All Alone | Stanley Uris

Chapter 22 : Pipe Bomb

A FEW DAYS LATER

Me and Stan studied the Torah religiously (lol get it?). I knew what he was supposed to be reciting also. I visited Chucho a few times. Turns out Richie is great with animals. I had dinner with Stan and his family every day. They absolutely adore me. Stanley's bar mitzvah is today, I'm nervous. I walk out of the bathroom and go to Stan's room. I asked his parents if I could get ready here, they let me. Mr.Uris left to check on things at the church.

"How do I look?" I ask Stan, smoothing out my dress. He isn't ready yet.

"You look..." He stares, wide-eyed.

"Stanley, you're supposed to say she looks beautiful." His mother comes up behind me and puts her hands on my shoulders. He turns a darker shade of pink.

"Right, of course." He quickly says, looking away and clearing his throat. I smirk.

"You look wonderful Deidre." She smiles down at me.

"Thank you. I was wondering if you could help me with putting on some makeup?" I shyly ask.

"Oh my goodness, of course." She excitedly says. "I always wanted to do this with a daughter but Stan is my only one." She guides me to the bathroom.

"What do you want?" She asks.

"Can I have some small eyeliner?" I ask. She smiles and gets to work. I look through her makeup bag for the perfect lipstick colour.

"There, all done. Take a look." He points to the mirror. It's. perfect The wing on the eyeliner is small but there. She even put a small line of gold sparkles above the line, making it pop more.

"It's wonderful!" I gasp. "Thank you so much Mrs.Uris." I pull her into a hug.

"Aw, Deidre." She embraces me. I never had any of this as a kid. It's like a dream.

"We should get going. Stanley!" She calls for him. I wait next to her. He walks out of his room. He looks amazing. Now I'm the one gawking over him.

"Aw, my baby boy. You're all grown up." She walks over to him and kisses his forehead.

"Come on kids, let's go." She grabs her purse and looks for her keys.

"Wow Stanly, you look amazing." I smile.

"Look at you!" Stan grabs my hands and holds them in his. I smile at him.

"Stan, I miss Bill and Eddie, and all the rest of the losers," I say, thinking about how they won't go to his bar mitzvah. His smile fades and he looks disappointed.

"Yeah, but we did what we needed to do to stay alive." He pulls me in for a quick hug before his mom comes back.

"Okay, is everyone ready?" She walks over to us. We nod. 

We get into the car and leave to the Synogague. I don't understand what is going on the whole time, this is all new to me. I sit next to Richie. He made funny faces at me until Mrs.Uris saw and scolded him. I got a kick out of that. Stan then reads the Torah just like we practised. I smile and nod the whole time, extremely impressed. His dad hands him the microphone.

"Um... Reflecting on what I just read, I like what it says about indifference. Um... When you're a kid, the universe revolves around you. When you're a kid, you think that you'll always be... protected, and cared for. You'll always have the same friends since you were 12. Then, one day, something bad happens and you realize that's not true. You wake up suddenly not caring about lives outside your own. Something's going on outside right by your front door that doesn't matter anymore. You separate yourself from anything that might bother you, your neighbour, family, your friend. But when you're alone as a kid, the monsters see you as weaker and they start to come for you. You don't even know they're getting closer until it's too late. Until they attack you before you can even know what's happening... " He says. He's thinking about the damn clown that drove away our friends. I watch intently as he continues his speech.