Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 38 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. 

SECTION 2: MORNING

Chapter Thirty Eight

A note slid under the door of Shelter B:

Is Hauptmann Josef Wangel inside now?

The note was sent back:

No, only one of the young ones.

Binyamin crumpled the note in his tightly closed fist, and without waiting, he cautiously turned the handle of the heavy door and entered. His eyes fell on the person sitting closest to it. “Thanks.” He smiled wanly to Elkovitz and slowly closed the door behind him.

“So you also came late,” the man whispered.

“As you can see.” Binyamin took a deep breath and opened the velvet satchel. “I didn’t know they were so pressured. Now, if you don’t mind…”

“Yes, of course,” Elkovitz replied. “Daven. I won’t bother you.”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 37 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. 

A letter that Binyamin wrote to his mother when he was seven years old:

To my dear Mamme!

I am lying in bed but I can’t fall asleep. I don’t like the end of the month, when there is no moon in the sky and everything is dark and you are also sleeping. Do you think that when Mashiach comes, the moon will be round all the time, or that we’ll be able to turn on as many lights as we want then, anyway?

Please tell me in the morning that you read this letter and that you are not laughing at someone who is afraid of the dark. Because the night is sometimes so long!

And also tell me what I can do so that I won’t be scared, because I already said Krias Shema and all the pesukim, and it’s just darker than ever.

From, Binyamin

The letter was kept in an upper cabinet in the house, with Naomi’s compositions and drawings by them both, along with a few other mementos of days past.

The door of the cabinet opened, and pages upon pages slid down in the darkness to the floor. He was again a little boy of seven, sad and hesitant, waiting for his mother to come and maybe sing something for him. He sat on the cold floor, with all the papers scattered around him. Maybe that little piece of paper was Tatte’s hospital card? It certainly looked like a medical document.

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 36 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 bulletin board in the main dining room:

For a nominal fee, you can have your clothes laundered in the factory’s washing machine. Anyone interested should please contact Elky Kush.

“Elky?” Rochel Cohen put the big ladle down on the counter when she saw her daughter approaching, and came out from behind the counter. “How are you?”

“Baruch Hashem, everything is fine.”

“What’s the sign I saw this morning all about?”

“Oh, nothing major. Peri, who is in charge of laundry at the factory, told me that the new machine is faster and has a bigger drum, so the factory workers’ overalls and aprons get laundered faster. So now the old machine is standing empty.”

“And the office decided to give people a chance to enjoy it?”

“Yes…sort of.”