236
PARTISAN REVIEW
The Concert Pacra where he'd sung without success was now closed
and under reconstruction as another type of building on Boulevard
Beaumarchais, and there was no hope of revenge in that quarter.
But there was still the little synagogue where they'd more or less
pushed him out. All the members of the shul's board were still alive. A few
years older and still in the same positions. This was confirmed by a private
detective the day Tonski arrived in France.
The next morning, leaving his wife and children around the swim–
ming pool at the hotel, Tanski had phoned the president. He explained
what he had become, adding that he planned to make a substantial dona–
tion to the synagogue, and he asked that the board meet on the following
Sunday morning so that he could make the announcement. The president
had heard his share of stories. He ended the conversation with:
"If you want to come, come."
Tonski had laid out his success in detail, the vast business holdings he
managed, his family, etc. The president had believed it all, but it left him
cold.
In his little workshop, he had other things to worry about than
Tanski. Until the following Friday he even forgot the telephone call.
It
was only after evening services that he informed the members of the
board:
"You know what? That little chazan who used to chant here, he
phoned me from somewhere or other. He became somebody in America
and he's coming on Sunday morning at eleven o'clock. You remember
Boris Tonski?"
The others nodded and the secretary asked: "What does he do? Is he
a singer? In Hollywood? Under what name? My wife knows him maybe
if he was in a movie they showed at the Saint Paul."
The president shrugged: "Not even. He told me he's in business over
in Canada, he has children, a wife and. . ."
"So I have a wife and children too," the treasurer interrupted, "and I
don't disturb people on Sunday morning, on a work day. Why doesn't he
come tomorrow, like a normal person?"
The president shrugged: "Do I know?"
And he put on his coat to leave. In any case, it was his custom to arrive
on Sunday around ten o'clock to go over papers with the board secretary.
That week there had been water damage thanks to the neighbors living
above the synagogue, and they had to discuss it. Whether or not the trea–
surer came didn't matter one whit. Whether or not Tonski stopped by was
equally unimportant.
Sunday came.
The former chazan had rented a chauffeur-driven car the night before.
