Letters from Rifka by Karen Hesse

Author:Karen Hesse
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2011-10-23T16:00:00+00:00

Shalom, my dear cousin,

Rifka

We numbered many in the ship,

Some spread the sails, some pulled, together,

The mighty oars; ’twas placid weather.

The rudder in his steady grip,

Our helmsman silently was steering

The heavy galley through the sea,

While I, from doubts and sorrows free,

Sang to the crew …

—Pushkin

September 16, 1920

Somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean

Dear Tovah,

The ship is excellent. I have a little room with a bed bolted to the floor and a table that folds out. A small round window looks out over the sea.

But who wants to stay shut up in a cabin when there is so much to do? Such a lounge there is, with a player piano and polished wooden counters. The lounge reminds me of your salon back in Berdichev, only much larger.

There are dances at night and the passengers whirl about on the parquet floor. During the day, a young sailor named Pieter puts brushes on his feet and he dances all alone, polishing and waxing. As he works, he sings and tells jokes to me.

Out on the deck are chairs for days of reading. They are bolted down like my bed so they won’t shift in heavy seas. Of course we’ve had nothing like heavy seas since we boarded. Just clear skies and a gentle breeze.

“Sometimes,” Pieter says, “there are storms so fierce I think the ship will break apart.”

Pieter is such a joker. I am never certain whether to believe him or not.

We trade songs and Pieter teaches me little dances when he is not on watch. He is like another brother to me. Only he is better somehow than a brother, though he teases every bit as much as Saul does. But it doesn’t annoy me when Pieter teases. I like it.

If I sit down in one of these chairs with our Pushkin, Pieter rushes over and tucks a blanket around my legs.

“Is there anything else I can do for you, Miss Rifka?” he asks.

He treats me like a little czarina. Me, Rifka Nebrot. Sometimes I pinch myself. Only in Hannah’s games did I feel so special. How Hannah would love this. Tovah, you would too.

The ocean is so big; everywhere you look in every direction swells this dark, billowing water. It rises and falls as if it were breathing, and the ship skates over the surface.

I worried that perhaps I would feel seasick. I heard so many stories, and some others on the ship complain, but I do not feel the least bit ill. I feel healthier than I have ever felt in my entire life—even if I don’t have any hair on my head.

Today I had the most interesting conversation with Pieter. He had a few minutes before he went on duty and we walked around the deck, talking. He told me he had nine brothers.

“No sisters?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “Mama kept looking for a girl, but we kept coming out boys.”

I told him about Isaac and Asher and Reuben and Nathan and Saul.

“And then there is me,” I said.

“All those sons and then a daughter,” Pieter said.

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