King of the Jews by Leslie Epstein

Author:Leslie Epstein [Epstein, Leslie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-59051-432-0
Publisher: Other Press
Published: 2010-06-22T00:00:00+00:00

Two flies had come in when the two men went out. They hopped from one dish of herring to another. They walked skillfully around the rims of the glasses of wine. One flew up and performed the letter Z several times before Popower’s nose. The other clung to Fried Rievesaltes’ cuff. Neither man noticed. The whole membership sat silently, like nappers, with their chins on their chests. At last Mordechai Kleen, who had turned recently forty, spoke a sentence or two aloud.

“At first I thought I would play the flute. With that instrument the breath passes over and not into the mouthpiece, so the sound it makes is that of breathing, of life. Nevertheless, I took up the oboe.”

Baggelman, the orchestra conductor, spoke after another short pause. “In 1885, when I was a boy aged eleven, my family moved from our village to the great city of Vienna. Here there was much to see: the fountains, the gardens, the men and women at tables, sipping red and green drinks. Once on the street I saw a man wearing a turban. That same year I went for the first time to the Vienna Opera. What did I see there? A stone statue singing! A pink cloud above him when he sank to Hell!”

A third pause. Then Margolies: “My first post as an apprentice waiter took place at the three-star Scotch Hotel, in Bialystok. This was March, 1900. I was just seventeen. One day, not long after this job began, there was a stir in the grand dining room. All the waiters and headwaiters were gathered around an oval table. I will tell you who was sitting there. With a cigarette in a holder and a dark blue gown: Sarah Bernhardt. Then on a world tour. Imagine my feelings when I, remember a mere apprentice, then leaning against a distant wall, realized that the famous actress was making a signal to me! ‘Un café crěme!’ she demanded.

“In those days my hair was black and curly, and I wore the curls mostly on one side. Also, I had a mustache. That is how I looked when I came up with a cup and a saucer and a pot of hot coffee and a pot of hot milk. I combined these elements without a flaw. Sarah Bernhardt, dear friends! With earrings! With eyebrows! What a terrible blow when I read in the newspaper that they had to cut off her leg.”

Verble: “I suggest we look at things this way. Not who should go but who should stay. The biologically sound material. The socially valuable elements. From this perspective, it’s obvious we should put down the names of the fifty oldest people in the Suburb. They’ve lived their lives. We haven’t!”

The assembly of Ministers groaned, as if they had been awakened. Fried Rievesaltes slapped at the fly on his wrist.

“Dry leaves,” said Nomberg, “must fall.”

Dorka Kleinweiss: “I disagree completely. I have not changed my mind. How can you bring yourselves to do the Masters’ work

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