Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 35 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. 

Martin tried again to read the words in the handwritten letter, but he wasn’t able to understand the hasty writing. What was she writing here? He could barely figure out the “I don’t understand what happened to you,” and, “someone called and asked about Weisskopf.”

Oh, right, Weisskopf. What time was it in Boro Park now? Maybe it was a good idea to try calling there again.

He hadn’t yet had the time to calculate whether his call would be waking someone up when it was already answered. “Hello?”

“Hello, Shimon?”

“Yes. Who is this?”

“I’m a friend of Michoel Perl, from Eretz Yisrael.”

“Oh,” Weisskopf said tersely.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“You can always try.”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 34 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. 

Would they not let him finish this book?! First the knocking and ringing at the door, now the phone… Martin set aside The Revelation with a sigh and picked up his phone. “Yes?”

“Hello, this is Yeruchem Goldberg, from the Kletzkin Yeshivah in Netivot. My talmid dropped by this week, and you gave him this number for me to call?”

“Oh, that’s right,” Martin said slowly. “Mr. Perl hasn’t been feeling so well lately, and I’m handling his affairs. How can I help you?”

“He hired a secretary?”

“Yes.” Martin kept it terse.

“Nice. It’s really about time. It sometimes seemed to me like it was all too much for him… Anyway, do you know about the connection that our yeshivah has with his organization?”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 33 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. 

Monsenego called on Friday morning, a few minutes after Martin decided that he’d finished going through all the drawers in the computer desk, and that it was time to move on to the bookshelves. His attention was drawn to a light pink book with a fat spine, with the title The Revelation, by S. Sternfeld.

He opened it to the first page, and then the international call came in.

“Hello?” he answered the phone.

“Good morning—it’s morning there in Israel already, isn’t it?” The voice spoke fluent English.

“Oh.” Martin sat down on the swivel chair. “Is this Mr. Monsenego?”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 32 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. 

Someone knocked at the door. Martin looked through the peephole and saw a frum bachur, wearing a black hat and jacket, standing there. The boy’s body language conveyed tension, or nervousness.

Martin went back to the computer. The boy began to ring the intercom, and the device hanging on the wall in the office room kicked in. Martin stared at it for a minute, biting his lip, and then pressed the red button, cutting off the recording a moment after Perl’s voice began its endless recitation of, “I’m sorry, I can’t speak to you right now…”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 31 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. 

In one of the kitchen drawers he found an invitation to the wedding of Eliezer Monsenego and Rivka Lutati. It was printed in three languages: Hebrew, English, and Spanish, and the wedding had taken place in the Don Josef Plaza in Mexico City one month and one week earlier.

Martin turned the invitation over. There was a phone number for R.S.V.P. He glanced at it for a long moment, toying with his phone as he did. Let’s say he’d call; how would he introduce himself? Why should these people answer a stranger’s questions, especially questions as odd as whether or not someone named Michoel Perl had participated at their wedding, and if they knew of his plans for afterward?

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 30 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. 

Martin rubbed his eyes and stared at the table. He’d fallen asleep, and it was no wonder. He was in a severe sleep deficit from these past few days.

The conclusion of the day was that in another month, the clothing sale for needy families would be held at the Ohr Chaim hall. The clothing suppliers were requesting that Mr. Perl contact the directors of the hall to finalize the date.

This assuaged Martin’s conscience a bit. If Perl himself had arranged most of the matters, then clearly, he’d planned to pay for it.

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 29 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. 

The search results for the word “Mexico” in Perl’s inbox revealed an airline ticket for April fifteenth. After some more nosing around, Martin discovered a few strange messages:

Mr. Perl, we need approval for the order of 500 kilograms of chicken from Rabbi Schwadron’s shechitah.

Five hundred kilograms of chickens? What was an old man doing with five hundred kilos of chicken?

There were also two messages on this subject in recent days, as well as some messages about discounted clothing for families, and stipends from the Oros Fund for Children, in regard to summer vacation. The most recent messages were basically saying that if Michoel would not give the final approval, they would consider all the initiatives for discounts and stipends to be null and void.

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 28 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. 

“Enough, Penina, stop it.” Simi sounded irritated, and it took an effort on Penina’s part not to be insulted. She reminded herself that Simi was also after birth right now, and there was no reason to take her words too much to heart.

“Fine,” Penina said quietly. “When you get released from the hospital, go to the Eim V’Yeled. The loss is yours.”

Simi sighed. “Let’s talk about something else now, okay? How does your baby sleep at night?”

“Every night is different. Last night she cried a lot, and Hinda came and took her for a while.”

“Oh,” Simi said. “And other times?”

“She helps me when she can, and when she can’t, I try to manage on my own.”

“Oh,” Simi said again. She sounded tired. “When you come back, Penina, I’ll try to help you as much as I can…”

“Which won’t be too much,” Penina muttered darkly. “Simi, when you had Yehudis, what did you do?”

“I came to Abba and Ima’s house, of course.”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 27 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. 

Penina pulled up a chair and sat down at the table near Hinda. “How do you manage?” she asked conversationally, revealing that she had heard part of what Hinda had been saying on the phone, even before coming into the kitchen. “Who works with papers today?”

“Me.” Hinda smiled and put the telephone aside. “And there are a few others like me. Afterward, I send the papers to someone else, and she builds the plan using a computer program.”

“Why does she do this for you?”

“That’s her job. Usually, the person who would do this step is a beginner interior designer, so it’s worth it for her to do just this part of the work. The woman I work with happens to have been in the business for years, but—” She paused. “We enjoy working together,” she concluded.

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 26 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. 

The conversation with Rabbi Eisenthal was friendly. The rabbi didn’t probe; perhaps he didn’t know anything about Martin’s current state of affairs. It was nice to hear that as his current custodian, he had deposited the money in Martin’s account.

The second phone call was to Dan, at one in the morning, as Martin strolled along the sidewalk near Perl’s house. Dan answered sounding rather sleepy, but grew much more alert when he heard Martin’s voice. “Hey!” he said, displaying commendable caution when he didn’t state the caller’s name. “I’m not sure that I’m right and you are who I think you are, but if it’s you, how are you? Where are you hanging out?”

“And if it’s not me?” Martin laughed. “In any case, whether you mean me or not, I hang out here and there, there and here.” It was so good to hear his own voice again, and to just be himself! “How are you? What’s new in your pretty settlement?”