The Path of Names by Ari Goelman

Author:Ari Goelman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2012-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

The Doylestown train station was little more than a raised platform and a handful of benches. Most of the platform was taken up with half a dozen stalls where people were selling huge boxes of lettuce and asparagus and other vegetables that David didn’t even recognize. He stepped off the train, feeling more alien than ever. Farmers and shoppers thronged the platform, but he was the only Jew in sight. Not that he looked like a Jew anymore.

A tall, pale man made his way through the crowd. “Mr. Schank?” he said, extending his hand.

“That’s right.” David took the man’s hand, examining him cautiously. Bright blue eyes under the brim of a baseball cap; a strong American handshake.

“Man, are you young to be a rabbi! I figured it had to be you, but then I reckoned you were too young.”

“I’m not a rabbi,” David said. “I was studying to be a rabbi, but …” He took a deep breath. “I’m not anymore.”

“But Mr. Ackerman told me you were a rabbi.”

“Mr. Ackerman will have his jokes,” David said, wishing for a moment that Sammy had come too. “And you are …”

The man’s fair face darkened. “Oh — yeah. Sorry. I’m Ned McMasters. Mr. Ackerman asked me to pick you up. I’m looking after the resort site for Mr. Ackerman. Just until construction starts, you understand.” His forehead creased. “Which might not be for a while, I guess. I hear Mr. Ackerman ran into some trouble with his investors.”

David looked around at what he supposed was the main street of Doylestown. What business did Sammy have here? There was a little strip of stores on the other side of the train tracks, including a bank and a newsstand and a small hardware store. Beyond them, he saw a sprinkling of houses. The other direction, though, there was nothing. Empty grassy fields with cows — actual cows — grazing, a stone’s throw away, right up to the fencing that kept them off the platform. They were the first live cows David had ever seen. They looked different than he’d expected, bigger and darker. He could smell their heavy animal scent from yards away, overlaid with the strong odor of their manure, and the still-lingering exhaust from the train’s engine.

McMasters glanced around the platform. “No bags?” he said. David shook his head. They went down the stairs to the street. “As long as you have your landscaping plans, I guess.”

“What landscaping plans?”

McMasters chuckled. “Mr. Ackerman said you had a sense of humor. Anyhow, the resort construction is on hold, but Mr. Ackerman said not to worry, you could work on the hedge maze as soon as the seedlings arrive.” He shook his head wonderingly. “He must feel real strong about that hedge maze to ship you all the way here to build it. Plus, he paid the nursery extra to send the seedlings just as fast as they could get them to us. I suppose you’ve got the maze all designed and ready to go….”

McMasters ended with a little uplift in his voice.

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