For You Were Strangers by D. M. Pirrone

Author:D. M. Pirrone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction/Mystery Detective/Historical
Publisher: Allium Press of Chicago
Published: 2015-11-23T00:00:00+00:00

THIRTY

Full dark had just fallen when a knock came at Rivka’s door. She opened it and saw Moishe, still in his Shabbos suit, hands deep in his trouser pockets. “Herr Zalman,” she said in surprise. “You’re early.”

“Jacob and Hannah are just coming,” he said. He made no move to enter, and she realized he was waiting for her to invite him in.

She stepped back and gestured him inside. “Aaron is upstairs. I’ll tell him to come down—”

“Fraylin.” The hesitant word stopped her halfway to the stairs. She turned back. Moishe had taken a handkerchief from his pocket and was toying with it. “I…I wanted to say…you were very brave yesterday. At the shop. You saved Jacob’s life.”

Remembering the chaos and terror of those moments, she shook her head. “I didn’t think, I just…you must have felt it, too.” It still surprised her that Moishe had joined her in hurling rocks and curses at their attackers. She wouldn’t have thought he had it in him.

Unexpectedly, he looked her straight in the eyes. The intensity in his face startled her. “You should not have had to do that. I should have helped Jacob first.” He took a step toward her. “Someone should protect you. It isn’t right that you should—”

“Please,” she said. Whatever declaration he was working up to, she didn’t want to hear it. “Don’t distress yourself. Onkl Jacob is all right. I’m sure there will be no more incidents.”

“Fraylin Rivka—”

“I should get Aaron,” she said, and fled upstairs.

§

By the time she came down again, the parlor was crowded with nearly a dozen people. Jacob and Hannah Nathan; Lazar Klein, the butcher who served as cantor; Yitzhak Demsky, the baker and head instructor at the boys’ school; and the other foremost members of the Market Street community. With no rabbi yet sent to replace Rivka’s father, authority fell to Jacob to make important decisions—but the one being made tonight affected them all, and so he had called this meeting. Tonight, he and those here would decide about Aaron and his family.

From just inside the parlor doorway, Rivka looked around at them. She knew every one, had since she was a child back in the old country. Yet now she saw them through a stranger’s eyes. What would they do about Aaron? How would they choose? Her own uncertainty frightened her. She remembered the men with bricks and stones, their ugly faces and harsh voices. Then coming home to the shattered front window and the harsh burnt odor where the incendiary device had left its mark. Aaron, panicked enough to shoot at whoever came through the door. Despite what she’d told Moishe, other such incidents were likely to happen as long as Aaron and his family stayed. Yet, surely Jacob and the rest would not turn him away, or Ada and Nat either. Not when they were in danger, not when—

“I knew this was a bad idea.” Mrs. Zalman shot a glance at Rivka from her seat at one end of the sofa.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.