Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 44 of a new online serial novel, If Anyone Is Listening, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

“Ruchi, Tatty and I have an idea.” Mrs. Katz sits down on the bed nearest to Isamar’s cradle and looks at her daughter.

“What?” Ruchi raises her eyes from Isamar’s mobile. She’s in the middle of spinning it around and around, enjoying how the baby’s eyes follow the dancing lights.

“You know that we can’t do any surgeries now here, right?”

“No! No! Don’t talk to me about surgery now!” She abandoned the mobile. “Please, Mommy! I heard what Tatty said, that in the hospitals these days, there are tons of police. I’m scared!”

“That’s exactly it; we don’t think it’s a good idea to go with Isamar to the hospital now, at least not here.”

“So then where is it yes okay to go to the hospital?”

“In Eretz Yisrael. There are very good doctors there.”

“What?! We should fly to Eretz Yisrael?!”

“Yes, that’s our idea. You like flights and trips, don’t you?”

Ruchi’s hands are shaking as she sits down. She’s silent for a few long moments. She tries again to activate the mobile but isn’t able to. Her mother comes closer to her and puts a hand on her daughter’s frozen shoulder.

“I….” Ruchi is taking deep breaths, and they are coming more rapidly and closer together. “I…can’t…fly…now.”

“Not alone,” her mother says quickly. “Do you know that Breindy needs to go to Eretz Yisrael soon?”

“Breindy Shurkin?” Ruchi raises her eyes. “When is she coming here?”

“This evening, like we made up. Do you want to talk to her about a trip to Israel?”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 43 of a new online serial novel, If Anyone Is Listening, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

This time, Ruchi’s mother answers the phone when I call. “Hi,” she says pleasantly. “How are you?”

“Fine, baruch Hashem. And you?”

“Baruch Hashem, fine.” She sighs lightly, and I wonder how to begin. The notes I wrote myself to help me get through this conversation are in front of me, but suddenly, not a single sentence of what I wrote seems appropriate to start with. I don’t want her to feel attacked, or like I’m accusing her.

But what if such a sentiment is simmering inside me?

“How is Ruchi? How is she feeling?” I ask slowly.

“Baruch Hashem. A day like this, a day like that.”

“It’s not easy.”

“True.”

“And how is your back?”

“The situation isn’t making it easier,” she answers. “Things are really…complicated. The couple is here again, and I need to go up and down the stairs a lot.” Something in her answer is less routine than I expected. Not that I wasn’t able to hear during our phone calls until now that things were hard for her. But now she sounds rather determined not to hide anything.

“What about the aide?”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 42 of a new online serial novel, If Anyone Is Listening, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

“Again the same message? Couldn’t he say a bit more than this?”

Rudy ignored his friend’s frustration. “Tell me, Steve, what are your plans?”

“Now? To send a message to Moni’s email address, ordering him to tell me what’s going on with him.”

“You said you don’t want to send anything to him, because you’re afraid it will be detected.”

“Right, but I’ll encode it to a level where they won’t be able to put a hand on it.” The capillaries in his eyes bulged with fury and exhaustion. “And I’ll also make sure it will be deleted a few seconds after he opens it.”

“Has he ever answered you when you emailed him?”

“No. But now I’m going to write him the truth, and he won’t be able to ignore me when he sees I’m taking all the accusations against him upon myself!”

“What exactly are you going to write to him?” Rudy asked as he checked if anything was left in the snack bag on the table. “I think if you want to continue the game, you should be very careful about writing explicitly who you are and what your connection is to this story.”

“Oh, of course. But I am going to write to him that if, on his next recording, he doesn’t report clearly what is going on with him, I’m dropping the whole thing and telling the police the truth.”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 41 of a new online serial novel, If Anyone Is Listening, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

Eli Katz, Ruchi’s father, walks into the house, wrapped in his thoughts, his gaze unfocused. It’s so out of character for him that even Ruchi, sitting in the armchair, asks him, “Tatty, are you feeling okay?”

“I’m fine, baruch Hashem,” he says as he takes a seat near his son-in-law. Yudi is sitting and doing nothing more than gazing at the ceiling. Ruchi begins to laugh, that hoarse, somewhat forlorn sound that she had taken to using these past few weeks.

“You look so funny!” she says. “The two of you sitting next to each other, without talking. It seems like you don’t even notice that you’re sitting near each other!”

“I definitely noticed Yudi, actually,” her father says. “Hi, Yudi, how are you?”

“Huh?” His son-in-law turns to look at him with wide eyes rimmed by dark circles. “Me? So, I don’t know. Uh…baruch Hashem, fine.”

“When did you get home from work?”

“I didn’t go.”

“Why?”

“Because my boss said that he can’t pay for the next month anyway, and if I come late, then it’s better that I shouldn’t come at all this month.”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 40 of a new online serial novel, If Anyone Is Listening, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

“Zahava, how is Yaakov Shlomo feeling?” It was Yankel.

She was sitting on a bench in the ward, outside her husband’s room, yawning. “Fine, baruch Hashem. Today they sat him in a chair.”

“That’s very fast, isn’t it? Wasn’t the surgery just yesterday?”

“Yes, but that’s how it is here. I hope they are good enough and that they know what they’re doing…”

“I think it’s a good hospital,” her brother said to her. “It really is a shame that you couldn’t come here for this surgery, but there was nothing we could do about it. Besides, even without taking your financial situation into consideration, I doubt they would do any surgery here now for foreign residents. You said that Tzippy made some inquiries about the surgeon, right?”

“Something like that. Believe me, I don’t remember anymore what she told me and what she didn’t. She’s only seventeen, and it was very hard for her to be here alone in this situation.” She glanced toward the end of the corridor.

“So she’s home now? Did you send her home to rest and recover a bit?”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 39 of a new online serial novel, If Anyone Is Listening, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

“Thanks for being here with me, Bayta,” Tzippy said. She put her Tehillim into a bag as her sister-in-law came back to sit next to her, after disappearing for a few minutes. She looked with distaste at the croissant that Batya offered her. “What’s this?”

“This? It’s yeast dough, rolled up and baked,” Batya said with a little laugh. “Maybe there’s some chocolate filling inside—I have no idea.”

“You just bought it at the cafeteria?”

“No, my mother sent some food along with my father.”

Instinctively, Tzippy looked behind her, where she saw the profile of the mechutan, Batya’s father, sitting in a corner far across the room.

“I hope it doesn’t bother you that my father came here,” Batya said, playing with the paper bag that held the croissant. “My parents don’t think it’s appropriate for two young girls, even if one of them is married, to be sitting alone in the family waiting room.”

“That’s true,” Tzippy said. “And it’s really nice of your father to come. Chumi’s friend’s mother offered to come, but I didn’t feel comfortable being here myself with her. And it’s for sure not a good thing for Chumi herself to be here—she’s too sensitive.” She leaned back, her eyes fixed on the corridor that led out from the huge room. Was that where the doctor or nurse would come from, to update them about the progression of the surgery?

Over the door was a large screen, with constantly changing numbers. Every patient had a number, and that was the only update she had right now about her father’s status. Until half an hour earlier, it said that S67 was in preparation for surgery, and now he appeared on the list of those who were already in the operating room. The next stage would be recovery, but she had no idea how much time would pass until her father’s number would be transferred to that column. Or rather, until her father would be transferred into recovery.

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 38 of a new online serial novel, If Anyone Is Listening, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

Leibowitz is waiting on the corner of the sidewalk, gazing distractedly at the lines of cars speeding by. When he sees Eli Katz parking his car and emerging, he waves. “Hi there, Eli.”

“Hello,” Ruchi’s father replies, and shakes his hand. “Now can you explain to me why you wanted to meet specifically here?”

“In my profession, we always have to take into account surveillance, wiretapping, and eavesdropping,” the private investigator says patiently. “When there’s a hot topic on the table, I will never give a report in the office or in my car.”

“And this is a hot topic?”

“Moni? Broiling.” He walks toward the crosswalk, Katz at his side. “To the best of my knowledge, they are focusing all their energies on that guy who is barricading himself, but they’re also open to other options, and are checking into every shred of information that comes their way. But a Jew cares about another Jew, and I would not want to be the one to provide information about Moni to them. It would turn me into a moiser.”

“So you have information.”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 37 of a new online serial novel, If Anyone Is Listening, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

“I don’t know how this is all going to end up, Shimmy.” Despite the ominous context, Gedaliah actually sounded pretty normal. He was driving while speaking on the phone with Shimmy. “The government has declared semi-martial law in order to try to take control of the economic chaos. They are giving out vouchers and subsidizing basic essentials and medications, just so people can live. But the business sector is on the verge of collapse, the stock market is almost paralyzed, stocks are sliding at a dizzying speed…”

“I don’t know how things will end up on my end, either.” Shimmy’s voice was laced with melancholy. “My father is in the hospital with a serious infection—though they’re saying it’s not dangerous, baruch Hashem—but the people here are trying to convince me to stay.”

“Don’t do it.”

“That’s what I thought at first. I mean, Shabbos here was really awful…”

“You were in the room that they gave you?”

“Only for part of the time.” Shimmy sounded very irritated. “I walked seven kilometers for davening and the seudos. I demanded that the bat should not accompany me, but I’m not sure I really wasn’t under surveillance. On the other hand, they’re paying me very well.”

“In dollars? Hard cash?”

“Yes, cash. I think that’s a commodity worth a lot these days, isn’t it?”

“Apparently. Though from everything that has happened, I’ve learned that it’s impossible to really rely on any money. Oops.” He slammed on the brakes. “What is this, a demonstration? About the new laws?” He muttered something to himself.

“Who are the demonstrators? Blacks?”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 36 of a new online serial novel, If Anyone Is Listening, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

“In serious condition! He wants people to pray for him! So now at least we know he’s not dead, but go figure what’s going on with him…”

Steve was getting more agitated by the minute. He got up and then sat down again. He opened the cabinets that were packed with boxes of food that could last even through a three-month siege, and then closed them. He strode to the other room and then came back. “His voice was cut off suddenly, as if someone had stopped the recording right after he’d asked for prayers. I hope they didn’t catch him.”

“They didn’t. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be here, waiting patiently for you,” Rudy reminded him as he wrapped himself in a thin woolen blanket he’d found in one of the cabinets.

“Their patience is holding only because of what I buried all around this cabin.”

“What difference does it make why they are still being patient? They are surrounding you, so they are not surrounding him. That’s encouraging, right?”

“Right.”

“And it’s also encouraging to hear that he asked for prayers. This way we know he’s not an atheist,” Rudy added, trying to pull Steve out of the black mood he sometimes sank into.

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 35 of a new online serial novel, If Anyone Is Listening, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

“There still are no new recordings! It’s been so long, I’m losing my mind!” Steve griped as he paced back and forth.

“Take a drink, and calm down,” Rudy said with a yawn.

“And did you see what they informed me? That they don’t believe that it’s me! Do you know what I’m going to do to them? I’m going to go into those accounts again and reset them! If some corrupt guy was happy to earn his ten thousand dollars this month, he’ll find that his account is empty all over again!”

***

“Tzippy, what day is today?”

Tzippy started. “Thursday night, Tatty.”

“Have you spoken to Mommy at all?”

“Yes. She’s very worried about you.”

“Oy. It’s late already… I see it’s dark outside. Go home, Tzippy.”

“Yes, I’m leaving soon, and I’ll be back early in the morning, b’ezras Hashem.”

“But you can’t be here for Shabbos,” he said, his eyes closed. “What are the doctors saying? They don’t plan to release me just yet, do they?”

“Your fever hasn’t gone down for three days, Tatty. You can’t go home now.”

“If you’ll be home with Chumi for Shabbos, I’ll manage by myself here. Do the neighbors know you’re alone? Maybe tell them something, so they’ll know to bring you food.”

“I don’t know who knows and who doesn’t,” Tzippy said. “You know how it is, everyone is busy with their own lives. Oh, Hirschbaum’s son did come up and say that his father wanted to know how you are doing, because he hasn’t seen you in shul for a long time. And he asked me to tell you refuah sheleimah.”

“I think he might have called too, but I couldn’t answer. My two chavrusos also called. I answered one of them, barely, and then I didn’t pick up for the second.”

“Would you want them to come visit?”

He shook his head in an ambiguous way, and was quiet for two long minutes, until Tzippy thought he might have fallen asleep. But suddenly he spoke again. “So what’s with Shabbos, Tzippy? What are you and Chumi going to eat? There’s money at home; go tomorrow and buy takeout if you don’t have the time and energy to cook.”

“I won’t leave you here by yourself.” Her teeth were clenched. “And it will be fine here, b’ezras Hashem. At the Yad Sarah building next door, there’s a guesthouse with rooms to sleep, and there are meals in the hospital courtyard, from Bikur Cholim. Chumi will stay with the Grossmans, her friend.”