Recap: Evie comes for Shabbos. Rikki and Evie are becoming friends and Rikki is teaching Evie about Shabbos. A guest named Sarit comes and Rikki finds her annoying. She tries to give her the benefit of the doubt, but she really doesn’t like this new guest.
The next morning in shul, Sarit appeared and beelined right to the seat next to me, the one Ima always sat in.
I sighed and tried to keep concentrating on my davening.
Sarit had no idea what to say and asked for help with the siddur.
So much for me having any kavanah, I mused.
After davening, I helped set up the kiddush with Gran, and the boys helped, too. Mendy loves to set out the cookies and chips, and Mordy put out the drinks and cups.
Sarit trailed behind, offering to help.
Mordy handed her a soda bottle.
“Your mother must work hard here,” she said to me.
“She has to take care of her family and all the visitors who come, and the shul. It’s a lot,” I said.
“What’s she like, your mother? Does she look like you? Does she ever complain about all the work?”
“A rebbetzin always works hard,” I said. “Ima would never complain. It’s a privilege, she always said, to do Hashem’s work.”
“Was your mother always religious like this?”
I moved away from her. I didn’t have to answer all her nosy questions.
My friend Leah approached, and thankfully she started talking to me, and Sarit moved away.
At lunch, a family named Braverman came. They had a six-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl. I made sure to sit near the mother and the little girl and far away from Sarit.
Abba asked Mr. Braverman where they were from and what they planned to do in Utah.
“We’re from Connecticut. We’ve always wanted to come here. My wife has never been out West, and we wanted to go to Zion Park.”
“It’s magnificent,” Abba said.
They asked about kosher food, and Abba directed them to the right stores.
When it was time to clean up the table, Sarit rose.
I shooed her away.
“It’s fine, you stay and talk to the guests. Gran and I have this covered.”
A look of something flashed across her eyes. Was it disappointment?
I squared my shoulders. Tough. I don’t have to spend so much time with people just because they want it. I was tired of all her nosy questions.
I strode into the kitchen. After I finished the dishes, Abba called me into the dining room. “Rikki, come say good-bye to our guests.”
I was relieved to see that Sarit was heading for the door.
“Thank you for coming. Good Shabbos!” I said, looking at the Bravermans.
A while later, Evie appeared. She was wearing the outfit I’d lent her. That was so considerate of her.
We played a game of Katon with my little brothers, and then I told her I’d take her for a tour of the neighborhood.
“I can’t get over how beautiful it is here,” Evie said. “The mountains and all the wide-open spaces. It’s so different from New Jersey.”
“Yeah, we moved here three years ago,” I told her.
“I assumed you always lived here.”
“No, my parents were becoming more observant. We lived in Crown Heights and my father wanted to go on shlichus.”
“What?”
“You know, go out to a faraway place and make a difference for the Jews there. Build a community and be there for visitors.”
“You’re sure doing that. And you’re so hospitable.”
My cheeks reddened. I hadn’t been so nice to that guest Sarit.
I was being nice to the guests I liked. That wasn’t true hachnasas orchim. I knew it. But still, that Sarit asked too many questions.
“I’m having trouble with my new coach. She’s so critical and mean.” Evie stooped to smell a rose.
“Can you tell your mother to switch her?”
“I tried. She says it will get me ready for the competition. Honestly, of course I want to win, but being constantly criticized like this is not pleasant. It’s making me dread the sessions.”
“Oh, well. Tomorrow I’ll come.”
“Yeah, that’s a good thing.”
…
On Motza’ei Shabbos, Abba was listening to the radio news.
I heard the announcer say that two terrorist attacks were thwarted in Israel. Baruch Hashem.
Just then, the phone rang. Abba went into his study to speak privately.
Was Ima on the phone? Would he come out and tell me that she wanted to speak with me?
Mendy and Mordy started fighting over a toy car and I had to work it out with them before they started hitting each other.
After I settled the fight and finished mopping the floor, Abba reappeared. “That was your mother. Baruch Hashem, she’s doing well. She sends her love. She should be coming home very soon.”
“I wanted to speak to her!” I said.
Mendy and Mordy started fighting again.
“Rikki, please take care of the boys. She had to get off the phone, but she’ll be back soon, im yirtzeh Hashem.”
I trudged back to the den to deal with Mendy and Mordy. Ima should be here dealing with this. And why couldn’t she speak to me for just a minute? I stomped toward my brothers. It didn’t make any sense.
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).
