi was at her door.

Looking gorgeous.

Not that she usually paid much attention to what she wore beyond the need to look presentable at all times. But her sister always looked more than presentable; she had an effortless sense of style that sometimes, Liv wished she had.

“So, what is this again? Where are we going?”

Naomi also tended to get right to the point, and Liv sighed. “My bad decision.”

It was as if they were taking the sighing baton back and forth between each other. “But,” her sister said, “if someone asks me, and I have a feeling they might, I need to know what you’re calling this. Beyond your bad decision.”

Words, concepts; she had them and they needed to be used. “A barbecue pop-up by the guy who set up the barbecue menu at Levitan’s,” Liv replied with as straight a face as she could, given the circumstances.

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