David had brought home a gift for Eve and as it was his very first present to her, it was hard to say who was more excited, she or he. “Close your eyes and hold out your hand!” he commanded.
“Which hand?” Eve asked, her eyes screwed shut.
It has to be a ring, she thought. It’s a wedding ring to replace the one Chaim supplied for our wedding.
“Which hand?” she asked again since David hadn’t answered her.
David laughed. “I don’t know. I guess it’s the right one.”
She was going to correct him, tell him that the left hand was the one for a wedding ring, but she didn’t want to ruin his surprise. Accordingly, she stuck out the right hand.
David laughed again. “Now I don’t know which finger to put it on—”
Her eyes flew open. It was a thimble.
“It’s silver,” David said proudly. “Real silver. When the man said that true aristocrats always had real silver thimbles, I knew I had to buy it for you. I told the man there was no one in the world more aristocratic than my wife.”
“Oh, David, it’s beautiful! I love it!” And when they sat down to eat she wore it exactly as if it were a ring.
After David said the prayer they began to eat. “It’s nice ...”
“What’s nice? The dinner?”
“No ... Yes ... Of course the dinner. But I was thinking how wonderful it is to come home after a long day, having done a little business, to have had a little left over to buy my wife a present. To be here with her in our own place—warm, eating, talking. Not to have to look at my father glowering and listen to him screaming and cursing and complaining. Belching! It’s like a little slice of heaven.”
She smiled at him to show that she appreciated his words, agreed with him. But at the same time she only toyed with her food, his words a reminder that indeed they were alone and that she had not managed to bring her sisters-in-law along to share in this heaven, as David had so poetically put it.
“What do you hear around? Have they, your father and brothers, started working again?”
“Yes. One farmer told me today they had just been to his place before me. That he had sold them a horse and that I had just missed out. A horse! As if I had enough money to buy a horse!”
“You will, David, you will.”
But she couldn’t stop thinking about Ruth and Miriam and Dora and Hannah. They hadn’t even come to visit. They were only minutes away and she hadn’t seen them at all, not since that day of the demonstration that had been almost a pogrom. She had spent her days working on the Countess’s dress, hardly leaving her house at all. Certainly she couldn’t go to Chaim Markoff’s house to see her sisters-in-law.
“I guess they won’t be coming here to live after all, David. Your brothers are going to stay with Chaim, aren’t they?”
“Let them! If that’s what they want, who needs them?” For himself he was just as glad to be alone with Eve. His brothers had had their chance. He was only disappointed because Eve was. “They’re stupid, thickheads. Some people you just can’t help. To hell with them!”
They were almost through with dinner when there was a violent pounding on the door. For a moment they sat motionless with that nameless apprehension that accompanied an unexpected visit in the night, an instinctive animallike fear that froze the blood. Eve looked at David. Was it a pogrom? Dear God, not again! Or is it soldiers come to drag David away to fill the conscription? A requisitioning of our horse? An interrogation? A gentile had been found dead and they were investigating, starting with Jews ... Or is it only one drunken Cossack, ready to torch our house, but politely extending us the courtesy of allowing us to leave first?
David went to the door, opened it a cautious crack, peered out into the black night. But it wasn’t any Russian official, no drunken Cossack! It was Yacob and behind Yacob, Dora! And behind Dora, Yacob’s horse loaded down with packages and bundles.
“Are you going to let us in or not?” Yacob demanded querulously. “Did you tell us to come or didn’t you?” Over Yacob’s shoulder Dora called out: “Eve! Eve! We’re here! We’ve come to stay with you!”
Dizzy with relief, Eve ran to the door. “Welcome! Oh, welcome!”
“He hit her! He actually hit little Becky so hard she fell down and just because she spilled a glass of milk! So I said to Yacob I can’t stay here anymore. I can’t have my baby born in a house with a man like that! And I told Yacob that even if he wouldn’t come, I was going to, by myself. Isn’t that right, Yacob? Didn’t I say that? I was going to come here in the morning by myself ...”
Yacob glared at her. “That wasn’t the only reason we came. We came because I decided to come.”
Dora flushed and looked down at her hands folded in her lap. She knew why she had come. Maybe Yacob had to have his own reasons.
Yacob poured himself another vodka. “Tonight, tonight I told Father for the first time that Dora was pregnant. And what do you think he said?”
“What?” David asked, knowing already that it must have been something disagreeable, one way or another.
“He said, ‘So, you shlep! You shlimazl! The Miracle Rabbi at ninety is more of a man than you’ll ever be!’ ” Yacob drained his glass. “Ordinarily a remark like that from Father I ignore. Who ever questioned Father? But this time ... this time something clicked in my head. Something which wouldn’t let the remark pass. So I said to him, ‘What do you mean by that? What do you mean that he’s more of a man than me? And do you know what he said—this man who’s my father? He said, ‘Apparently the rabbi’s able to stick his wick in better than you, you shtik drek!’
“All of a sudden I saw red. Besides what he’s saying about me, even about Dora, he’s also saying something about my son who isn’t even born yet. I wanted to kill him! If he was any other man I wouldn’t have hesitated. Still, was I going to do nothing? So I said to myself, ‘Yacob, you may be your father’s next to youngest son, but you’re not a shtik drek. You’re a man and it’s time to go where you’ll be treated like a man, spoken to like a man. You don’t have to live with insults anymore, Yacob. Now you have a place to go.’ ”
The tears streamed down Yacob’s cheeks. “A place to go made all the difference—” Abruptly he threw his arms around David, threw his head down on David’s shoulder. For a moment, taken by surprise, David sat stiffly. Nothing like this had ever happened before. But then he wrapped his arms around his brother, hugged him close.
Watching them, Dora laughed with joy. “Oh, Eve, I’ve never been so happy in my life! This is the most wonderful thing that could have happened—for me to live here with Yacob and you and David. And soon there’ll be your baby and then mine. Our babies will be more like brothers, or sisters, or whatever, than cousins, won’t they?”
Eve nodded. Friends ... sisters ... brothers ... cousins ... It’s all the same.
“And just think! If Chaim hadn’t hit poor Becky, making me decide that I couldn’t live in a house with a man like that anymore, we wouldn’t be sitting here right now—”
Yacob lifted his head from David’s shoulder and stared at her as if he couldn’t believe his ears. He made a fist, shook it, slammed it down on the table. “We came because I’m a man!”
Dora looked down at her hands again. “Yes, Yacob, because you’re a man ...”
At dawn the brothers set off on their rounds of the countryside. David told Eve that they’d be back late since now that Yacob was with him they’d be covering a larger territory. Eve helped Dora to unpack and generally settle in while she inquired about Miriam and Hannah and Ruth. How they were getting along and what was happening there.
“Oh, it’s like a shiva. Like everyone was mourning for the dead. Just yesterday morning while we were doing the chores Ruth was saying that while spring may be coming, on the day you left, the sun stopped shining ...”
Two hours later there was a commotion at the door and there was Ruth herself, holding Gershon on one hip, and carrying a bundle with the other hand. At her side were her other three boys, the two older ones dragging bundles, and the smaller one holding a rag doll. Ruth was grinning widely. “A short walk ... yes. But probably the longest one I’ve ever taken. Here—” She thrust the baby at Eve and the bundle at Dora. “I have to go back and get the rest of my things. Keep an eye on the boys. Give them a piece of bread to chew on. They haven’t had any breakfast. And you can give Gershon a piece too; he both sucks and chews now. And you can put him down. He walks but watch him. He’s just as likely to fall down and crack his head. I’ll be back soon. Is the samovar lit?”
“Last night after Yacob and Dora left, Chaim let loose with a stream of curses you wouldn’t believe. Then he got up and bellowed, wanting to know who else was leaving because we could all get the hell out right then and there as far as he was concerned. Nobody said a word. I guess everyone was too stunned.
“Then he stormed out of the house for who knows where? The rest of us sat. Then I said, ‘Yacob and Dora have done the right thing. Yacob, at least, acted like a man.’ Well, Hershel chose to take offense at my remark. Mind you, at his father’s he doesn’t. At mine, he does. He demanded to know in a very nasty tone of voice if I thought he wasn’t acting like a man because he didn’t choose to come here like Yacob did. I told him I didn’t like the tone of his voice. I also told him not only had Yacob acted like a man but now he and Dora were going to be free people. Then I said that he and Shlomo and Abraham and us, their wives, weren’t free. We were all serfs, quaking in our boots and wetting our pants. Then I appealed to Hannah. ‘Isn’t that right, Hannah?’ I asked her. I’m sorry to say Hannah didn’t answer me. You know Hannah. When she’s aroused she has a lot to say but mostly she likes to keep peace in the house, which I suppose is important too.
“But at the same time that she kept silent, she did look at Abraham, a look ... It was as if she was hoping he would say something but you know Abraham; he’s not the type to say anything if he doesn’t have to. Actually I’d say he’s the gentlest of the brothers. He must have taken after the mother, may she rest in peace.”
Personally, Eve thought David was very gentle and she liked to think he was the most genteel of all the brothers, but she didn’t want to interrupt Ruth by saying anything.
“So not getting any answers from that comer of the room, I turned to Miriam and I said, ‘Isn’t that right, Miriam?’ Well, Miriam just shrugged, saying nothing, as she usually does. She doesn’t like to stir the pot, that one. She doesn’t want to shake anyone up if she doesn’t have to, least of all herself. That’s how she saves herself. She’ll live to be a hundred and eight, that one, just by staying placid. It’s her way. She refuses to get excited even if the house is burning down. She lets other people get excited. But at the same time, while she doesn’t say a thing, she does lots of looking. But she doesn’t look at Shlomo, who would be the logical one for her to look at— Am I right? He’s her husband and who should she look at if not him? But instead she’s looking at Hannah, as if waiting to hear from her before she takes a position, before she says a word. But since Hannah wasn’t talking, neither was she.
“Well, I look at Hershel again but now he’s not talking to me at all so I get up and I say, ‘You know what? You’re all shtik drek, every last one of you. You, Hershel; you, Hannah; you, Miriam; and you, Abraham and Shlomo. You’re all nothing but pieces of shit and I feel sorry for you. And at the same time I feel sorry for you, you all make me sick to my stomach. You know why? Because given a choice, you’d all rather be shtik drek than real human beings, free human beings. As for me, I don’t want to be a shtik drek anymore, living with this horrible person and at his mercy. Being afraid of him and accepting whatever he chooses to say or do, however he wants to treat me. And you know what? I don’t have to anymore. I have a place to go!’
“I didn’t say another word to Hershel, not last night and not this morning. I just waited until he rode out with the others this morning, then I started making my bundles ...”
“And Miriam and Hannah?” Eve asked. “What did they say to you this morning?”
“Not much. Once I started bundling things up they helped me.”
“And Hershel? He doesn’t know you’re gone?”
“I guess he didn’t think I’d really leave. But he’ll find out soon enough. Tonight. I gave Hannah a message to give him from me. I told her to tell Hershel that I had gone to be a free woman and to bring up my sons to be free men. i hope she’ll tell him in exactly those words. What do you think of that message?”
“It does have a ring.”
Ruth laughed a little, proud of herself. “It does, doesn’t it?”
“I wonder what Hershel will do when he finds you gone.” While she was delighted that Ruth had come, she was also worried. The last thing she wanted was to cause trouble in Ruth’s marriage. Surely that was a sin—to come between a husband and wife. “What do you think Hershel will do?”
“Either he’ll stay with his father or he’ll come here to be with his wife and his children. One or the other.”
“Yes, I’ve gathered that,” Eve offered dryly. “One or the other. But which of the two do you think he’ll do?”
Ruth considered. “I don’t know. What do you think? After all, it was you who suggested I stop nursing so I would be ... you know ... available. And then you suggested that in order not to get pregnant, I should suggest to Hershel that he shouldn’t ... you know ... let himself ... inside me ... And that worked out pretty well ... “ she laughed. “So all in all, I’d say you’re pretty smart. So what do you think he’ll do?”
“I just bet he’ll come. He won’t stay without you,” Dora said, bouncing Gershon on her knee.
“Yes, I think he’ll come,” Eve said. “But maybe not right away.”
“But what will you do, Ruth, if he doesn’t? Ever?” Dora chucked Gershon under the chin.
Ruth gave her a baleful look. “You just said you’d bet he’ll come. God, you can be exasperating, Dora.”
Dora hung her head and Ruth turned to Eve, “What will I do if he never comes?”
“I’m not sure. Why don’t we think about it when and if it’s necessary, which I’m sure it won’t be—”
“If he doesn’t come will you ask me to leave? We’re a lot of mouths to feed without Hershel—”
“Oh Ruth! What a question! Of course we wouldn’t ask you and the boys to leave. I’m thrilled that you’re here, but at the same time I don’t want you and Hershel to be separated ... unless ...”
“Unless what?”
“Unless you decide that’s what you really want—”
“I don’t want to be separated from Hershel, but at the same time I won’t live in Chaim’s house any longer. No matter what.” She took a big gulp of tea. “It’s a pleasure to be here, to be a free person. And if Hershel doesn’t come I’ll do whatever I can to earn our way.”
“Oh, Ruth, don’t. There’ll always be a place for you and the boys, but I’m sure Hershel will come.”
“Well, I have to think about if he doesn’t. I can always sell pickled herring in the marketplace. All I’d have to do is buy the herring and pickle them. I wouldn’t mind selling herring in the marketplace. I wouldn’t earn much but it would be something.”
“It won’t come to that. Hershel will—”
Dora cut her off. “I’ll be glad to mind the boys for you when you’re selling.”
“Just a minute—” Eve protested.
But Ruth said, “Thank you, Dora. I appreciate your offer.”
“Oh, don’t mention it. It will be my pleasure.”
Eve sent up a silent prayer that Hershel would come, and soon.
Each day David and Yacob rode out, and the women settled more or less into a routine. For the most part, Eve sewed, now working on the Countess’s second maternity dress, and Ruth and Dora did the chores and looked after Ruth’s boys, and they all cooked. And they all waited for Hershel to come. Seven days passed and Eve was beginning to wonder if he ever would and what could possibly be done to prod him. On the eighth night he showed up with his bundle.
“What you did was wrong!” Hershel told Ruth in front of them all. “You shamed me in the eyes of my father and my older brothers by walking out and taking my sons—”
“But I didn’t leave you,” Ruth responded in a conciliatory fashion. “I just went first and waited for you to follow.”
“But it was for me to go first.”
“Then why didn’t you?” she snapped.
“It was wrong of you,” he said again but not quite as vehemently. “I’m still the head of my family. It was for me to make the decision as to when to go ...”
For a moment it seemed as if Ruth was going to give a sharp retort but instead she said softly, “Of course it was for you to make the decision, Hershel. And I didn’t doubt for a minute that you were going to make the right one. I just sort of helped you along by going first. Sort of a little nudge in the right direction.” She smiled teasingly, making an effort to be charming which didn’t come easily to her. Charm was not one of Ruth’s strong points.
Hershel looked sheepishly around the room—at Dora and Yacob, at Eve and David. Obviously he wanted to accept Ruth’s words as the peace offering they were meant to be. Eve nodded, smiling, encouraging. Finally he smiled at Ruth. “A nudge ... yes. But not so little.”
“Not so big either since it took you long enough to get here,” Ruth said now with a touch of tartness. “What was your hurry?”
Hershel missed her sarcasm. “The hurry was Father. That he always called me names was one thing. That I could swallow. But that he called you a slut and a whore was another. I couldn’t very well let him do that and do nothing about it, could I?”
“Oh, Hershel! Oh, Hershel!” Ruth cried out softly. Slowly she walked up to him and laid her head against his chest. “I’m glad you didn’t let him call me bad names. Hershel, I’m glad you’re here.” Her voice broke on the last few words.
Awkwardly Hershel put his arms around her. It was then, with tears in her eyes, that Eve knew it was going to be all right between them. And most likely, sooner or later, she’d hear from Miriam and Hannah.
Dora opened the door, and called out, “It’s Hannah and Miriam ... without any bundles, but they’re wearing their wigs and their fancy dresses!”
Elated that they had finally come calling, Eve came running with Ruth close behind her. But hurt that they hadn’t come before, she said, “Who are these strangers, Ruth?”
Ruth looked them up and down. “I’m not sure who they are. But they’re certainly very dressed up.”
“So? Very funny,” Hannah said. “But are we going to be standing out here all day or are we going to be asked in? This is a formal call, after all. The least we expect is a glass of tea ...”
“Well, come in,” Eve said. “But I don’t know if you deserve a glass of tea. Perhaps you’ll explain what took you so long.”
Hannah waved a hand at her before she kissed her. “Now, Evele, you know we had to wait until things settled down. It would have made things difficult for Abraham and Shlomo if we came before ... It was just a matter of time. Certainly we were going to come visit, sooner or later.”
“So, all right, already. Now it’s sooner,” Ruth said. “So how come we’re being honored today?”
“You’re being so honored because Chaim made us come ... That’s why you’re being so honored.”
“How did he make you come?” Eve asked.
“So tell them already,” Miriam said, “so we can have our tea. I’m sure they have a little something to go along with it.”
Hannah took a deep breath before beginning. “After Hershel left the house to come here Chaim said that he was forbidding everyone who lived in his house ever to speak to anyone living in this house. Well, for me that did it! Remember, Eve, when we spoke of that moment that comes to all men and women? That moment when they won’t stand one more push? Well, that moment came to me and I stood up and told Chaim that while we were staying with him because our husbands chose to, and we were staying with our husbands because it was our duty, it didn’t mean that he could tell us how to live. I told Chaim that short of killing me he couldn’t stop me from talking to whomever I wanted, and since I wasn’t dead yet, I intended to come calling on you this very day!”
“Then I said I was going with her too,” Miriam interjected. “And it all seemed easier to say things, things that were sitting here on my chest.” She touched herself. “Like when he hit my Becky, knocking her down. So I told him about that too. I told him that if he ever laid a hand again on my girls I’d be leaving for good. It was a surprise to me that I could say a thing like that to Chaim ...”
“Oh my!” Eve’s eyes sparkled. “And what did Chaim say to that?”
Hannah laughed. “That’s the best part. Chaim turned to Abraham and asked him what he was going to do about me? What was he going to do about his big-mouthed wife? Well, it seemed then that Abraham’s big moment had come too because he told Chaim that he couldn’t, and wouldn’t even if he could, tell me to whom I could talk, that I was a grown woman with a mind of my own, a mind that he, Abraham, respected.”
“Oh Hannah, how wonderful!”
“Then Shlomo spoke up too, didn’t he Hannah? And he also told Chaim that I was a grown woman with a mind of my own ...”
“And then—?” Eve was leaning forward in anticipation.
“And what?” Hannah asked innocently.
“Hannah, I warn you. If you don’t hurry and tell me what Chaim did then, I’ll explode.”
“He sat down! That’s what he did. He sat down as if the wind had been knocked out of him. Then Abraham said to him, and I repeat loosely since I can’t remember every word—”
“Yes? Go on!”
“Abraham said, ‘Father, I’ve been meaning to talk with you and now seems as good a time as any. My youngest brother, David, went off to live by himself, to be independent of any man and to run his own business. Then my next youngest brother, Yacob, joined him. Also an independent man. And now Hershel. That leaves me, the oldest by many years without a home that’s my own, a business or a kopeck of my own. That goes for Shlomo too. Now Father, I don’t want to leave you to be alone and I speak for Shlomo too, and we won’t. But at the same time, we must have an equal share of the profits. And we must be able to regard this house as our own too. That means you can’t order our wives around either or speak to them in a manner that is not respectful, if you get my meaning ...’ ”
Hannah paused dramatically and Eve tugged at her hand. “Go on!”
“Go on what?”
“Hannah, I warn you— What happened then? What did Chaim say?”
“He didn’t! He didn’t say one word. He just went off to bed. He didn’t scream and rage and he didn’t curse and he didn’t say no! So, Evele, like those Americans you’re so fond of, I think we’ve won the revolution!”