Zevi climbed the familiar stairs, but before he had even managed to knock, the door was pulled open and two little figures hurled themselves at him.

“Zevi!” Shloimy howled. “Ima! Zevi’s here! Savta! Zevi’s here! Abba! Zevi’s here!”

His mother came out of the kitchen and began hovering around him, like she usually did. His brothers danced around him happily, and he tried to smile at them all despite his exhaustion.

“How was it, Zevi’le?” his mother asked when things had calmed down a bit and the younger children had decided that they had seen enough of him. Savta had gone to lie down before lunch, and he and Ima were left alone in the kitchen.

“It was very nice,” Zevi said, leaning back in his chair. He couldn’t deny the fact that he had enjoyed himself, despite all the arguments he’d had with Yehuda. He smiled and drank the rest of the contents of his glass. Now he had an opportunity that he did not know when he would have again. It was just him and Ima, and Yehuda’s words were fresh enough in his mind so that he could repeat them as they had been said. True, he did not agree with Yehuda one hundred percent, but that was exactly why it would be a good idea to first hear what his mother had to say about it. He wondered if Abba had told Ima about the guy who had been following him. Then again, that was really unrelated to this conversation. Keep Reading…

Libby turned out to be a very entertaining child, who talked most of the time, spent a small amount of time wandering around curiously, and spent an even tinier amount of time listening to Chasida talk. Even then, she usually had a quick answer on the tip of her tongue for whatever Chasida said.

“This store is cute,” she said seriously. “But I think it’s a bit boring. Tell me, don’t you get bored from it?”

“Sometimes,” Chasida conceded. “When there are no customers. But when the store is busy, I don’t have a minute to be bored.”

“Well, I see that now there are no customers, right? If I wasn’t here, you’d probably be very bored. How much time could you be in one place without talking to a single person?”

“When you get used to it, lots of time.” Keep Reading…

As soon as the lunchtime break arrived, Yerachmiel hurried to the room where the hot water urn was set up, to prepare himself some coffee. He didn’t usually leave his campers right at the beginning of the break, but his thirst was stronger than his willpower. No, he wasn’t worried. He didn’t suspect that the old side effect from the operation was coming back to haunt him. It was simply that it was a quarter to two and he still hadn’t put a thing in his mouth that day, not even a drink of water. So it was no wonder he was thirsty.

He opened the refrigerator and took out the milk, trying to focus his thoughts on his campers and the big quiz coming up for them—anything so as not to think of the conversation with Mrs. Kurzman. He wasn’t being particularly successful at it, but at least the sharp, tangible pain was dissipating a little with each minute that passed since the phone call.

“Yerachmiel, would you mind making me a cup, too?” It was Ephraim, one of the younger counselors. Yerachmiel had liked his cheerful smile from the first time he had met him at the counselors’ meeting.

“Sure,” he said. “Let me just finish drinking mine. I haven’t eaten a thing today.”

“What’s with you—I was kidding!” Ephraim said as he opened the fridge. “Since when do I drink coffee? Where’s the Coke? Who finished it?” Keep Reading…

Shevi’s fists were clenched. Small beads of sweat glistened on her skin and she quietly whispered chapters of Tehillim. What had happened to Eliad? Why had the hospital summoned them with such urgency? To…say goodbye, chalilah? From her perch on the back seat, she glanced at Reb Eliyahu’s hands on the wheel. She didn’t know what the speedometer said, but she had a feeling that the car was traveling fast, very fast.

Eliyahu was talking to Gavriel. “A sting?” he asked as he overtook a gas truck.

“That’s how it started,” Gavriel replied. “But it seems to have gotten much more complicated than a simple sting.”

“Yes, but what kind of sting was it?”

Gavriel turned his mouth down in response.

“The head, you said?”

“Near the eye. I think they’re afraid for his vision.”

Eliyahu murmured something, and then glanced in the rearview mirror. He wrinkled his forehead, and then dialed a number on his cellular keypad affixed near the wheel. Three long rings cut through the silence in the car before someone answered.

“Hello, Rabbi Eliyahu!” a voice boomed through the line.

“Hi, Arthur. What are you doing now?”

“Me? I just came up from the hotel dining room and I’m planning to take a nap. Why?”

“I have other plans for you.” Keep Reading…