Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 43 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. 

Yosef’s shift on Wednesdays began at seven in the morning. He left the house at ten after five for vasikin, leaving the small chessboard on the shelf in the living room.

“Will you be coming home late again today?” Hinda asked as she tightened the belt on her morning robe. She tried to walk him out each time he left, even when it was very early.

“I don’t know,” he said. After a moment he asked, “Are they leaving today?”

“Who, Dov’s daughter?”

He nodded.

“I have no idea,” she said in a low voice. “But Yosef’l, the house is yours. You don’t need to avoid coming home because of them.”

“I don’t avoid coming home because of them.” He hugged his tefillin bag to his chest. It was the same bag as Baruch’s, except for the first initial. Identical twins, except for a few things. “If I want, I’ll come home on time, okay?”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 42 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. 

“Yosef?” Dr. Kaplan stopped near the bench on which the young man with the light beard was sitting. “Yosef, wasn’t your shift over an hour ago?”

“That’s right,” Yosef affirmed.

“So, what are you doing here now?”

The young aide shrugged. “I’m not in the mood of going home.”

Dr. Kaplan lowered his voice. “And your medications?”

Yosef dug a small container of pills from his pants pocket. “I took everything with me.”

“Good. What’s going on at home? How is your twin? You have a twin, right?”

“Yes, and he’s even on vacation now; we call it ‘bein hazmanim.’ But he went to stay with my older brother, who is married. Because he also didn’t really want to come home. My mother has guests, and…it’s more comfortable for me here than at home.”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 41 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. 

By 11:30 at night, the hall had emptied, and Mali called Hinda. “Ima, what should I do with the money?”

“Give it to Michoel, of course.”

“I didn’t see him here,” Mali said, sounding puzzled.

“And his worker, the one who organized it all?” Hinda was sitting in the empty kitchen, sipping from a cup of cocoa she had prepared for herself. Dov had fallen asleep on the couch, and if she was not mistaken, Simi and her husband were sitting near the window that faced the open sea, getting some fresh air. Yosef had been sleeping for almost two hours already. He had returned late, eaten dinner, and then escaped to his room. He preferred not to show his face when Simi and her husband were around.

“We didn’t see any worker. Right, Riki?”

Mali’s friend nodded.

“There were a ton of people here, and I think only the importer of the clothes is here now, with his workers. They’re packing up the stuff that’s left. But there’s no one here representing Uncle Michoel.”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 40 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 had spent more than half the morning finishing the kitchen plans for Leah Weitzen. Simi spent that entire time closed in her room. Her husband must have gone to learn in one of the shuls in the area; Hinda hadn’t seen him come or go.

At noon, Hinda collected her papers from the kitchen table, leaving Leah a voicemail message that she’d finished, baruch Hashem, and then she went to the door of Simi’s room. She listened for a moment, and when she heard the baby wailing and Simi cooing to him, she knocked gently. There was silence inside; only the baby was still whimpering.

Finally, Simi answered, “Yes?” She didn’t say, “Come in,” so Hinda remained outside.

“How are you doing, Simi?”

“Fine, baruch Hashem,” the other woman replied through the door.

“I wanted to know if there’s anything special you’d like me to make for you,” Hinda said pleasantly.

“No thanks, don’t put yourself out.”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 39 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 didn’t know if “Chaya Cohen” was a real name or not. The young woman talked and talked, hardly giving Hinda a chance to respond. Hinda scrubbed the soup pot, every so often inserting an “Uh-huh” or “Really…” But suddenly, Chaya’s rush of words stopped.

Then, after a long moment of quiet, Chaya added, “A support group doesn’t work for me, because I’m not the type who can sit and talk about these things in front of a few women. But I do feel that I need to do something with myself, because I don’t want to reach the point where I’ll need to say, ‘It’s either me or them.’”

“You won’t need to, b’ezras Hashem,” Hinda replied. She was unable to understand why Rebbetzin Werner had given her phone number to this woman. Their lives were so different, no matter which angle you looked at it from. Which part of her life experience could help Chaya? Her challenges, it seemed, were of another nature entirely.

“Do you think so?” Chaya’s voice was laced with a sense of despair.

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 38 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. 

Simi’s manners were impeccable, to be sure. She offered her courteous thanks, like one thanks a waitress in a restaurant, adding a compliment about how tasty the food was, yet she collected her own dishes from the table. Even when Hinda objected, she insisted on doing so, but when it came to wiping down the tablecloth, she relented, smiled, and went with her husband to their room.

“The food really was excellent,” Dov said, as he wiped down the tablecloth himself. “Did you even eat, Hinda?”

“A little bit,” she replied. “I don’t have much of an appetite.”

“That’s not good,” he protested. “You need strength. Hosting these new mothers one after the other…it’s not so easy.” He squinted for a moment, and Hinda imagined that he was recalling the other times that his previous home had hosted his daughters after birth, and the other person who had been hovering and catering to them.

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 37 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. 

Yosef stayed in the supply room until three o’clock. When someone from the staff entered—and it happened a few times—he pretended to be looking for something in the drawers, making every effort to appear calm.

When he emerged, glancing furtively in all directions, Ra’ayah, one of the nurses, greeted him with an angry rebuke that Dr. Tennenbaum had been looking for him, and what was this all about, and how could he display such a lack of responsibility? He apologized politely, but she did not seem pacified by his apologies, and they certainly were not going to help the doctor whose shift had already ended. Oh, well. Dr. Tennenbaum was a nice guy who usually complimented him a lot; they got along really well. Now he probably wouldn’t want to be as complimentary.

But what could he do? There are emergency situations in life.

He boarded the bus and headed for home.

Ima did not come to the door when he knocked; Dov was the one who opened it for him after a few long moments. “Ah, Yosef!” He looked surprised. He stood for another moment in the doorway, and then moved aside. “How are you?” he asked. Then, turning to inside the house, he called out, “Hinda, Yosef is here!”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 36 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. 

“Yosef? Yosef Schorr?” Dr. Tennenbaum scanned the area with his eyes, but the young man did not seem to be in the whole Emergency Room department. Dr. Tennenbaum shook his head and went back inside, to the nurses’ station. “Has anyone seen Yosef Schorr around?”

“I saw him fifteen minutes ago,” said one nurse. “He went to bring Mr. Zeivald back from radiology.”

“Zeivald is here already,” the orthopedist muttered, a bit impatiently. “And I told Schorr that I need his help!”

“It happens that someone goes out for a moment,” the nurse replied. “He’ll probably be back in a couple of minutes.”