Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 56 of a new online serial novel, Outside the Bubble, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

She spent the morning doing lots of nothing, and she didn’t fight it. Because it wasn’t really idleness. The thoughts and emotions and the whole mess enveloping her right now—inside and out—were actually a whirling activity that tired her out much more than, say, making lunch.

Hinda wandered around the house. She walked into Yosef’s empty room. He hadn’t called today, and when she dialed his cell phone it went straight to the voicemail. She wasn’t surprised. He didn’t particularly like his phone, and preferred to use it only for emergencies.

She had no idea what Dov had eaten for breakfast. If he had eaten. Was there any salad left from what Dov had prepared last night? She hadn’t bothered to check. She didn’t eat.

She needed to eat, she knew, and soon, she’d get a hold of herself and force some food into her mouth, but for the meantime, she allowed herself to fall apart a little bit.

Hinda pushed shirts into the washing machine and then stopped in the middle, without turning it on. She should have been calmer now that Yosef was in good hands. Here, at home, there was nothing for her to do for him, after two weeks of deterioration, which had caused her heart to beat at an insane pace. She hadn’t dared leave the house all that time. She’d been afraid to leave him alone, and as far as she was concerned, leaving him with Dov was also called leaving him alone.

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 55 of a new online serial novel, Outside the Bubble, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

“Chani, are you leaving now?”

“I already left. I’m at the bus stop now.” Despite the four empty seats at the stop, Chani couldn’t sit down. She paced back and forth with her phone, glancing at the street every few moments.

“What do you say? Do you think I should also go?”

She sighed. “You tell me, Baruch. Do you think you should go?”

“I don’t know. Last time he was hospitalized was two and a half years ago, and when I came to visit, he didn’t want to look at me.” Baruch fell silent for a minute. “And besides, it was during bein hazmanim.”

Chani heard all the unspoken words. “I don’t think it’s smart for you to go now, even though, to be honest, it would be much easier for me if you’d come along,” she said.

“Yes?” This time, it didn’t take a very sharp ear to hear the relief in his voice.

“What yes? Yes, that it would be easier for me if you came along, or yes, that you shouldn’t go to him?”

“That I shouldn’t go to him,” he whispered. “I can’t think of him in that place.”

“I know. Especially since, if I remember correctly, everyone who saw you in the ward told you how much you look like him, and that didn’t exactly make you feel good.”

“Right,” Baruch whispered again.

“I’ll give him regards from you.”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 54 of a new online serial novel, Outside the Bubble, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

“He needs to get out of his routine a bit,” Michoel told Hinda. “Believe me, this is what he needs, Hinda. And coming to me here won’t only be getting Yosef out of his routine. It would be an excellent treatment option for him, too.” He was quiet for a moment, then added, “It will be good for me also. It will be regards from home, from Israel… You know, I miss it all so much…”

“Send Yosef to you?” Hinda looked at Yosef’s back, as he stood gazing out the window. She didn’t know if he was looking at the lights of the port slowly coming on, at the birds flying to their nest for the night, or at nothing.

“Yes. Why not? Haven’t I proven myself to be a nice uncle?”

“A very nice uncle, yes,” Hinda agreed. “But if I don’t know where you are, how can I send Yosef to you? Especially since I have pretty strong suspicions that he hasn’t been good about taking his medications these past few days…”

“I imagine that when it will be relevant, the people here will agree to give me details—or at least they’ll give them to you, if not to me. Everything will be fine, you’ll see.”

“Do you feel like you’re…getting better, Michoel?”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 53 of a new online serial novel, Outside the Bubble, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

Zevi was almost at the shul, on his way to Ma’ariv, when a car screeched to a halt right next to him. Someone emerged from the front passenger seat. “Hey!” he called. “Can I ask you something?”

Zevi usually liked to be helpful, but the minyan was starting in three minutes, and the last thing he wanted to do was wait for the next minyan when Penina was home alone with a kvetchy Batsheva. His wife could fool her sisters into thinking that she was glowing and thriving and cheerful, but he knew the truth.

“If it’s short,” he said uneasily.

“I hope it will be short,” the man said, coming so close to him that barely a footstep separated them. “Your number was detected by us about an hour and a quarter ago.”

“Excuse me?” Zevi really did not know what this was about. He’d totally forgotten about the call that Martin had made from his phone. But suddenly, it came back to his mind. “My number?” he asked. “What do you mean? My ID number?”

“Your phone number.”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 52 of a new online serial novel, Outside the Bubble, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

Dov’s former home was rather close to the cemetery, and when they filed out silently, Chevy looked at her sisters. “You’re coming back to me now, like we made up, right?” she asked. “Till we manage to all get together…” With two of the sisters living in Elad, and two in Bnei Brak—but each at different ends of the city—they didn’t often have a chance to get together with each other.

“Sure,” Simi replied, with the responsibility of the oldest sister. “Did you think we’d leave you with that mess after the siyum and everything?”

Chevy shook her head. “Not because of that!” She glanced at her father, standing on the side and talking with two of his sons-in-law. That boy with the heavy American accent was standing with them, too. As Chevy watched, Penina’s husband Zevi gave the boy his phone, despite the large device peeking out from the latter’s pants pocket. The boy took the phone and moved a few steps away.

“I don’t know how much longer my neighbor can watch my kids,” Yael hedged. “I told her it would take some time, because you asked us to come over afterward. But…is this going to take a long time, Chevy?”