“No,” Rina said. “No, he didn’t. As soon as I recovered from my shock, I got out of there, and he didn’t try to stop me. Oh, Peter, how could he have done that? Betrayed his wife as well as me. What gets into people like him?”

“He’s horny with low impulse control.”

“He wears a gartel for God’s sake!”

“What’s a gartel?”

“It’s a sash that Hasidim wear to separate the clean from the unclean parts of their body. This is the man who always leads Kol Nidre on Yom Kippur, can you believe such hypocrisy?”

“Obviously, he has a lot to repent for,” Decker said. “Is he still harassing you sexually?”

Rina sighed. “Well, he hasn’t backed me into any more corners, but he’s done other things.”

“Like what?”

“Peter, he frequents massage parlors.”

“How do you know that?”

“He gives me the receipts for the books and tells me to take them off as business expenses.”

Decker burst into laughter.

Rina said, “What’s so funny?”

“Forgive me, but only a Jew would be so brazen,” Decker said.

“That is such an anti-Semitic thing to say!” Rina exclaimed. “Whose side are you on?”

Decker said, “No goy on earth would have the hutzpah to try something like that.”

“Chutzpah,” Rina said, correcting his pronunciation. “Ch, ch. The sound is guttural. At least say the word right. And I don’t believe that goyim are any less chutzpahdic than Jews.”

“Maybe we Gentiles just don’t think as creatively.”

“We?” Rina said. “You’re Jewish, remember?”

Decker hugged her. “Yes, I remember.”

Rina paused, then said, “Are you happy being Jewish, Peter?”

“Very happy.”

“Really?”

“Really,” Decker said. “I wouldn’t tell you yes if the answer was no, honey.”

She sighed. “I wonder sometimes how we must appear to the outside world. All those guys accused of insider trading.”

“White-collar criminals. At least they don’t kill anyone.”

“It’s a chillul Hashem—disgraces God. I read about these rip-off schemes, embezzlement. I cringe whenever I see a Jewish name associated with it. Imagine how the blacks feel when they watch TV and see all these gang members being arrested.”

“You’re sensitive. Not all people take it to heart.”

“And now my own brother-in-law.”

Decker said, “So old Pessy likes a back rub.”

“Old Pessy gets more than a back rub…. Peter, he leaves these pictures in the ledgers for me, pictures of his naked kurvas in obscene poses. They’re all black. He loves black women. I guess he figures they’re not Jewish…. I don’t know.” Rina covered her face. “I see him watching me, waiting for me to discover the pictures, then he laughs when I find them. He thinks it’s just hysterical when I blush.”

“The man is definitely an asshole.”