Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 57 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. 

Dr. Jerry Skulholt decided to have their semiweekly conversation on the open balcony this time. It was the first time Michoel had been out on the rooftop space. Gazing all around, he followed the doctor, who used his key to open the door. He gasped at the breathtaking mountain scenery that surrounded them. They weren’t really mountains—more like hilltops—but the horizon was mountainous, against a cerulean background, with a few clouds at the peaks.

“Amazing scenery,” he said. He didn’t ask which mountains they were, because he knew he wouldn’t get an answer.

“It is,” Skulholt said with satisfaction, and led him to a wide sunshade umbrella that stood over a plastic table and two chairs. The table was surrounded by plants, and in general, green was the dominant color on the balcony.

“We’ve been making some progress recently, huh?” Dr. Jerry said as he took his seat.

“Progress with me?”

“Yes. Don’t you also feel it?”

“Sure I do.”

“How are the memories? Inundating you?”

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?”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 51 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. 

They arrived at Chevy’s home, where the siyum and yahrtzeit seudah would be held. It was actually Dov’s house, but his daughter Chevy was living there for now, until her own apartment would be ready. It was the natural place for them to hold the event.

Dov and Martin had been engaged in conversation about possible study tracks for Martin, and they did not stop talking even as they called for the elevator, or when it stopped in front of the open door of the apartment on the third floor. Dov only fell silent when he saw Chevy and Yael in the entryway.

“Abba, welcome!” Chevy greeted her father. “We’ve been waiting for you.” She glanced beyond his shoulder, as if to make sure that no one—other than the unfamiliar boy trailing her father—had come with him. 

“How are you, girls?” he asked, putting the brimming bag he was carrying into Chevy’s arms. “Here are the bourekas, and cabbage salad, if I’m not mistaken. Come in, Martin. I’m right behind you.” He pointed to the dining room, and made sure that Martin had gone in, before turning to his daughters. “How are you doing?”

“Baruch Hashem.” Chevy leaned against the wall.

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 50 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. 

This time, the conversation between Michoel and Dr. Jerry did not take place in the regular office. The doctor took him out to the lawns, to a quiet corner that Michoel had not known existed until today. The truth was, he didn’t know much about anything that was going on in this place. There was too much that he didn’t know, and he wondered if it would even be right to bring Yosef here. He was not the type who bought every word he was told, even if the principles of the method sounded interesting. He’d always been suspicious.

The doctor sat on a wooden bench, folded his right leg and rested it on his left one. He took out a cigarette from an unfamiliar brand and lit up. “How are you acclimating, Michoel?”

“Thank G-d. But I want to recover and return to my country.”

“Israel.”

“Yes.”

“Is someone waiting for you at home?”

“At home, no. But I have extended family members who are very devoted to me.”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 49 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. 

“Get him away from here! Fast! Fast!”

Hinda paused at the beginning of the short hallway. The response was so uncharacteristic of Yosef, and it was certainly not in sync with the brooding and withdrawn state that he had been in these past two days. She glanced behind her, to the entry hall. Dov was just ushering Martin in; the boy had come down for supper and probably also for a conversation about his plans. Yosef had gotten out of bed just then, and come out to the kitchen for a drink.

Dov and Martin turned around together, as if synchronized. Yosef was standing there, his eyes ablaze.

“It’s you, from Michoel’s house in Yerushalayim!” he nearly screamed. “You came here another time already, I know! You came to Haifa to follow me, and now you came again!”

Hinda walked over to her son, not yet sure what she was going to say. But before she could respond, Martin beat her to it.

“You’re right,” he said. “And I’m sorry for scaring you. But I had no intention of following you. It was only because I was looking for a way to speak to your father and mother about Michoel Perl.”

“Who did you want to speak to?” Yosef demanded.

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 48 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 and Hinda left the room. “He’s talking sensibly,” Dov said. “At least, in my opinion. It’s not an unusual response for someone who experienced a trauma from the death of someone he was close to. Or even relatively close to.”

Hinda nodded. “Right.” She leaned on the wall, and instinctively, Dov offered her the cup of water he was still holding. But once again, the cup remained in his hand, untaken. Hinda slowly walked over to the couch and sat down. She looked at the painting of the swans on the pond that Mali had drawn when she was thirteen, but didn’t really see anything.

“According to the dry criteria, there is not supposed to be a connection between schizophrenia and depression,” she said hollowly. “But I feel like, in this field, everything is connected, and everything is sensitive. He once began falling into a depression, and just about got out of it. And now again…?” She took a deep breath, and this time, she did take the cup of water that Dov was offering.

“First of all, I think that right now you don’t need to panic about this,” her husband said. He kept glancing at the door to the room, which was ajar. “At this point, it’s not depression. It’s normal grief.”

“For someone he knew for two days?”

“We don’t know what this person did for him. Sometimes the shortest encounter can be very deep.”