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?”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 25 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. 

Hinda took a few steps back, as she parted from the Kosel, and then turned right. A group of girls was walking ahead of her. One of the girls was holding a bottle of spring water. She didn’t have a pocketbook. Hinda looked at the light blue top and wondered how loudly she should call out, “Mali!” In the end she decided not to say anything at all, and to just continue walking.

Someone said something, and Mali laughed. Another girl asked a question, and Mali answered. She had a pleasant voice, and despite the tingle of irritation that rose inside Hinda when she heard that oh-so-familiar voice, she was also filled with warm, maternal emotions that she could not clearly define.

She looked at her own pocketbook and her black shoes, with the zippers on them. Mali wouldn’t like them. She wouldn’t want to meet her like this, with her friends. So Hinda just continued walking.

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 24 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. 

On Sunday morning, Dov and Hinda set out for Yerushalayim, as planned. Penina waved goodbye from the doorway of the house and wished them good luck. Hinda, who had wondered earlier if Penina would be nervous to stay alone in a strange house, was happy to see the confidence with which the younger woman closed the door behind them and then locked it.

Zevi, Penina’s husband, was also joining them. It would be a much shorter and more comfortable trip for him than traveling by bus, he’d said, and he was grateful that they were willing to pass through Bnei Brak for him.

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 23 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. 

A few minutes after Martin sat down at the computer again, all the open programs closed down one after another, and the screen went dark. Martin’s hand paused over the keyboard. Something was very strange. It couldn’t be a sudden bug, because the programs wouldn’t close one by one if the shutdown would have been uncontrolled. This was intentional.

Like what was going on in this whole house…

Martin turned around. For the first time since he had arrived, the main timer had also taken control over the computer. It was strange that until now, it had only affected the lights, air conditioner, and curtains, but not the computer. What had changed?

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 22 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 placed the frozen pizza he had just removed from the freezer onto the counter and studied the two ovens. He was fortunate that Perl was a religious Jew who observed kashrus, because that was the only thing that he still retained from living with Grandma. So, it was safe to assume that the oven near the stovetop was for meat, and if so, the one to his right was dairy. Martin switched the oven on, placed the pizza on the tray that was inside, and closed the door. Ten minutes on the bake setting should be enough.