Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 20 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.
A phone call from Ruchi’s mother is very unusual, certainly at the hour that I am finishing my breakfast. I tense, especially in light of the fact that Yudi did not answer or return my calls a whole day yesterday.
“Good morning,” I say as I carry my plates to the sink, aware that I’m not able to suppress the trace of anxiety in my voice. “Actually, good evening to you.”
“Yes, yes,” she says. “How are you?”
“Baruch Hashem.” I hesitate for a moment. “What’s doing? Is everyone okay?”
“In general, yes, but I wanted to speak to you about the specifics.”
“Of course.” I move aside the jewelry catalog that’s been sitting on the counter since last week; my daughter’s neighbor told her that right now, her suppliers are struggling financially, and she isn’t up to opening new branches. “The orthopedist appointment was yesterday, right?”
“That’s right. Yudi didn’t update you afterward?”
“No. He hasn’t been calling, and the last day and a half he hasn’t answered when I called either.”
My mechuteiniste is quiet for a long moment and then she says, “He’s very thrown off by this whole story with the banks. It’s probably causing him to feel very unconfident.”
“Yes, that makes sense,” I say. “He called me and said that all of his savings are gone. It’s really stressing him out.”
“Right, and on top of that, we had the visit at the orthopedist. So, he didn’t rule anything out, and sent us for an ultrasound in another week. It’s possible that the baby will need surgical intervention when he’ll be a little bigger, maybe at about four months.”
“Why, what is it?”
“It is hip dysplasia, like they told us at the discharge from the hospital, but it’s a pretty serious case, not something that can be solved with braces or whatever. That’s why he’ll probably need surgery.”
“And after the surgery, will you be able to tell that he had anything?”
“Supposedly not, but there’s no guarantee… In short, you realize how traumatized Ruchi is by all this.” She sighs. “As much as we tried to water down the information, she realized that ultimately, she had been right. There is something wrong with the baby.”
“Poor girl,” I say sympathetically.
“Right. So I really don’t understand what’s behind this idea, that they should go now, of all times, to Israel.” Her tone changes at once, and my refined, polite mechuteiniste suddenly sounds like a different person. “With things as they are now, is this what they need?! When Ruchi is like this, weak and confused, and it’s so hard for her to care for the baby, and she heard what the orthopedist said…do you really think that such a suggestion is in place?! If you are so sure that Yudi is stronger than Ruchi, then if anything, talk to him and tell him to deal with this temporary issue of the banks and the finances! Give us some backing, give us some ko’ach!”
She takes a deep breath, and I stand at my kitchen table silently, fixing my eyes on the handle of the fridge to my right. It’s pretty dirty.
“I’m sorry to be so blunt, but we are asking that you call Yudi right away in the morning, our time, and talk him out of this idea. You know what happened when, just as we were telling Ruchi about the doctor’s visit, Yudi came in with his brilliant idea of going to Israel and moving in with you?! Things have just calmed down here now, and she fell asleep, but she totally lost it before—I’m not exaggerating.”
I believe her. And I hope she lets me explain that the idea was not mine.
And that I too am horrified at the thought of it.
***
“My flight for the day after tomorrow has been canceled,” Shimmy said to Batya. He was pacing up and down in front of the hotel, glancing outside every few moments as he waited for his taxi. “There’s one flight tonight, to the Philippines. Tomorrow there are another few flights leaving, but none of them will take me anywhere useful.”
“What does that have to do with the bank issue?” Batya asked. She was standing near the window, in the room where Shimmy had grown up. Her mother-in-law had invited her and Shmuli for supper, and despite her aversion to come on her own, she knew that it was something she had to do. In the end—how typical—her mother-in-law had gone to pick up new merchandise that had arrived unexpectedly at the store where she worked, and the ones actually hosting her were her young sisters-in-law.
“Lots of people canceled their tickets because of what’s going on, or they just didn’t buy tickets altogether, and the airlines refuse to let the planes fly with so few people.”
“What about the people who ordered tickets before all this happened?”
“I guess it’s more complicated than it looks to us. If there’s nothing for these people to fly for, then they don’t fly.”
“So…” Batya said slowly, “what does this mean? That you’re coming back next year, in the best-case scenario?!”
“I’m sorry, I know it’s hard for you,” he answered quietly. “I also want to be home already. Let’s hope things will get sorted out faster than they think it will, and I will be able to fly out as scheduled, the day after tomorrow, b’ezras Hashem.”
“What do they think?”
Shimmy was silent for a long moment. “It’s a really tough problem this time, worse than last time,” he answered finally. “Looks like there are very stubborn people with very brilliant minds. They say that the American government is working frantically to solve the problem and to find the people who did it.”
“So what are you going to do in the meantime?”
“Well, I’ll go around Beijing a bit, because at the end of the day, aside for the Tanchum doll, I haven’t found any other worthwhile investment opportunities here. And that’s it, more or less.”
“You once mentioned importing brand-name merchandise also, no?”
“Parallel imports,” he said. “The brand-name products themselves cost a fortune, and for no reason. The parallel import is just as good, and sometimes better. But you have to know how to do it, because if these things aren’t handled the way they should be, you could get in trouble with the law.”
“Makes sense. You realize that someone might decide to do a parallel import of your Tanchum doll, you know?”
“Nah, it’s not worth that much that someone would want to imitate it.”
“Not worth that much?!” Batya felt a rising sense of indignation. “Did you forgot how much we spoke about it at first, and how we planned the way it will react to each thing, and you sat with Gedalya on the phone for hours coming up with amusing statements…?”
“Yes, but all that was before I met Christopher.” He sighed. “Tanchum is so different from a real robot that it doesn’t even begin to be similar. It’s like…like a silent doll and a real baby.”
“You’re comparing robots to humans? Really?”
He laughed. “If you would see some of Yang Yang’s products, you wouldn’t be so surprised. And here’s my taxi now.”
Shio Ching was already sitting in the taxi that drove through the gates of the hotel, right up to the path where Shimmy stood. Shimmy put the phone in his pocket and opened the back door. “Hello,” he said to Shio. “What’s doing?”
“A mess is doing,” Shio said with a scowl. “The American economy is having a real effect here; inflation is raging all over the world now, as you surely know. Go back to your country and see how much a kilogram of rice costs, for example!”
“Well, I can’t go back there now even if I wanted to,” Shimmy replied in a bemused tone. “And you’ll get your payment tonight, in dollars, cash, remember? So you don’t need to worry so much.”
“Right, the value of the dollars that are on the market has skyrocketed to crazy numbers,” Shio said with some irritation, as if Shimmy was to blame for all of China’s problems. “That’s why our own currency is falling and falling—who knows till where.”
“It will be good, Shio, don’t worry so much.” Shimmy didn’t pat Shio’s shoulder in a friendly way, because he had no idea how such a gesture would be taken by a Chinese man. “It’s just a matter of time. And by the way, some of the conspiracy theories blame China for the hack on the banks’ computers. Based on what you are saying, though, that can’t be.”
“Of course not. Maybe America did it to themselves, to blame others and to take more control over the world.” He raised his eyes to the driver, who was speaking quietly into his headset. “Where are you going? I told you we want to see the amusement park in Central Beijing.”
“What do I have to do in an amusement park?” Shimmy asked. “I’ve always hated Ferris wheels and roller coasters.”
“Ah, I didn’t bring you to fly in the air. I thought that businesses in this field might interest you. Because since corona, there have been endless financial crises, and the prices of shares in the amusement park went down drastically. I hear that they’re starting to recover now, and that everything is going to go up soon.”
“I hear,” Shimmy said skeptically. “Is that it?” He pointed to the right, where the sky was lit up with colorful rays of light. A huge Ferris wheel stood there, and something else that was spinning at dizzying speed in various directions, flying toward the sky every few seconds, and landing again on its elevated base, as if it was out of control. Somewhere above them, there was a winding track in the air, against the backdrop of the pinkish skies, and there were three cars flying along it, upside down. Raucous music filled Shimmy’s ears, and if he wasn’t mistaken, he also heard the screaming of the crazy people who’d gone on those rides.
“I don’t think I should get off here,” he said as the taxi approached the huge, illuminated gates of the site. “I’m a Torah-observant Jew, and this isn’t the kind of place I should be visiting. I can read material about it—for my purposes, that would be just as good as a real visit.”
“Whatever you want,” Shio replied. “Wait a few minutes, and I’ll go to the reception desk to get you a brochure. That way you can get an idea.” He got off before Shimmy could even consider his words.
But he had no time to wonder any further, because a minute after the interpreter walked through the gates, the driver suddenly drove off at top speed, weaving through the traffic, and not answering any of Shimmy’s panicked shouts.
“Hello? Hello! Where are you going?! Stop! Sto-o-o-op!” Shimmy shouted in his ear, but it seemed that the driver was deaf.
Twenty seconds later, the driver stopped at the corner of a deserted, dark street. Those blue, pink, yellow, and green lights coloring the skies not far back could not penetrate this area.
***
How did my grandmother of blessed memory say it? We don’t cry about money. Sometimes it’s hard to see it, but anyone who has been through big challenges in life knows that this is the truth. Be strong, listen. Hashem is great, and He will help us all.
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