Amulet, p.20
Amulet, page 20
There was only one way to ensure that Liza would be healthy for the rest of her life. Liza had to make the wish. Val had to give the amulet to her, not his sister.
His sister had been adamant that Liza could not make the wish because Liza didn’t believe, but Val could talk to her, tell her the stories his grandmother had told him. He could make her believe. Besides, when people were sick, when they knew they were dying, they would believe anything that promised them a second chance. They would turn to God after a lifetime of not praying; they would put their faith in an experimental drug; they would make a wish on an ugly old necklace.
Without another thought, Val took the next exit, then turned to cross over the highway and took the ramp to get back on, going in the opposite direction.
He reached into the side pocket of the laptop bag and grabbed his cell phone.
“Call Liza,” he said into the phone.
The phone rang a couple of times before Liza picked up.
“Hi, Uncle Val. What’s up?”
The sound of Liza’s voice was both reassuring and heartbreaking. Images of his niece as a baby, a curious toddler, a precocious pre-teen, and a sassy teenager flashed before Val’s eyes, all in the span of five seconds. How could she be taken away from them now, when her life was just beginning?
“Hi, Liza,” he said, hearing the trembling in his own voice.
“Uncle Val, you don’t sound good. What’s going on?”
He couldn’t bring himself to say anything about her illness.
“Nothing, Liza. Everything is fine. I think you said something last week about spending New Year’s on campus with some friends. Are you there, at school right now?”
“Yeah, I got back last night. Jen is having a party tonight. I’m helping her set up.”
“Would it be all right if I come see you today? I can’t stay long. I…I…”
He looked at the laptop bag and remembered that, by some stroke of luck, he had put the cross he had bought in Jerusalem for Liza in one of its zippered compartments when he had packed for the flight home.
“I wanted to drop off something I bought for you while I was in Israel. Can you see me for half an hour? I should be there around eleven.”
“Oh. Yeah, sure, Uncle Val. Just give me a call when you’re getting close and I’ll go back to my apartment. Do you even know my address?”
“No—that’s one of the reasons I thought I’d call first.”
Liza laughed, as though she didn’t have a care in the world. “I’ll text it to you. Maybe we can have lunch together while you’re here. I’m glad you’re coming. It’s been like, what, one whole week since I last saw my favorite uncle?” She laughed again, a bright, cheerful laugh, and Val couldn’t imagine what the world would be like without that sound.
“Great,” he finally managed to say. “I’ll see you soon. Bye, Liza.”
“Bye, Uncle Val.”
He put the phone in the cup holder beside him, and his foot pressed harder on the gas pedal.
Chapter Eighteen
At around eight-thirty, Val called Judy and explained that he wouldn’t be at work because he had some family business to attend to. It was his practice to dismiss his employees at noon on New Year’s Eve, so he asked Judy to make the announcement this year in his place.
“Is everything okay?” Judy asked for the third time at the end of the call.
“Yes,” Val replied confidently. “Everything is going to be fine.”
Val checked the voice messages on his work phone later in the morning to find that Alex had called. She said they had operated on Billy’s knee that morning and everything had gone well, but that Billy had asked her to stay with him and keep him company. She apologized profusely for not going in to work and assured Val that she would continue reviewing the documents she had with her, that she was still on track to finish and turn everything over to the other side by the following Monday, when the documents were due.
Val dialed her cell phone number when he had finished listening to her message, but Alex didn’t answer, so he left a short message telling her it was completely fine for her not to be at work, that his employees were all going home at lunchtime anyway for New Year’s Eve, and that he hoped everything continued to go well for Billy. He wanted to say more, to tell her he was on his way to visit Liza, and why. He wanted to confess that he couldn’t wait to see her on Friday when everyone was back at work, but he was no fool. Pushing down those feelings, Val simply wished Alex a Happy New Year and hung up, recognizing fully how much he missed her already.
At ten-fifteen, Val’s phone rang, and his pulse quickened at the thought it might be Alex. A glance at the phone confirmed it was his sister, and he let the call roll over to voicemail. Liza’s college was about an hour farther than his sister’s house, in the opposite direction. It was only a few minutes past the time he should have arrived at his sister’s, but Gabby was already wondering why he hadn’t shown up yet, no doubt.
He resolved to call her after he had talked to Liza to explain the change in plan, but until then he had no desire to defend his decision. Gabby would just have to wait.
When his sister called again five minutes later, he shut off his ringer.
About an hour later, Val was knocking on the door to Liza’s apartment. There was a knot in his stomach the size of a grapefruit, and his mouth was dry, despite the bottle of water he had drank in almost one gulp right after he had parked the car.
Liza opened the door, and he exhaled. After the call he had received from Gabby, Val thought he would be looking at a pale, sallow, fragile-looking girl with hollow cheeks and a tired expression. That was not the girl who answered the door. The girl who answered was his Liza—bright, vibrant, confident Liza—and Val chided himself for having expected anything less.
“Hi, Uncle Val!” she greeted cheerfully, throwing her arms around him just as she had done a week ago.
“Hi, Liza.” He hugged her back a little harder and a little longer than usual.
“Uncle Val,” —she laughed— “something is definitely up with you. Come in and you can unload your problems on me.”
“You still think you can solve the world’s problems just because you took one semester of psychology?” Val was trying to tease her, but his heart wasn’t in it, and he knew she could hear it in his voice.
He followed Liza into the small apartment she shared with one of her friends. The front door opened into a twelve-by-twelve living space, where the two girls had crammed a sofa and an armchair in front of a television that must have been at least ten years old. The walls were a dingy white, the carpet a neutral beige.
Unashamed of her humble surroundings, Liza glided over to the couch and almost jumped into a sitting position at one end, patting the couch cushion next to her in a signal to Val to take a seat.
Val walked over and slowly sat down beside her. Then he just stared, taking in her dark brown curls and big, beautiful eyes. Her cheeks were a healthy pink, and the whites of her eyes were whiter than his. There wasn’t a hint of sickness or frailty in the girl who sat beside him, but instead of finding comfort in that, it made him feel a stronger sense of anger at the unfairness of life.
“Uncle Val, you’re starting to creep me out.”
He shook his head to come back to the present and then laughed nervously. “Sorry, Liza. There’s a lot of stuff going on. I guess I’m just distracted.”
Liza raised her eyebrows into two gracefully doubting arches, then sighed. “All right. So, you said you had something for me? Maybe we can start with that?”
“Yes, yes I do,” replied Val, happy to have something to do to avoid the conversation he knew he had to start, eventually.
He unzipped the side pocket of his laptop bag and, pushing aside the sock with the amulet, lifted out a brown paper bag and handed it to Liza.
“Sorry, I didn’t have a chance to wrap it.”
Liza took the package from him, visibly surprised that he actually did have something to give her.
“This is so sweet of you, Uncle Val! You didn’t have to get me anything—”
As she took the rather large crucifix out of the bag, she grinned. “Wow. I think this is the biggest cross I have ever seen. Umm, thank you?”
“You’re welcome,” replied Val, enjoying her reaction to the very religious gift. “I thought it might be nice to have a symbol of your virtue and chastity somewhere in your apartment.” He turned to look at the wall directly opposite the front door. “Like maybe right there.”
“Yes.” Her smile widened. “Nothing says ‘come in and make yourself at home’ better than a cross with a very large and life-like Jesus nailed to it. I think there’s actually drops of blood coming out of the wounds in his hands and feet.”
“Perfect,” replied Val, smiling comfortably now.
Liza hugged him, and he felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for being part of her life. “Seriously, Uncle Val, I do like it. Thank you for thinking of me. And I will put it right on that wall back there, just so that I think of you every time I come home after a long day of classes.”
As she pulled away from him, he stroked her hair and her cheek, just as he used to do when she was a child, and his eyes filled with tears.
“Uncle Val, seriously, what the hell is going on? What’s wrong with you? You’re acting as if you’re never going to see me again. What is it?”
“Oh, Liza,” he began, hesitating for a second. He took in a slow breath, then let it out. “I know. I know about what’s going on, with you. And I’m so, so sorry.”
Val took her in his arms again, wishing he could take the disease away from her and into himself, hoping that the amulet would work, even if it was just this one last time.
Liza pushed him away and almost shouted in response, “What? What are you talking about? Tell me!”
“You!” exclaimed Val. “Your sickness, your… cancer.” He hated saying that word, as though saying it fed it, gave it life. “Your mother called me and told me. Don’t be upset with her. I’m glad she did. Because I can help you, Liza. Everything’s going to be all right, but you have to trust me. You have to believe what I’m going to tell you.”
At this, Liza stood up and walked to the small window near the front door. Then she turned around to look back at Val, her mouth open, as though she were trying to find the right words to express exactly what she was thinking.
In the end, Liza simply stood there, shaking her head, her mouth still open, ready to speak.
“I can’t believe she would sink that low.”
“Liza, it’s not your mother’s fault. She loves you, she’s just trying to—”
“My mother loves nobody but herself, Uncle Val. Don’t you understand? Don’t you see what she’s doing? I’m not sick, Uncle Val. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with me. I’m fine. She’s been dying to get that necklace from you for as long as I can remember, and she finally figured it out. She finally found a way to take it from you.”
Val stared at her in disbelief. “You know about the amulet?”
“Of course I know about the amulet, Uncle Val. Everyone knows about the amulet. That’s all she ever talks about when she gets drunk with Grandma and Aunt Eva and Uncle Dimitar. ‘Why did Baba have to give the amulet to Uncle Val? Why him, why not us? When will it be our turn?’ Every Christmas, every Easter, every birthday. It’s shameful, Uncle Val, which is why I never mentioned it to you. They’re horrible, horrible people, the whole lot of them.”
Val couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Was that the real reason they never asked him to family gatherings? So that they could sit around and talk about how lucky Val was to have the amulet? Had his sister been trying to devise a plan to get the amulet from him for all those years? Could he have been that stupid? That gullible?
As Val reviewed the facts in his head, it began to make sense. Gabby had been adamant that he give the amulet to her, not to Liza. She had been sparing on the details of the disease, saying only that Liza had had headaches and that the doctors had said it was cancer. She hadn’t even told him where the cancer was. She had just said it was everywhere. Gabby had lied about all of it, right down to the pretend sobbing and the feigned relief she had expressed when he had agreed to hand over the amulet. No, he told himself. She had been genuinely relieved when he had agreed—relieved that she would be getting the amulet soon.
“I’m an idiot,” was all Val could say. “I fell for her whole act. She sobbed on the phone, Liza. She actually sobbed.”
“I’m sure she’s been practicing,” replied Liza sarcastically.
“But, Liza,” —Val squeezed her shoulder, overcome with emotion— “I’m so glad you’re okay. It’s been killing me to think that someone so good, so sweet, whose life is full of such promise, could be—”
“All right, Uncle Val, don’t start up again. I’m fine, okay? Everything is fine. My mom was just being herself. She’s always blamed her problems on everyone around her, never on herself. Like I said, she’s been talking about how lucky you were that your grandma gave you that necklace for as long as I can remember. And it’s always the worst at Christmas. She gets completely drunk and starts lamenting all the things she could have done with that thing. I hate it, it’s so pathetic.”
Val looked at Liza and heard his sister’s words again: “You’ve had your good luck, Val. Isn’t it about time someone else had a turn?”
Maybe his sister was right. Maybe it was time for someone else to have a turn. Maybe it could be Liza’s turn. If anyone deserved to have a wish granted, it was his niece. Val had already been prepared to turn over the amulet to Liza to ensure she would be healthy and have a good, long life ahead of her. He had been willing to give up all his success for Liza. For Val, nothing had changed. How much better would it be to give Liza the amulet now, knowing she could use it for whatever she wanted, her whole life ahead of her regardless of what she chose to wish for?
“Liza,” he said, reaching into his laptop bag and pulling out the balled-up socks, “I want you to have this.”
“You want me to have your socks, Uncle Val?” she replied with a questioning look.
“No,” he answered, unfolding the socks and pulling out the black velvet bag. He uncinched the bag and reached in, taking out the amulet and laying it on the palm of his other hand. “I want you to have the amulet. The amulet that your mother has wanted all this time. The amulet that has given me so much success and comfort in my life, things I would never have been able to achieve on my own.”
“I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit, Uncle Val. Nothing has been handed to you. You’ve worked hard for everything you’ve gotten. You’ve deserved all of it.”
Val sighed. “The amulet is real. Its power is real. I want you to have it. Please, you deserve it.” He held the amulet out to her, and she took it. She held it up by the chain to examine it, then looked at Val and smiled.
“I appreciate your offer, I really do. I’ve heard the stories, about you, about your grandma, about her mother. Maybe it’s true that the amulet grants everyone a wish, maybe it’s not. I honestly don’t know. What I do know is that I don’t want it. I don’t want to live my life thinking that the good stuff I’ve gotten was because of an old necklace I have hidden away in a rolled-up pair of socks.”
She put the amulet back in Val’s still outstretched hand, and he closed his fingers around it reflexively.
Val didn’t say anything in response, because Liza was right. He had always assumed that every good thing in his life had happened because of the amulet. Every test he’d aced in college, every contract he’d won, every decision that went his way—he always chalked it up to good luck, the luck the amulet gave him. But even sitting there, listening to Liza describe him and what he had accomplished, Val still couldn’t deny the fact that the amulet had come through for him. It had power, he was sure of it because he had felt it. He knew it was real.
“Are you sure, Liza? I’m not saying you’d have to rely on it. It could just be your backup, your escape clause. Please, Liza, take it. Everyone can use a little good luck.”
Liza smiled again, and for some reason that smile made Val think of his grandmother. “Uncle Val, you can keep the amulet. You’ll find someone else you can give it to. I just don’t need it. I’m going to make my own luck.”
Val finally broke into a smile of his own and put the amulet back into its bag, then folded the bag back into the socks. “If anyone can make their own luck, Liza, it’s you.”
Chapter Nineteen
Val had a lot to think about on the drive home. Liza had explicitly instructed him not to call her mother or confront her about the lie. Liza’s exact words were “Leave her to me.” And Val had no doubt that Liza could handle her. She had handled her mother like no one else could for the past twenty years.
With Liza safe and sound and his sister in good hands, Val’s thoughts turned inward. He thought about his life and everything he had done, all the things he had accomplished. To the outside observer, he was living the dream. His was a rags-to-riches story. Val had started from nothing, spent all he had to get an education, connected with the right people, and built a booming business. He lived in the lap of luxury, enjoyed his work, was loved by his employees, and was handsome and charming to boot. Every eligible woman he met (and some of the ineligible ones) wanted to date him, and practically every man who had heard or read about him wanted to be him. Val was, as his sister had put it, a very lucky man.
But even with the amulet still firmly in his possession, Val did not feel lucky. He was grateful for his wealth and position, yes, but something was lacking. He had always felt it, though up until the last few days, he could never pinpoint exactly what it was.
Now he knew.
Val thought of Alex and remembered how it felt to be with her. Her smile had made him whole. Her company had made him feel special, more worthy somehow. She had confided in him, teased him, laughed with him, and he had never felt more alive in his life. He had never felt more loved.
