Recap: Mr. Bowers tells Hope that she has to leave because the KKK men are on her trail and it’s not safe in his house. He tells her to go to Rabbi Jacobson’s house. She packs some things and heads out the door. She spots the white Cadillac that the KKK men stole from her family, and she darts behind a tree. She hears the two men talking about trying to catch her. Suddenly, there’s a thunderstorm. The men drive away, and she looks frantically for a place to hide. She spots a little cave near the park and heads inside.
I heard a dog barking. I crawled to the edge of the cave and peered anxiously around the corner. I glimpsed a familiar figure. Rivkah’s favorite brother, Avraham, was walking the neighbor’s dog.
“Help!” I called. My voice came out a raspy whisper. He wasn’t too far away. Could he hear me? “Help!” I tried to yell louder.
Avraham turned and looked around.
“Here. I’m in the cave.”
Avraham looked up, startled.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” My words were slurred. I needed water. “I’m, I’m in trouble. Can you walk me to your house?”
The early morning sun was just starting to light everything. “Oh, you’re Rivkah’s friend. Yes, come, I’ll walk you back to our house.”
He didn’t ask why I was here at such an early hour or what the trouble was. I was grateful for his sensitivity.
He stepped hesitantly towards the cave.
When he came close enough, I pointed to my mouth. “I need a drink. Please can you bring me a drink of water?”
The effort of speaking was too much. I fell back down on the ground.
“I’ll get you water,” I heard him say and then everything went black.
…
I didn’t know how much time had passed, but when I opened my eyes, Rebbetzin and Rabbi Jacobson were there. Avraham was in the background. “We’re going to help you into the car and take you to the doctor,” Mrs. Jacobson said. There was a white cloud over her head. She looked so blurry. “Water!” I tried to say.
She took a cup and carefully helped me take a few sips.
She helped me into the car and then the car sped away.
…
The doctor’s visit was a blur. All I remember was the doctor speaking to the rebbetzin. “It’s pneumonia. I will give her a shot of antibiotic and then you will need to fill this prescription. She needs a chest x-ray.”
Pneumonia! I’d never had anything like that before. It must have been getting soaked last night in the rain and not being able to get dry.
…
I must have fainted after that. I don’t remember what happened next, except the next thing I knew I was lying on the couch in the living room and Rebbetzin Jacobson was stroking my hair. “You’re burning with fever, Tikvah. Don’t try to talk. We will take care of you. Hashem will help. You will get better, b’ezras Hashem.”
“Just then, Rabbi Jacobson came downstairs and called to his son. “Avi, you ready to go to shul?”
Rabbi Jacobson nodded towards me like it was totally normal to be visiting at this time.
I was curled up on the couch in the den. I ached everywhere. I was so exhausted it took a great effort to sit up.
“Just rest,” Rebbetzin Jacobson said. “You lie here until you feel better.” She covered me with a knitted blanket. I was surprised at myself as to how I was just making myself at home but life was so strange now. I was in survival mode. I dozed off. Some time later, I woke with my stomach grumbling and my mouth dry like sandpaper. How I longed for a cup of water. Rivkah appeared in the den. “Tikvah! What happened? Are you okay?”
The kind concern in her eyes made quick tears leak from my eyes.
My stomach hurt from the hollow feeling inside.
Should I tell her? I had to. The words tumbled over each other in my rush to explain.
“I’m sorry for just coming here. It must look so strange to you. I don’t even remember coming here. I was in the cave, and it was raining.”
“Yes, Tatte told me you got stuck in the rainstorm. Baruch Hashem, Avi was doing a mitzvah walking the neighbor’s dog and he found you.”
I wanted to talk. I wanted to tell her the whole story. I remembered with a pang how the men who had taken our car were waiting for me in front of the Bowers’ home. I shivered thinking of them.
“I’ll get you another blanket.”
“No, no, I’m hot. I was just thinking of something.”
“Let me get you a cup of water.”
Rivka brought me a tall glass of water. I gulped it gratefully. “I think I have to start from the beginning.
“You know my parents left for Maine. I never explained why.” Then I told her why we had to leave South Carolina and why I had to leave the Bowers house last night.
“You actually slept in the cave in the park?”
“I didn’t sleep very well.”
“It must have been cold and scary there.”
I sighed.
“You must be so tired and hungry. Do you feel up to eating?”
Food. It sounded good but I felt so tired. “I will just rest a little and then yes––”
I fell into a deep sleep. It must have been hours until I awoke.
I felt strange when I opened my eyes and discovered I was in the den of the Jacobson home. I’d probably kept everyone out of here all day. I felt terrible.
Rebbetzin Jacobson was at my side. “Are you feeling better?”
She felt my forehead. “The fever is lower. I can tell. Would you like some muffins and cocoa?”
“Thank you so much. I am so sorry to impose like this and to come here sick––”
“Nonsense. We are so happy you came here and that we can help you. You honored us with a mitzvah.”
Rivkah brought me some blueberry muffins and a cup of hot cocoa on a tray. She reminded me of what blessing to say. I sat up and I was able to nibble some of the muffin and to drink most of the cocoa.
“I’ve never tasted such delicious muffins. Who made them?” I asked.
“I did,” Rivkah said.
When the Rebbetzin came downstairs, Rivkah filled her in on what had happened to me.
“Tikvah, this is so hard. I am so sorry you have this going on. You will stay right here, and we will all daven for your safety. I’ll call Mr. Bowers to let him know you’re safe.”
“I’m not sure if you should. They’re watching his house and…”
“I understand. Okay. The less said the better right now.”
“He told me,” my voice sounded so raspy. “He told me to come here, so he will know I’m here.”
I raised myself up a little. “I don’t want to put your family in danger.”
She clucked her tongue. “You are not putting us in danger. You are giving us a wonderful mitzvah to perform. You must change your last name. From now on you are Tikvah Jacobson, our cousin from, uh, from Virginia.”
“Thank you!”
The rebbetzin hugged me. “You know there was a family living in America during the Holocaust. I read about what they did. The Kestenbaum brothers owned a fur business. They wrote affidavits for hundreds of Jews trapped in Europe, so they could come to America and escape the danger there during World War II. On all those affidavits they wrote that the people they were writing on behalf of were their cousins. Quite a lot of cousins they had.”
“Rivkah, make up a bed for Tikvah in your room. You need your rest, dear. Go upstairs and sleep.”
The thought of a real bed and sleep sounded perfect. I fell asleep as soon as I lay down.
To be continued…
Susie Garber is the author of the newly released historical fiction novel, Flight of the Doves (Menucha Publishers, 2023), Please Be Polite (Menucha Publishers, 2022), A Bridge in Time (Menucha Publishers, 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).
