Winners and Losers, book 2, chapter 6

     Saturday evening, at six thirty, Harry and David Kahn were eating steaks for dinner and watching some sports event on television.

     David had played golf all afternoon, and was slouched on the sofa in his underwear, his feet propped on the coffee table.

     Harry, in his bathrobe, had not dressed all day.

     Suddenly, the telephone rang.

     "I can tell by the ring, it's Janet!" David laughed.

     "Hello," David answered.

     "Well, well," Janet said.  "I never thought I'd find you at home at this time of the afternoon! Are you sick?"

     "You must be!" It's night!"

     "Hell, I was kidding, Dave! Let me speak to your brother!"

     "Hi," Harry said into the receiver.  "What's the news? Really--yeah--yeah.  You say you really want to restore the temple? Well, more power to you! I'll keep my fingers crossed.  Bye."

     At the Katz home, Miriam was patiently waiting for Karl to return from the country club, where he was eating supper.  Joe was sitting on the front porch, smoking, and patiently waiting for his supper.  Miriam soon joined him.

     "You're going to have a casserole that was leftover from a luncheon Lu gave."

     "Stop right there," Joe said.  "Next thing you know, you'll be telling me what everyone wore at that luncheon!"

     They laughed.

     Suddenly, a car pulled up in front of the house.  Nancy Spader got out, and walked up to the porch.

     "Hello, hello," Nancy said.

     "How are we this evening?" Joe asked.

     "Well," Nancy replied, "I don't know about you or Miriam, but I'm feeling lousy.  The air conditioner broke down, I finally got someone to fix it, and it cost me a million dollars.  With the grandkids coming in soon, I had to have the place spruced up.  I can live without air conditioning, but I don't know if they can!"

     "Gossip time!" Joe, rising, said.  "I'll go see about my casserole."

     "It should be ready!" Miriam said.

     As Joe went into the house, Miriam and Nancy began a long session of warm and petty chatter frequently engaged in during these hot evenings.

     Later that night, Joe went to bed early, and Miriam was making a cake in the kitchen when Karl entered.

     "How was your golf game today?" Miriam asked.

     "Not too good," Karl replied.  "I need practice!"

     "I can tell by the look on your face you're worried about something."

     "Yeah," Karl said.  "Janet keeps yelping about wanting to restore the temple, and I agree with her, we need to, but we just don't have the resources or the membership now to do very much.  Then, there's the cemetery upkeep.  Remember all the fuss she and Bella made a few weeks ago when a tree fell, and we went out there and it was nothing but a few limbs here and there?"

     "Joe takes care of all that."

     "Well," Karl said. "The temple's a bit much for one man to work on.  We'll find some solution to this, I'm sure."