“What a memory you have,” Rina said.

“Yeah, it was the high point of that year.” Sammy’s voice cracked. “You know, I always meant to ask you this, Eema. I remember having a fit because you wouldn’t let me have a hot dog.”

“Yes, I remember that well.”

“I mean, I really had a fit.”

“Yes, you had a very big one.”

“Then…like a couple hours later…after I forgot all about it…you got me and Yonkie…like a dozen hot dogs. Where’d they come from?”

Rina’s eyes turned soft. “Bram went back into town and got them at the kosher deli.”

Sammy said, “He went from Anaheim to L.A., then back again to Anaheim just for hot dogs? That’s like an hour-and-a-half trip.”

“Closer to two and a half hours with traffic,” Rina said. “It was your birthday. He wanted you to be happy. If he had told me his plan, I would have said no. But he didn’t tell me. Just took the car and said he’d be back later.”

She smiled.

“I was furious with him for disappearing. I was left alone for over two hours with two very cranky boys. Demanding this and whining about that—”

“We weren’t that bad,” Sammy said.

“It wasn’t your fault. I was cranky, too. By that time, I was so exhausted, I just wanted to go home. Lunch had been long eaten and we were all starving. Bram was nowhere in sight. Then all of a sudden…”

Rina let out a small laugh.

“I see this guy walking toward us, wearing a cassock.”

She laughed again.

“You’re not allowed to bring food into Disneyland. Bram had changed into a cassock so he could conceal the hot dogs under his skirt. He figured no one would stop and frisk a priest. Even though he had grown an enormous stomach and was reeking of garlic.”

“That’s right…” Sammy squinted, trying to recall the image. “That’s right. He was wearing normal clothes when we started out.”

“I was ready to kill him,” Rina said. “But the sight of him walking toward us with this pregnant belly was so comical. He brought me into a corner, pulled out the hot dogs…like he was selling me drugs.” She paused. “I almost forgot to wash, that’s how hungry we all were. We ate and ate and ate and ate. Plus, we got real A-one treatment after that. The ride lines parted for us like the Red Sea. The boys were thrilled.”

Decker said, “Respect for the clergy.”

“Now I know why people impersonate police officers or priests. One woman there…” Rina laughed again. “She pulled Bram aside, told him she needed to make an on-the-spot confession. Nothing could dissuade her. Since Bram hadn’t taken his orders, he wasn’t allowed to hear confession. He didn’t know what to do.”

“What’d he do?” Sammy asked.