Recap: Aliza and her siblings eat a Shabbos meal at the Talshins. There is another guest, Mrs. Talshin’s brother, who is a widower. He has a daughter named Dalya. The daughter is not friendly to Aliza. After Shabbos, Mrs. Talshin calls and suggests a shidduch for Aliza’s mother with her brother.

 “I just can’t believe it,” I said.

“Why? Mommy’s a person. She can’t stay living alone forever.”

“She’s not alone. She has us.”

“Lizzie, we are going to, G-d willing, grow up and leave. She has a right to happiness.”

“Hopefully, it won’t work out. It’s too complicated with him having kids, too, and that will be it.”

“Aren’t you being selfish?”

“I don’t care.” I stomped out of the room. Why didn’t Dovid care about Daddy anymore?

It didn’t matter what I thought, because Mommy started going out with Yeshaya Fine, and on the first night I couldn’t sleep. I heard her come in at one a.m. and she was singing.

I couldn’t believe this was happening.

We were heading back home next week, so hopefully that would be the end of this whole thing.

Only, it wasn’t!

“Lizzie, I think things are getting serious,” Dovid said to me three weeks after we’d returned home.

“I wish we’d never gone on that vacation and never met that Talshin family.”

“Why? Aharon is great. I’m learning with him by phone almost every night.”

“Yeah, but now Mommy is busy with him.” I didn’t care to say his name. “That means more time we don’t have with her and it’s going so fast. She doesn’t really know him that well.”

“Lizzie, don’t you want Mommy to be happy. I haven’t seen her smiling this much since before—”

“Well, that’s just it. He’s not replacing my Daddy – not ever. Anyway, as soon as he hears about how involved she is with this whole Syrian Jewry thing, he’ll drop her. I’m sure.”

Just then, Mommy strode into the living room. “We’re having a guest tonight for dinner.”

“Who?” I asked, hoping it wasn’t him.

“Yeshaya is coming and he’s bringing his son and his daughter.”

She breezed out of the room before I could protest. That daughter was the most unfriendly, grumpiest girl I’d ever met. “Great!”

Dovid tried to placate me.

“Come on, Lizzie, give them a chance.”

I sounded whiney and I didn’t want to sound whiney but that was how I felt. I’d made up my mind that I would tell Yeshaya all about Ima’s work and how she really didn’t have time for him with Daddy’s fund and everything she had to do. That night, I had a surefire plan. I was going to pour it on and let this whole thing end naturally.

At dinner, Dalya was her usual grumpy unpleasant self, and Dovid and Aharon were busy talking in learning, and Zevi and Reuvie had run off to play together. We were sitting in the living room – Mommy, Yeshaya, Dalya, and I. Carol came in and served mini-frankfurters on a tray. Mommy was really going gourmet. Too bad it was going to all be wasted when he heard what I had to say.

“So, I hear you like to write.” Yeshaya was trying to be nice to me, but I wasn’t falling for any of that.

“Yeah, I do,” I said.

“What type of writing?”

“I like to write historical fiction stories.” I was sorry I’d said anything.

“She’s very good at it, too,” Mommy added.

“Dalya is a big reader. Aren’t you honey?”

Dalya didn’t respond.

There was a huge awkward silence.

Now was my chance to pour on the things I wanted to say that would make him and his grumpy daughter turn around and leave forever.

“You know, my mother travels all over the world. She’s so busy with my father’s trust fund. There are so many Jews that need her help. She’s hardly ever home.”

“Yes, it’s so admirable what your mom does.” He was smiling at my mother.

“She is away so much. She doesn’t have time to be with the family and adding more family would be—”

“I think what she does is absolutely incredible, and I want to help her with it. I have the means. I want to do whatever I can to help.”

This was not going the way I wanted it to.

Dalya was watching me, and I noticed her usual pout was replaced with a look of curiosity.

I excused myself and headed to my room where I could fling myself on my bed and cry in private.

Dinner was served, and Dovid came up and forced me to go down and act civil.

It was during the dessert course that Ima and Yeshaya made their awful announcement.

“Dovid, Zevi, Lizzie, we have something we want to tell you.”

My stomach plummeted like being on a roller coaster.

Dalya was looking down at her uneaten ice cream.

“We’re engaged!” Ima said with a radiant smile.

No! I wanted to shout. No, no, no!!!

To be continued…


Susie Garber is the author of an historical fiction novel, Flight of the Doves (Menucha Publishing, 2023), Please Be Polite (Menucha Publishers, 2022), A Bridge in Time (Menucha Publishing, 2021), Secrets in Disguise (Menucha Publishers, 2020), Denver Dreams (a novel, Jerusalem Publications, 2009), Memorable Characters…Magnificent Stories (Scholastic, 2002), Befriend (Menucha Publishers, 2013), The Road Less Traveled (Feldheim, 2015), fiction serials and features in Binah Magazine and Binyan Magazine, “Moon Song” in Binyan (2021-2022), and Alaskan Gold ( 2023-2024).