Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 10 of a new online serial novel, Nine A.M., by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week. Click here for previous chapters.
Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications.
On the wall at the entrance to the kindergarten, next to the pictures of the flowers, were large, light blue letters that spelled out:
Good morning to you, sun! Good morning, world!
Good morning to Bilhah and to all the sweet children!
The children sang this morning song each day. Some of them were still confused and sang “Bilhah” instead of “Naomi,” even though it was already their new teacher’s third day here. Naomi sat in front of fifty-eight pairs of eyes, scanning her gaze over them all. Mila was at the table on the side, slicing loaves of fresh bread into nice, precise slices and smearing half of them with cheese and the other half with blueberry jam.
When they began to daven, some of the children stood up and went to the food table. “This is from the blueberries we picked yesterday on our outing, right?” a boy asked excitedly. “Naomi, who cooked them into jam? Your grandmother?”
“Naomi is davening. She can’t speak now,” his little sister explained to him.
“Shhhh!” the children who were sitting called out. Ten-year-old Sure’le cried, “Whoever doesn’t want to daven shouldn’t daven, but at least be quiet and don’t bother us!”
Naomi ignored the disturbances and continued with Birchos Hashachar. The status quo here was that all the young children attended the same kindergarten, but the activities were separate whenever it involved something frum. For that reason, the group of Reform kids always had an assistant who was one of their own, to keep them busy when the frum group was doing “their” thing. Mila was really supposed to be occupying the children from Leo Sherer’s group right now, but she was busy preparing breakfast. She had a pout on her face and kept snapping at the kids.
“Don’t touch the bread!”
Then, when the next kid poked her: “Whoever bothers me will get last!”
When davening was over, she approached Naomi. “This setup is not working,” she said. “Until now we were both assistants in the kindergarten, but there was a main teacher. Now that you became the main teacher, we need another assistant here. I’m doing all these ‘assistant’ jobs myself!”
“We really do need to get someone else,” Naomi said, and mentally reviewed the names of the big girls in their group. “The question is who is the right age.”
“Maybe Rivku, my cousin…” Mila said thoughtfully. “She’s thirteen, and she already helps in a bunch of places: the wood shed, the shop, cleaning the camp… Not that I’m sure she’ll want to work here, but maybe she will. Because then she won’t have to be running around the whole day.”
“I know her,” Naomi said cautiously. “I’ve met her on my shift in the store. She really is quite responsible. But I think that the other assistant has to be from the Orthodox group.”
“Why? You’re enough,” Mila said shortly.
“No.” Naomi didn’t look at her. “The decision of the management years ago was that the two assistants would come from the two sects in the camp, even if the main teacher is Orthodox.”
“Well, it’s really time to make some changes to that.” Mila arranged the slices of bread on the tray and glanced at the children who were sitting in their places, waiting patiently, and the children standing in line next to the big barrel so they could wash their hands. “It means that the balance of power isn’t even. Do you think it’s comfortable for me here all the time, one against two?”
“We’re not at war,” Naomi said in an appeasing tone.
“Yes and no to that.”
“Huh?” Naomi furrowed her brows. “Have you ever felt that I’m fighting you, Mila?”
“No, but if you have a different opinion than me about what the children are being taught, then it turns out that we are in essence fighting over them, over what they are going to become.”
Naomi was quiet. She couldn’t say it wasn’t true, because it was.
Mila distributed the slices to the children. They sat and ate silently, as they kept looking at the young teacher and her assistant. They had apparently picked up on the tension.
“I’ll try to get Rivku in,” Mila said, after five minutes. “I’ll tell her mother to file a request in the office.”
“No,” Naomi said, with a neutral look on her face. “They won’t approve such a thing; it’s against the agreements.”
“My mother says that the agreements were not written forever and ever. Things change over the years.”
If Mila’s mother was involved, that meant that the subject of working in the kindergarten had already been raised in Leo’s group. Apparently, when Bilhah had collapsed and Naomi became the teacher, the Reform adults had thought right away about the issue of the kindergarten assistants.
Naomi didn’t respond to Mila’s comment. The children were gazing at them both, and she knew that such an argument in front of the kids would not end positively. Deliberately, she turned to the box of pears on the table and asked loudly, “Who wants a pear?” It was really Mila’s job to rinse and slice the fruit, but right now, Naomi preferred not to ask her to do anything.
She’d need to speak to her own mother, to have her raise the issue of the classroom and the assistant with the other adults.
During circle time, the children divided into two groups. “Mila’s group” learned about summer, the sun, and the heat that was coming. “Naomi’s group” learned the weekly parshah. If Bilhah would have been here now, she would have been the one to tell them about the parshah, and Naomi would have been going to the store for her two regular hours with Elky.
Elky!
Naomi hadn’t seen her for a few days already. Maybe she’d have time to run right after work to see how her friend was doing with all of those columns of numbers.
***
The school day in the preschool ended at six-thirty in the evening. Working mothers were allowed to finish their jobs an hour and a half before everyone else, and they rushed to take their children home.
Mila washed the floor of the classroom as she grumbled away. If not for the conversation they’d had that morning, Naomi would have gladly stayed to help her. Even though she’d been promoted to the job of teacher, she could still help Mila out until a new assistant came to help with the work. But now Naomi preferred to stay out of Mila’s way. In any case, she was in a rush, since she needed to speak to both Mama and Elky as soon as possible.
Naomi murmured good night wishes and hurried out to the path. The children waved to her as they frolicked near their mothers and headed home. How simple life was in childhood! School, home, supper, and bed—that was it!
She walked up the winding path between the forest trees to the factory building. There was another advantage to her job: While everyone else’s workday in the camp finished at eight, she was done by six-thirty or seven.
A mild evening breeze rustled through the trees, and Naomi took a deep breath. The trees swayed softly around her, seeming to whisper. How beautiful the world was at this hour!
But the fact that she would be free each day at this time didn’t encourage Naomi at all. She didn’t want to be the preschool teacher. The complexities of this sensitive job were not for her at all, especially as the people in charge here did not sufficiently appreciate the concept of educating the future generation of Jews. For all they cared, the children shouldn’t learn anything at all; they should just grow up to be productive and profitable for them. After everything was said and done, that was the only reason they’d been keeping the Jews here for so many years.
Naomi reached the factory. She stood at the entrance for a moment and inhaled the clean air one last time before entering.
“Naomi, how are you?” One of her mother’s friends, who was busy cleaning the floor, waved to her. “To what do we owe the honor of your visit?”
“I came to find my friend, Elky. Is she here now?”
“No, I think she’s at the store.”
“Thanks.” Naomi went out and hurried to the other building, the low one. On the first floor, there were three rooms that served as offices for the management. On the second floor was the shop, and indeed, Elky was there. She sat near the counter, leafing through the card catalogue.
“Elky?” Naomi bypassed the bulletin board at the entrance and walked behind the counter.
“Naomi!” Her friend raised her face. A shy smile crossed her lips. “Um…I feel bad telling you this, but you know that someone who doesn’t work here is not allowed behind the counter…?”
“Oh, right.” Naomi retreated uncomfortably. “So tell me, how are you doing?”
“I’m great, and you?”
“Fine. Trying to get used to the kindergarten.”
Was that an expression of conceit that crossed Elky’s face? Maybe for a fraction of a second. By the next second, it was replaced by one of compassion. “I’ve been thinking a lot about you, poor girl… So, is that it? It’s permanent?”
“My mother told me she’d try to get it changed,” Naomi said quietly. “But for now, I’m there.”
“I’m starting in the offices in a little over a month, right after I turn sixteen.” Elky closed the card catalogue and stuck it into a drawer. “I was there yesterday for an hour of training.”
“Nu, and how was it?”
“It was…” Elky was quiet for a minute. “It was amazing, Naomi. Never in my life did I ever see so many coupons at once! Piles and piles of them. Not that they let me touch them at all; everything is locked in cabinets. But Eva Sherer was handling them without seeming too excited… I think that her salary is really high, much higher than what I’ll be getting, even though she’s only two years older than me. Well, you know whose daughter she is…”
Naomi didn’t say anything.
“So, it’s really nice that you came to visit me, Naomi.” Elky tried to inject some cheer into her voice, as if remembering a moment too late that she’d touched on a very sensitive topic. “Did you want something specific?”
“Yes, I wanted to ask your advice.” Naomi moved a step away from the counter, feeling strange.
“What about?”
“We’re going to need another assistant in the kindergarten, now that I’ve become the teacher. There’re lots of work to do with the kids, and Mila and I are not managing by ourselves.”
“Nu?”
“Mila said she’d try to get her cousin to take the job.”
“If that works, then great! What’s the problem?”
“What’s the problem?! What’s with you, Elky?” Naomi opened her eyes wide. “Two assistants from their group? Do you realize how hard it will be for me to be alone against two of them?!”
“But-but…they’re only small children.” Elky lowered her gaze to the table, and then raised it again, uncomfortably. “And the truth is, I have no idea who would even want to come and work there, now that it’s…”
“It’s what?” Naomi demanded.
She didn’t receive an answer.
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