Mr. Minski

Mr. Minski is a nearby adult who appears at the edges of Jenny and Pauline’s life in San Francisco, offering a measure of ordinary neighborly concern as their private world begins to reconnect with the surrounding community. His appearances are brief, but they bookend a quarrel, a wildfire threat, and the quiet generosity of the women’s garden.

Encounters with Jenny and Pauline

After Pauline throws a heavy glass ashtray at Jenny during their argument, it misses her and smashes through the closed kitchen window. The next day, Jenny calls Mr. Minski before a neighbor can report the damage. Her long period of relative calm has left her out of practice in dealing with people: she stammers, trembles, and tells him that they will pay for the window.

Mr. Minski responds by invoking his own two daughters, whom he says are close like Jenny and Pauline, and remarking that girls fight. Pauline would have regarded his response as sexist, as though women’s quarrels were surprising. Jenny, however, is relieved by the exchange and keeps it from Pauline. She wants to preserve the moment when the two women have repaired their own bond, rather than invite needless reflection on the argument. His ordinary, reassuring response thus helps Jenny feel that their luck—and their renewed closeness—has held.

The Fire and Their Secluded World

Later, when wildfires spread across the East Bay and threaten the city, Mr. Minski comes up the outside back stairs, red-faced and excited, and checks whether the women are all right. He asks whether he should spray the house with a hose. Pauline points out that there is a drought and lawn watering is forbidden. His proposal meets a practical rebuke, but the visit itself shows him acting on his concern as smoke and heat make the danger real.

The women eventually take a radio to the roof and watch a shelf of black smoke approach, with sparks visible on the hills. Although the reports describe a city at risk, they still feel strangely distant from the world around them. Mr. Minski’s arrival briefly crosses that distance: he brings the urgency of the neighborhood to their open doorway, even as the women experience the crisis from within their secluded life.

Place in Their Emerging Community

By August, Jenny and Pauline’s garden has produced enough vegetables for them to give grocery bags away. Mr. Minski is among the recipients, along with Tom, Sandy, Mike Sorsa, Joanne, and Lena. The gifts place him within a modest network of exchange that contrasts with the women’s earlier furtive isolation. He is not developed into a close confidant; instead, his recurring presence registers a changed circumstance. The women now have neighbors to warn, call, and share food with, and their self-sufficient household has begun to participate in a community.