Part 41 (1/2)
”You didn't make it easy. All these years, this friends.h.i.+p, keeping it from me, your father. Did you also keep it from your husband, this friends.h.i.+p?”
”Binny knew that Joshua was my friend, Joshua was at my wedding, remember?” Snide.
”I remember many things, Rucheleh, many things. My mind works perfectly well; too well, I'm afraid. It's my heart that I'm worried about.”
”Mama.”
”Don't worry, Rucheleh. You're a big girl now, divorced and all. You can make your own decisions. I always knew you were somehow different from the other girls, you and Esther. I always knew we wouldn't be able to keep you. I tried to tell your father, but he wouldn't listen. Not you, not his little precious Rucheleh. 'She will bear rabbis and scholars,' he used to say. Not quite, I'm afraid.”
Rachel watched as her mother drifted off to another place, distant and unreachable. ”Mama,” she said again.
”It's okay.”
”Mama, nothing has happened between Joshua and me. It's really not what you're thinking. Yes, we're something more than friends, and yes, we love each other. But we have an understanding; we've always had an understanding. We're from different worlds, and we respect that in one another. There have always been lines that neither of us would ever cross.”
”Until last night.”
”Last night was a mistake.”
”Last night was a sign!”
Rachel didn't respond.
”Don't you see how naive you are? How can you possibly expect a man to love you without insisting on being with you?”
”I know.” Reluctant. ”It's hard for him; it's also hard for me. But we both see everything that's going on these days, and we really have no choice.”
”And how long will this understanding last?”
Rachel considered her mother's point. ”Tell me, Mama, what is it that upsets you most, that he's black, or that he's not Jewish?”
”Oh please, Rucheleh, what kind of question is that?”
”One to which I'd like an answer.”
”I don't know the answer. Neither is wonderful.”
”Well, let me ask you this: what if he was to convert?”
”Then G.o.d would accept him. But I can a.s.sure you, the community wouldn't, especially today.”
”Who cares about the community?”
”I do, your father did, and you should.”
”People convert all the time; blacks have converted.”
”And everybody laughs at them, thinking they're crazy, saying things like, he doesn't have a hard enough time being black, he needs to be Jewish too! They're scoffed at and ostracized, and you know it. And what do you think happens to their children?”
Rachel realized she couldn't argue with that. ”I know, Mama, that's why it could never happen. Joshua is too proud of what he is to become anything else, and I suppose I'm...” She hesitated, then concluded: ”I'm just too weak.”
Hannah watched as tears fell from Rachel's eyes. She wanted to reach out to comfort her daughter and tell her that everything would be okay. But she couldn't; it wouldn't.
”So I guess you have nothing to worry about, Mama, nothing at all.”
Paul Sims sat still, waiting for Rav Schachter to start the meeting. Being summoned was a distinct privilege, a sign he was gaining prominence with the elder. He tried to hide his curiosity.
”Well, Reb Pinchas, how have you been these days?”
”Baruch Hashem, thank G.o.d. And how has the Rav been?”
”Good, good, except for the recent crisis, of course.” Schachter was referring to the killing of Israel Turner.
”Yes, a tragedy.”
”There are terrible things happening in the world around us, and we must protect ourselves.”
”Yes, we must. I think it is great that we have set up our own patrols. The streets will be safer.” Paul knew that Schachter was one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the community patrols.
”Have you joined the patrols?”
”No,” Paul answered, embarra.s.sed. ”Not yet.”
”Your partic.i.p.ation would be most welcomed, and invaluable.”
”I have been planning to join.” What does he really want?
”Good.” Schachter stared into s.p.a.ce.
”Is there some specific reason for which the Rav has requested my presence?” In the past, Paul would have waited for Schachter to get around to it. He was feeling a bit more brazen these days.
”Yes, now that you mention it,” Schachter responded. He hesitated, seeming to gather his thoughts. With him, it was always a chess game. ”In addition to the patrols,” he continued, ”there are other ways in which we must fight to save our sacred corner of the world, ways in which a man in your position could be quite helpful.”
Paul feigned curiosity, but had a sense of where this was going.
”It is my understanding that your father owns some considerable property in our neighborhood, and that you personally manage this property.”
”Yes, he has three buildings, all of which I manage for him. He tried to sell them years ago, but the offers were meager.”
”So he has decided not to sell?”
”For now. With my father, one never knows, but I don't think he's looking to put me out of work, or to have me go and work with him on the Island. By keeping the buildings, he gives me something to do, and keeps me away from his main business. I'm sort of an embarra.s.sment to him, I suppose.”
”It is terrible, the way these a.s.similated parents treat their children who come into our midst.”
”Yes, it hurts to think about it,” Paul said, realizing that Schachter was coaxing him. He was beginning to find their dialogue amusing.