The Sunlit Night by Rebecca Dinerstein

Author:Rebecca Dinerstein [Dinerstein, Rebecca]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781632861139
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Published: 2015-06-02T07:00:00+00:00

Olyana was delighted. “I simply don’t know how I remembered it,” she said, in the silence after the prayer. “Of course, my mother would have known it, maybe taught it to me. I haven’t forgotten it all, bless me.”

Yasha looked to Frances, attempting to communicate a gratitude he’d never felt before. Frances looked back with a sleepy, glad face.

Olyana walked around to the other side of the grave. “Your girlfriend has been a wonderful help, Yakov,” she said. “Thank you,” she said to Frances.

“Oh, no—” Frances said.

“You have been wonderful,” Yasha said, hoping that Frances might let the “girlfriend” part slide, or even roll with it.

“Is anybody in need of refreshments, coffee?” Haldor asked. “Cheese?”

“We are not finished with the burying,” Sigbjørn said.

Haldor opened his tiny book, and then closed it and put it away somewhere under his tunic. “Forgive me, forgive me, forgive me,” he said. “Let us dig.”

With the prayer said, and the sun rising, and the wind slowing down, it was—everyone seemed to agree—time to dig, time to bury the casket and the skins. It was cold, and the sand would undoubtedly make Papa warmer, in one way or another, whatever warmth could mean to him now. Frances left her spot at the head of the grave and motioned for Yasha to step forward.

I am still alive, Yasha thought. He picked up the yellow-handled shovel and joined Sigbjørn in shoveling sand. When the casket was no longer visible, he gave the shovel to his mother, an action that made him feel profoundly merciful. He watched her heap a few rounds and was moved, despite himself, because burying was the worst sport, and his mother performed it gracefully. Toward the end, Sigbjørn handed the shovel to Haldor. To prevent Haldor and his mother from finishing the digging together, Yasha asked Haldor for the red-handled shovel, and heaped, with his mother, the last of it.

• • •

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