"The summer my grandmother was supposed to die, or as my mother said, pass away, we didn't leave the city." "The only thing was to stay at home and wait for it to happen." "It was a hot summer." "The bedroom was just behind the kitchen and when we sat down to eat, you could smell her." "According to Dr. Katzman, any day might be her last in this world." "It's in the hands of the Almighty!" "'Won't be long now,' my father said, and she'll be better off, if you know what I mean." "God in heaven, what's she holding on for?" "A nurse came every day from the Royal Victorian Order." "She arrived punctually at noon, and at five to twelve" "I'd join the rest of the boys under the outside staircase to peek up her dress as she climbed to our second story flat." "Before your grandma kicks off, she's going to roll her eyes and gurgle." "That's what they call the death rattle." "Ah, you know everything." "I read it you jerk, in Perry Mason," "After she dies her hair will go on growing for another 24 hours." "Says who?" "Duddy Kravitz." "Do you think Uncle Lou will come from New York for the funeral?" "I suppose so." "Boy, that means another fiver for me, even more for you." "You shouldn't say things like that or her ghost will come back to haunt you." "Her bedroom had actually been promised to me for my seventh birthday, but now I had to go on sharing a room with my sister, so naturally I was resentful when each morning before" "I left for school my mother insisted that I go in and kiss my grandmother goodbye." "Boy, oh boy - was the only sound my grandmother could make." "I wondered if she knew I was waiting for her room." "After two years I protested to my mother." "What's the use of telling her I'm going here, I'm going there?" "She doesn't even recognize me any more." "Don't be fresh." "She's your grandmother." "Inevitably there came the morning my mother just couldn't get out of bed." "Dr. Katzman led my father into the kitchen." "Your wife's got a gall-stone condition." "My grandmother's children met and decided to put the old lady in the Jewish Old People's Home on Esplanade Street." "While my mother slept, an ambulance came to take my grandmother away." "'It's for the best,' Dr. Katzman said, easy does it, Granny." "When my mother got out of bed two weeks later, my grandmother's name was seldom mentioned, until one evening after I had a fight with my sister, I said," "Why can't I move into the back bedroom?" "My father glared at me, 'big mouth'." "The next afternoon my mother put on her best dress and coat and new spring hat." "Don't go looking for trouble." "Did you think I was never going to visit her?" "I'm not inhuman, you know?" "I was born lucky and that's it." "I knew it, I was born with all the luck." "It was on a Friday afternoon that I came home to find a crowd gathered in front of our house." "That's the grandson after so many years." "And probably next year they discovered a cure, isn't that always the case?" " Your grandmother's dead." " Where's ma?" "In the bedroom with..." "You'd better not go in." "I want to see her." "Don't come in here." "Your grandmother's dead." "Daddy told me." " Go, wash your face and comb your hair." " Yeh." "One minute." "The baba left some jewellery." "The necklace is for Rifka and the ring is for your wife." "Who's getting married?" "My uncle the Rabbi and Dr. Katzman stepped outside to light cigarettes." "'I Know exactly how you feel,' Dr. Katzman said. 'There's been a death in the family, your heart is broken, and yet it's a splendid summer day, a day made for love and laughter and that must seem very cruel to you'." "The Rabbi nodded, he sighed..." "It's remarkable that she held out so long, it's amazing." "The mysteries of the human heart." "Astonishing." "Well... this is our last night together." "Tomorrow you can take over the back room." "Are you crazy?" "You always wanted it for yourself, didn't you?" " She died in there, but..." " So?" "I couldn't sleep in there now." "Good night and happy dreams." "Hey, let's talk some more." "Did you know that when they hang a man, the last thing that happens is that he has an orgasm?" "A what?" "Skip it." "I forgot you were still in kindergarten." "Aw, kiss my royal Canadian." "Boy-u, boy-u, who's that sleeping in my bed?" "Whoo-whoooooo......" "ooooooo.... oooo."