Recap Evie asked Rikki if her mother was at work. She assumed that was the case, since she wasn’t home and Rikki looked pained by the question.
Did Evie notice that her question upset me? I hoped not. Well, my mother was at work. Only her work was across the ocean, and we hadn’t heard from her in two weeks. Every time I asked Abba or Gran why Ima hadn’t called yet, they said it’s not possible for her to call now. She’s involved in a very sensitive project.
My imagination then took over. What kind of project? Ima worked for the Israeli government. I knew that, and she rarely had to travel there. Her work was mostly remote. This was the first time she’d been away so long.
Sometimes I wondered if she was part of Israeli intelligence. When I asked Aba that, he just laughed.
Still, why couldn’t she call me.
I led Evie into my bedroom.
“I like your room. Everything is so pretty.”
“Thanks.” I surveyed my room with the eyes of someone who had never seen it before. It was nicely decorated. I loved my patchwork quilt with a pink floral design on my bed. Evie studied my pink bookcase filled with my favorite books like BY Times, A Bridge in Time, and Captured, Flight of the Doves, and Ruthie Perlman books. I assumed she hadn’t read any books like these before.
She pointed at my notebooks piled on the desk.
“My writer’s notebooks,” I said.
“I have a bunch, too,” Evie said. “I love that.”
She pointed to my lamp with blue flowers on the china top. “That’s so charming.”
“It was my mother’s,” I said. For a second I thought about Ima. When would I hear from her? It had been so long since I’d spoken to her.
I strode over to my closet. I wasn’t sure how Evie would feel about my suggesting she change for Shabbos, but she couldn’t come to our table dressed like that. “You can pick any skirt and blouse you like to borrow for tonight. We usually dress up for Friday night dinner.”
“That’s so nice of you. I thought I needed a skirt, but I don’t have any.”
I let out my breath. Thankfully, she wasn’t insulted.
“No worries.”
I rummaged through my closet and pulled out a light blue pleated skirt and a white long-sleeved blouse with light blue flowers and a light blue sash. “This outfit will compliment your blue eyes. I think we’re about the same size.”
“It’s pretty. Thanks. I have a skating outfit this shade of blue.”
…
Friday night, Evie asked a ton of questions. She’d never seen anyone light Shabbos candles and she didn’t know about Kiddush or washing for challah.
We had a new guest over. Her name was Sarit and she had flown in from New York. She was around 18 or 19. She had long, dark hair and hazel-colored eyes. She kept staring at me.
Every time I’d look up, she’d be watching me.
She had a foreign accent and her English was stilted.
“I’m glad you knew to call Chabad,” Aba said. “Where are you staying?”
“I stay in an Airbnb,” Sarit said.
“What brings you to Utah?” Aba asked.
I passed around a bowl of rice.
“I…I am looking to find something,” she said.
She looked down at her plate.
“You are finding your Jewish identity,” Aba said.
She looked up. “Yes, that’s what I meant.”
Usually people come to Utah to see the National Parks or on vacation. It was strange the way she quickly agreed with Aba. It hadn’t sounded like that exactly when she said she was looking for something. I was probably being too critical because she made me feel uncomfortable. I had to work on giving people the benefit of the doubt even if they made me feel uncomfortable. I wished she would stop staring at me.
After the Shabbos meal, we cleaned up the table and headed into the den. Gran was talking animatedly to Evie. Yehuda and Shlomo were busy playing with magna tiles in the living room.
Sarit followed us into the kitchen. She seemed to be nearby every time I turned around.
“You help your family a lot, “ she said.
“Of course. Everyone does,” I said.
Gran spoke to Evie. “I hear you’re teaching our Rikki how to skate for the tz’dakah drive. How’s she doing?”
Evie glanced at me. “She’s doing great. She’s a real skater now.”
“Nothing like you,” I said.
I finished drying the dishes with Evie. Sarit still stood nearby even though I hadn’t given her any task to do.
Aba strolled into the kitchen and spoke to Sarit. “Come to shul tomorrow,” Aba said.
“Our shul is downstairs and then you can stay for lunch.”
“Thank you,” she said.
I secretly hoped she wouldn’t come. I was upset at myself for feeling that way. We’re supposed to welcome all Jews and see the good in them. Something about her unnerved me – the way she kept staring.
“Evie, do you want to come back for shul tomorrow?” Aba asked.
“I wish I could, but I have practice tomorrow morning, early, with my new coach.” She scrunched her nose to show she didn’t want to work with her.
“Well, afterwards, come stop by. We can play some word games and have fun,” I said. I pointedly hadn’t invited Sarit.
Sarit headed towards the door. “Thank you again.”
Aba escorted her out. “You’re welcome to come to our classes.” He rattled off the schedule. I hoped she wouldn’t take him up on it.
“Yes, me, too. Thank you. It’s been over 12 years I’ve been looking.”
She left.
“I wondered what she meant when she said she was looking for 12 years.
To be continued…
Susie Garber is the author of Captured (Menucha 2025), an historical fiction novel, Please Be Patient (Menucha 2024), 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 and “Moon Song” in Binyan (2021-2022) and Alaskan Gold ( 2023-2024).
