Recap: Daniel and Yisroel Meir are chased by an angry man from the protest. They run deep into the woods, off campus. They hear someone calling for help in Arabic.
“Please help me. I’m injured!”
Before I could stop him, Yisroel Meir came out of hiding.
The man bowed towards him. “Please, sayid muhadhab.” He thrust his hand towards us. “It’s bleeding too much.”
“What happened?” Yisroel Meir asked.
“Rat traps. I’m new at this. My friend was supposed to come help. He left me to go to protest and I end here alone to set traps. I can’t believe he deserted me like this.”
“Are you a student at the university?” Yisroel Meir somehow had the presence of mind to ask this man who had dark skin and sounded like he was an Arab.
“Yes. I am actually an adjunct foreign exchange professor there. I was setting traps for rats for psychology experiments, and I decided to go this way through the woods. I didn’t realize how thick the woods were or how far I had come. The trap caught my fingers. Very painful. I am turned around and I don’t know way back to campus. Please help.” He pointed at himself. “Tasir.” He had a strong Middle Eastern accent.
“Your name is Tasir? Where are you from?” Yisroel Meir asked.
“Syria.”
“He’s an Arab,” I whispered. My stomach was clenched. “He might be part of the protest.”
“You part of the protests? Yisroel Meir asked.
Uh oh! He shouldn’t have asked that. Now, he’ll find out we’re Jewish. I wished Yisroel Meir wasn’t wearing that yarmulka.
“No.” He was holding his finger and wincing in pain. “Not involved in politics. Just here to study and teach.”
There was a beat. Yisroel Meir motioned me to come close. He whispered in my ear.
“Do you think we can trust him? He needs help. My father could help him.”
I didn’t think we should help him. But on the other hand, what if he became violent if we didn’t?
I nodded slowly.
“Okay, come,” said Yisroel Meir. “My father is a medic. He will know how to help you with your finger. It may be broken.”
We headed out of the woods back towards Yisroel Meir’s house.
It was late. My father would be worried.
“Maybe I should try to go back home,” I said.
“No, we don’t know when the protests will end. You’ll come to my house and spend Shabbos with us,” Yisroel Meir said.
Tasir was moaning as he walked behind us.
I kept glancing back to make sure he wasn’t pulling out a weapon or anything. I’ve lived in many big cities, so I’m not as trusting as Yisroel Meir.
It seemed like a longer walk now, but we eventually made it back to Yisroel Meir’s house.
Rabbi Diamond was sitting by the window, studying a large book.
He opened the door. “I was worried. What happened?”
“Aba, there was a protest on campus so I couldn’t take Daniel back. This is Tasir. He says that he’s not from the protest. I’ll tell you how we met him, but he needs help.”
Tasir held his arm out to show his finger that was still bleeding and bent in an unnatural angle.
Rabbi Diamond ushered him into a back room.
“Aba will take care of the wound and probably give him a splint for his finger,” Yisroel Meir told me.
“He’s an Arab,” I whispered. “How do you know he isn’t lying and he’s really part of the protest?”
“Hashem is with us. He said he’s not. Let’s get something to drink and then we should go to bed.”
“But, I have to call my father. He’ll be worried.”
“Then let’s ask my father what to do,” Yisroel Meir said.
We sat down in the living room, sipping lemonade, and waited for Rabbi Diamond to finish helping Tasir.
A little while later, he appeared in the living room. Tasir’s finger was bandaged.
“Thank you. Allah should bless you.”
Yisroel Meir brought Tasir a glass of lemonade.
“I need to go back to campus. Can you please give me directions.”
Rabbi Diamond explained how he should walk back.
“Tasir, can you also stop at Daniel’s apartment?” Rabbi Diamond turned to me. “Daniel will stay with us for the rest of Shabbos. It’s not safe for you to go back there now. Please tell Tasir your address.”
I wasn’t sure I wanted Tasir to know my address, but I rattled it off.
He turned back to Tasir. “His father will be worried. Tell his father that Daniel is staying with us until Saturday night.”
Tasir agreed to do this and bowed and thanked us again as he left.
Yisroel Meir told his father about the protest and the man Ahmed who chased us.
His father’s forehead was creased. “We must go to the police and report that this man was chasing you. Did he look like a college student?”
“I think he looked older,” I said.
“Tomorrow, after Shabbos, we will go to the police station. Now, you boys better get to bed if you want to get up for shul tomorrow.”
Yisroel Meir gave me some sheets and showed me to his room. “So, you’re our guest for all of Shabbos.”
“I hope it’s okay,” I said.
”We always have guests.”
I wanted to be more than just another guest. I’d hoped he would think of me as a friend. I had so few friends back home.
I tried to sleep. So much happened tonight. I thought back to the beautiful Shabbos meal. Then I thought of the angry protestors and that man Ahmed and how we met Tasir. Would he tell my father I was okay? Could we trust Tasir? I kept trying to find a comfortable position on the bottom bunk.
Yisroel Meir called down to me. “I can’t sleep either. My father lent me this really interesting book about Queen Annabelle. She was a niece of the famous Queen Helena, a righteous convert. It’s on my desk. Come. We can read it together by the Shabbos lamp.”
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).
