1 CHAPTER 1 ST BONAVENTURE HOTEL ATLANTIC CITY NEW JERSEY AUGUST 1975 It's nine o'clock on Friday morning and Mrs. Goldberg is definitely dead We stand around the bed in her hotel room but Mrs. Goldberg isn't waiting for us to decide what to do next She died in her sleep She's just lying there eyes closed mouth ajar She's the first dead hotel guest I've ever seen Come to think of it she's the first dead anything I've ever seen except for bugs That might explain why I'm shaking She doesn't look peaceful like I thought a dead person person would look More like defeated Or deflated She's a balloon with the air let out Uncle Sol rubs his chin like he expects there to be a beard beneath his fingers And here I thought we were going to get through the whole summer without one
2 guest dying on us The guests at the St. Bonaventure are so old that two or three usually die during the course of a season but my dad never let me see one before Such a shame Mrs. Goldberg was a good guest Paid for the whole summer up front Never missed our Shabbat services She gave good tips too says my oldest brother Reuben Slipped me an extra ten at the end of August in '73 and '74 She didn't have to do that She looks like a piece of gefilte fish my other older brother Simon mutters Dad glares at Simon What's the matter with you Simon rolls his eyes Under his breath he says It's not like she can hear me Uh oh Whatever's in my stomach starts tossing itself around like a bunch of beanbags Uncle Sol turns to my brothers Pack her things I'll go downstairs and make the phone calls Reuben and Simon begin moving around the room Simon pulls Mrs. Goldberg's suitcases from the closet and Reuben starts emptying the dresser drawers When Uncle Sol pulls the bedsheet over Mrs. Goldberg's Goldberg's face I press my hand to my stomach Why is the room tilting Everyone turns and gapes at me Oh wait did I say that out loud
3 Dad sighs in his I knew this would happen way He grabs my shoulders and practically pushes me across the room to get me out of there I notice two dead flies on the carpet by the bathroom threshold Dead flies and a dead old lady A weird zombie like groan escapes my throat and I throw myself at the toilet just in time to puke my guts into the bowl Perfect Way to go Joey Really impressive I can't imagine a worse start to my month down here at the shore Someone puts a hand on my back You okay squirt It's Reuben Too much for you huh I answer him by barfing some more When I'm sure I've emptied myself out completely I squeeze into the space between the toilet and the tub I swipe at my face with my shirt sleeve Great Shaking throwing up and crying My eyes float over a framed picture on the wall across from where I'm huddled It's an old colorful print of Steel Pier and the Boardwalk and the beach back in the 30s or 40s back when Atlantic City was the most popular vacation vacation spot in the country The sky in the poster is the color of robins eggs nd I press my lips together hard thinking thinking I'll never again see the sky that blue the sand that clean Steel Pier that golden and glowing Once you've seen a dead body things don't look that perfect anymore
