Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 40 of a new online serial novel, The Black Sheep, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

He had never been a coward, not even on those nights when he’d wandered around without finding a place to sleep. In the end he’d always returned home, perhaps because he really was a coward but just couldn’t admit it.

Osher shrugged and headed down the stairs. Maybe in a few years he’d be able to say of himself that he was afraid now, too, but just did not want to admit it. Regardless, he needed to check now what was going on here, with this place. The Rav had said that he was leaving for the night because he and his wife had to babysit their nieces and nephews. The problem was that a few hours ago, there had been a suspicious figure standing on the corner of the block, facing the house, and he hadn’t moved for a long while. Would the person use this opportunity, when the Reinesses were away for the night, to try to get what he wanted?

Osher did not know what the person wanted, but he knew that he would not allow the stranger to get in, no matter what. He could not see from afar if it was the Arab who had once knocked on the Reinesses’ door, when their son was home, because the man had been partially concealed by the hut on the corner, and the minute Osher had gone down to the street, he’d disappeared.

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Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 39 of a new online serial novel, The Black Sheep, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

“I don’t want to ruin any of your plans,” Ariella said, clasping her hands together. “It’s enough that I delayed you until now. If…if you could just bring me to the train station, and accompany me inside to make sure I get on the train and everything is alright, I’d be very grateful.”

“I hear,” Sarah said calmly, “but I’m not sure there is a train now. And, by the way, you didn’t ruin any of my plans. A neighbor put my sister’s children to sleep, and the key is waiting for me on the windowsill. So it doesn’t really matter when we get there.”

“Get where?”

“To my sister’s children. She lives in a new development, and her oldest is in the hospital right now, so she and her husband are with him.”

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Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 38 of a new online serial novel, The Black Sheep, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

Ella didn’t respond. She was gripping a suitcase in one hand, and fumbling with the long strap of her handbag with the other.

“Ella?” Sarah drew closer. “Is everything alright? You look…well, not good. What happened?”

“I don’t know what happened. I don’t know.”

“What does that mean, you don’t know?” Sarah put a hand on her shoulder. “You came here like this, looking so frightened and confused… What happened? What scared you? Did you fall? Did you get hurt?”

“N-no, baruch Hashem.” Sarah noticed that Ella’s eyes were fixed on some point up the stairs. Sarah turned around to see what she was looking at; it seemed she was staring at their second floor.

“So what happened?”

“She…she’s an Arab,” Ella croaked. “I saw her in the street. And not just an Arab…she’s half a witch or something, I don’t even know what.”

“Who?”

“Aliza.” Ella took a deep breath. “Aliza. And it’s not her real name.”

“Who is Aliza?”

“The lady I was boarding with.”

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Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 37 of a new online serial novel, The Black Sheep, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

“I’m a Chareidi woman from Bnei Brak, and I live in her house…I mean, I was living there until now. For some reason, I was sure she is also Jewish…” Ariella stared at the old lace tablecloth. “It’s a good thing I don’t trust everyone who promises me that she only cooks kosher.”

“What?” Ya’ela Brinkler’s voice rose. “Do you mean to say that she cooked in my kitchen?”

“Uh…yes.”

“But the kitchen is not part of the contract, explicitly! She told me that she’s an older woman who doesn’t need much, and anyway she doesn’t cook, and that she’d manage without the kitchen. And I left it locked! That’s…wow, I’m in shock.” She paused, and Ariella could almost see her shaking her head.

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Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 36 of a new online serial novel, The Black Sheep, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

Ariella sat on a bench in the local park on Sunday morning. It was completely deserted at this early hour. Right opposite her was the wall that had already become familiar, to the point of it being boring; behind her was an inviting grassy lawn. She didn’t move toward it. Instead, she sat on the bench like every other mature woman her age, and wondered if Rabbi Reiness would bring his boys here this morning. It hadn’t been this mild and sunny in quite a while.

She fingered the green necklace she’d made with Aliza last week. She had no idea why she’d pushed it into her pocketbook a minute before she’d left, as if these stones could shed some light on the very cloudy picture named Aliza.

She’d spent her Shabbos closed in her room, eating the food that she’d bought. It was actually just fine, not any worse than it had been the previous Shabbos in the Abramov home. Yet she felt like the four walls were choking her. Aliza had hardly been home, neither on Friday afternoon nor on Shabbos, and when she was home, there was no way to discern that it was Shabbos. Which traditional woman did not light Shabbos candles? It was quite bizarre: the woman covered her hair but didn’t light Shabbos candles?

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Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 35 of a new online serial novel, The Black Sheep, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

The strange odor had completely dissipated by the time Ariella opened the door of her room at twelve o’clock, after a short, fitful nap. Now the house was filled with the regular smell of the frying omelet, but Ariella had no desire to go into the kitchen. She glanced at the stand; the plant was back in its place, and there was no sign of any candles. A small orange circle adorned the tile closest to the metal stand, the only evidence of the bizarre scene from earlier that morning.

“Hi!” Aliza came through the doorway of the kitchen and waved to her. “How are you? Did you sleep well? Want an omelet?”

“You waited until I got up to have your omelet?” She tried to sound impressed at her hostess’s consideration.

“No, of course not. I’m running late today because I had to go out. So, do you want an omelet?”

Ariella decided that she would press the point a bit. “No, but thanks for the offer,” she said as she walked toward Aliza. “I have my own food, for today and for Shabbos. But I have to tell you that I didn’t sleep so well.”

“Why? Is the bed not comfortable?”

“No, the bed is fine. But I had some…thoughts last night, and they prevented me from falling asleep.” She didn’t walk into the kitchen; she just stood at the door and watched Aliza, who had gone back to tending to her omelet.

“There are all kinds of ways to deal with thoughts that come at night,” Aliza said significantly. “We have strengths, we have—”

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Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 34 of a new online serial novel, The Black Sheep, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

Sarah Reiness wound down a long and amusing phone call with her younger sister, during which she’d heard about the latest developments in the fledgling community. A playgroup had opened in one of the houses (with four children) and that had made it much easier for Bassy; the phone lines that had made lots of trouble over the last two weeks had been fixed; the residents had gotten a permit to construct a drainage system after the last two houses on the slope had flooded; and Gadi continued to dream about foxes, but sufficed with all the abandoned and injured birds that he found. And he had a knack for finding them.

She put the cordless phone into the base and walked into the small dining room, deliberating whether to pick up with the oil painting she had started or to cook lunch for tomorrow, her weekly day at the clinic in Haifa.

She found Elazar standing near the back window, his elbows leaning on the sill.

“Didn’t you tell me that you can’t see the lot from here?” she said as she walked toward the table where her started painting and the oil paint set sat.

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Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 33 of a new online serial novel, The Black Sheep, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

The small nightlight cast a soft, yellow glow, but the floor of the room was completely black in the darkness. It was impossible to see the interesting pattern of the tiles. Ariella ignored the dark; she’d never been particularly afraid of it. On the contrary, it helped her conjure up lots of magical ideas, interesting thoughts, and countless imaginary scenes. She tossed her soft slippers into a corner of the room and walked barefoot on the floor, creating a figure eight as she walked around the rectangular room. Numerous studies showed that doing so helped with  a lot of things—she’d read that once.

On a chair near the bed was the necklace she had created under Aliza’s tutelage. She couldn’t see it clearly, but its large green stones reflected some of the yellow rays of the nightlight, and it glowed in a strange, greenish light.

The stones were strange; she didn’t think she’d ever wear this necklace, even if it would match one of her outfits. But Aliza hadn’t let her choose. Besides, there hadn’t really been anything better to choose from. Aliza’s stones were mostly quite large, colorful, lumpy, or in colors that were too bold for Ariella’s taste.

She was happy here. Yes. The freedom was refreshing, and it was helping her air out; it eased the weight that had been resting on her shoulders in recent months. Sometimes, she felt like she didn’t know what she wanted anymore, but it was Aliza who had caused her to actually put things out on the table, between her stones and threads and beads. That had been good.

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