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For Want Of An Egg Bagel
Arthur M. Horwitz
EDITOR'S NOTE: About midday on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015, as he walked through a shopping center parking lot at 12 Mile Road and Evergreen
Road in Southfield, journalist and author Norman Prady was struck by a hit-and-run driver. He suffered a severe concussion and the fracture of a
spinal bone. As he continues his rehabilitation program, his doctors have assured him that there is no cognitive impairment and that a full recov-
ery is expected. Police continue to search for the felonious driver and a reward has been posted for information leading to arrest and conviction.
Here is his personal reporting of the experience, written in a manner that might be called pain-relieving survivor's humor.
N
othing. Not the stove's moist puffs mystical message to me that today was a day
of mother's ketchup-slathered
to get some egg bagels.
slowly braising beef brisket. Not
"How fresh are the egg bagels?" I asked the
the delightfully challenging spices of grand-
bagel store man.
ma's dill green tomatoes pickled from her
"Very:'
garden. Nothing. Nothing ever demanded
"I'll take a dozen:'
access to my mouth with the determination
"I should tell you," he said, "because some
and promise of an egg bagel freshly drawn
people object. This batch came out with
from a letter-box oven by a European man in extra crispy crust. Some people don't like
a shoulder-strap undershirt.
that:'
As if born to the weekly Saturday
"Extra crispy? Then give me two
dozen:'
evening adventure to prepare for the
next day's brunch, my two sisters
With two dozen extra crispy
and I would climb into the back seat
egg bagels in an extra-large brown
of our father's blue Chevrolet and
paper bag, I again headed out into
head down Linwood Avenue to Joy
the comforting October sunshine,
Road, a part of Detroit that smelled
anticipating filling my car with a
like no other, its industrial atmo-
bouquet
like no other. As I stepped
Norman Prady
sphere covered over with a flavor
off of the sidewalk in front of the
joyously found in every direction
store, my eyes shouted for me to
within a few blocks of the bagel factory.
stop moving. They'd seen the front of a small
Although named the New York Bagel
gold-colored car about to turn the corner
Company in 1921 by founder Morris
into my path. Jumping back onto the side-
Goldsmith, a turn-of-the-century Russian
walk, I held still, waiting for the car to pass.
immigrant, for the U.S. city he and many
But it stopped.
other new Americans first saw, we always
I made the assumption — foolish, as so
knew it as the bagel factory. Lost is the name
many are — that the driver was allowing me
of the deli next door where my father would
to cross the lane toward my car. When I was
run in for lox or other smoked fish —say,
about 8 or 10 feet from the sidewalk, the car
white and sable — perhaps a small treat of
started moving again, headed directly toward
corned beef or salami. Perhaps a few slices of me. I quickly learned that it is not possible to
nutty Switzerland Swiss cheese cleaved from
stop a small gold-colored car — or probably
a wheel big enough to drive a Mack truck.
any other kind — with your belly.
Nothing. Nothing in any of the sacks he
As my sunglasses, my keys and two dozen
brought into the blue Chevrolet could over-
extra crispy egg bagels in an extra-large
brown paper bag went flying from me, I
power the egg bagels. The scent would linger
into our Sunday afternoon car rides and pos- spiraled to the concrete in a clumsy pirou-
sibly on for the next owner of the car.
ette that fractured the last bone in my spine.
Then, some generations and hundreds or
Then, as the small gold-colored car backed
thousands of egg bagels later, as I finished
up and sped down the driveway to escape
an errand in a west side office building and
out onto the street, I felt myself falling back-
walked out into the bright sunshine of a
ward. Here comes the concussion, I warned
mid-October morning and opened the door
myself, believing I never again would be
of my own car, there it was, the aroma of
able to write a coherent English sentence.
egg bagels, the tap-tap-tap of poppy seeds
First came the pain. Then the fear. Then a
dancing along the perfect crusts, all part of a
string of why and what questions. Why did
he stop and then drive into me? Why did he
flee? Why didn't I die? What happens to me
now? Then the anger. Hatred. Vengeance.
Kill him. Make him hurt as much as I'm
hurting. More. Then retribution. Sue him
for millions. Give the money to charity. Just
make him pay. Then justice. Punish him.
Jail him. Imprison him. Then more pain
came. And nothing else mattered.
Conscious for every second of this esca-
pade into agony, I noticed, just as my skull
hit the concrete, that the bagel man came
running out of the store. I saw him bend
down, perhaps to pick something up, and
then rush to my side. As he knelt next to
me, that incredible fragrance once again
splashed across my face.
"Don't worry," the bagel man said, clutch-
ing the extra-large brown paper bag. "Don't
worry:' the bagel man said as he patted my
shoulder. "Don't worry," the bagel man said
as I tried to conjugate a verb. "Look:' the
bagel man said, "It's OK. See? I saved the
bagels:' *
Norman Prady, 82, of Berkley declared himself a
writer at age 9 when his father brought home a used
Underwood standard typewriter. He has contributed
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The suspect in this hit-and-run was
described as a white male, 18-25 years
old, with a medium complexion who
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letters
Limmud Michigan
Gains Presenters
Thank you so much for your recent
article about our first-ever Limmud
Michigan on Sunday, March 13, in Ann
Arbor ("Exciting Learning," Dec. 17, page
22).
It was spot-on in its description of
Limmud as an exploration and celebra-
tion of all things Jewish, appealing to and
including any and all Jews in our entire
area. We are sure that excitement for this
unique opportunity will grow from this
important and wide-reaching publicity.
Just a couple of corrections are in order.
Davey Rosen of Ann Arbor is actually the
co-chair with Iry Goldfein. It is because of
Davey's hard work, energy and dedication
that this event will be happening.
We will indeed have a terrific program
run by Ramah Fellows for kids K-8 but we
are unable to offer babysitting this year
for younger children.
Our list of presenters continues to grow.
Please go to limmudmichigan.org to look
at the wide range of sessions (click on
Event 2016 then scroll down to Presenters)
and for more information on the event
and its supporters. See you there!
Sue Birnholtz
Sylvan Lake
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6 December 31 • 2015