Recap: Evie meets a new friend named Rikki who asks her to teach her how to skate for her tz’dakah fair. Evie’s mother introduces her to Mr. Cohen, and Evie is not at all happy to meet him.
The next day, I was in the kitchen with Aunt Ruthie. She was feeding Emmie a banana in her highchair.
“Can I try feeding her?”
Aunt Ruthie handed me a piece of banana.
“Here, Emmie,” I said brightly.
Emmie turned away from me.
“She doesn’t like me.”
“Don’t be silly. She just has stranger anxiety. It takes babies a while to warm up. She’ll get to know you and then you’ll see; she’ll be very affectionate.”
“What did you think of the rink?” Aunt Ruthie put a small piece of banana in Emmie’s mouth.
“It’s a great rink. I really like it.”
“Yes, Jake Cohen has done a superb job. He’s a great guy.”
I didn’t want to talk about Mr. Cohen. I wished he would just somehow disappear from my mother’s life.
“I met a girl named Rikki Bernson at the rink.”
“Oh?”
“She’s really nice. She told me she’s Orthodox Jewish and her father is a rabbi. They’re running some sort of charity skating event and she asked me to help her learn to skate.”
“That’s nice.”
I glanced around the room and suddenly realized I was alone with Aunt Ruthie. This was a good time to ask about my father.
I cleared my throat. “Um, I was wondering…”
“Emmie, don’t throw the banana down.” Aunt Ruthie bent down to pick up a piece of banana.
Just do it. Ask her. Why was it so hard for me to just ask? “Um, where are my father’s, uh, I mean your parents from? Where did you and he grow up?”
Aunt Ruthie hesitated. Then she slipped another piece of banana into Emmie’s mouth.
“Steve grew up in Israel and then his family moved to New York. You know he’s my stepbrother, don’t you?”
I shook my head. I never knew that.
“My mother married his father when I was 18.”
I had no idea. So, Aunt Ruthie was a stepsister to my father.
Questions I wondered about for so long bubbled up inside. Things I could never ask my mother because if I mentioned my father, she would get very quiet and end the conversation.
“What was he like? Do I look like him? I was only four when he left. What can you tell me about him?” There was so much I wanted to know. I needed to know. Then there was the big question I needed to ask. Why did he leave us?
Aunt Ruthie paused in feeding Emmie and looked into the distance. “Evie, he was already grown and living away from home when our parents married, so I didn’t really get to know him so well. I remember he was always busy with something. He loved to ice skate. You know he was a professional skater. He loved all sports. He was always rushing to some practice. You’re athletic like him.”
I smiled. I knew about the skating. I’d once found a photograph of him in skates holding a trophy. Knowing he loved skating was the main reason I’d started taking lessons and decided to compete.
“How did he meet my mother?”
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
Uncle Arnold appeared with bags of groceries. “Evie, can you help me with these?”
Normally, I wouldn’t mind, but just now I was in the middle of something so important.
I carried in two heavy bags as fast as I could, but when I returned to the kitchen, Aunt Ruthie was on the phone. I waited impatiently. Then my mother strolled into the kitchen.
I hadn’t gotten to ask the main question.
Why did my father leave me? It was so frustrating that I couldn’t have Aunt Ruthie’s sole attention anymore just as I’d gotten to that important thing. I’d have to wait for another opportunity.
The doorbell rang, and Maggie strode into the kitchen.
She glanced at me.
“Hi,” I said.
She mumbled something and then rushed over to Emmie. “Emmie!”
“Evie, I want you to come with me to the rink now,” my mother said. “Your new coach is there waiting to meet you.”
I’d have to wait to ask Aunt Ruthie that important question…
To be continued…
Susie Garber is the author of a newly released historical fiction novel, Captured (Menucha Publishers, 2025), as well as historical fiction novels Please Be Patient (Menucha, 2024), Flight of the Doves (Menucha, 2023), Please Be Polite (Menucha, 2022), A Bridge in Time (Menucha, 2021), Secrets in Disguise (Menucha, 2020), Denver Dreams, a novel (Jerusalem Publications, 2009), Memorable Characters…Magnificent Stories (Scholastic, 2002), Befriend (Menucha, 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).
