Take care—it's sopping wet. You don't look backward enough.
[He takes out his handkerchief and begins drying the chair.]
DAVID [Faintly smiling]
I thought you wanted the salt to melt.
MENDEL
It is melting a little if you can smile. Do you know, David, I haven't seen you smile since that Purim afternoon?
DAVID
You haven't worn a false nose since, uncle.
[He laughs bitterly.]
Ha! Ha! Ha! Fancy masquerading in America because twenty-five centuries ago the Jews escaped a pogrom in Persia. Two thousand five hundred years ago! Aren't we uncanny?