Recap: Hope was taken by force into a car by the KKK men who were looking for her. She prays for Hashem to help her. They’re driving a long distance away.
I had strange distorted dreams. In every dream, there was the photograph of Alyson. At one point, she stepped out of the photograph and said, “I’m your sister. I won’t let anything happen to you, Hope.”
I opened my eyes. Fingers of dawn light shone through the clouds. I was stiff and my wrists were so painful. I couldn’t feel my hands.
The car stopped. The man with the scar pushed me out of the car. He made me walk towards the door of what looked like an abandoned building. The windows were cracked. “He undid the rope, and I felt my hands again. He and the other man forced me to walk up seven flights of stairs and then they left me in a room. There was a bottle of water and a piece of bread on a plate. They locked the door.
I was shivering, not with cold but with cold fear. What would happen next? I didn’t want to meet any more of these KKK people. I wanted to go back to the Jacobsons. If only I hadn’t walked back alone from the store. Shabbos! I realized with a start that I was missing Shabbos.
I thought about the dream I’d had in the car. Alyson was so clearly there, talking to me. What did the dream mean? Why had I dreamed of Alyson?
I had a lot of time to sit and be scared. I decided to use the time to talk to Hashem and ask Him for help.
…
I don’t know how long I sat there. I finally drank the water and I bit into the bread. My stomach was so empty it was painful.
The sun was setting when I heard voices coming towards the room.
Someone broke the door down and there was a whole group of men. “We’re FBI,” one of the men said. “Don’t be afraid. We are here to rescue you and take you back to Rabbi Jacobson.”
Baruch Hashem. I stood up and everything was turning black, so I quickly sat down. I was faint from hunger.
They led me to a special car.
“What about those men who brought me here?” I croaked.
A man whom I later learned was Lieutenant Lewis, said, “They’re arrested. You’re a very lucky young lady.”
They stopped at a rest area and bought me some nuts and fruit. I told them that was what I wanted. I didn’t want any treif food.
After I’d eaten, I started to feel stronger. “Please, how did you know where I was?”
“Someone followed the car all the way to the Georgia border. She called the police, so we were able to send out a description of the car and an FBI car followed the car to Mississippi. With all the commotion going on there, we have plenty of agents there.”
“Who followed?”
“A young woman named Diana.”
Wow, Diana had done that for me.
“We lost the trail and then a young woman with blonde hair stopped the car. She pointed us in the right direction.”
“Lie back and rest now, and we’ll take you back home.”
I felt a chill run up and down my spine. A young woman with blonde hair. Could it be that it was Alyson? How could it be?
I sat back in the car. How strange to be driven in an FBI car. How amazing that Diana followed the car and was the one to get help for me. Hashem works in such unfathomable ways. In the blink of an eye, I mused.
Rebbetzin Jacobson welcomed me back with warm hugs and so much love that I quickly recovered from the trauma.
…
A few nights after I was back, I told the Rebbetzin that I had to go to the Bowerses to thank Diana. “She basically saved my life. I have to thank her.”
“Of course.”
When I approached the house, I got a fluttery feeling in my stomach. I remembered the whole scary encounter here when the men grabbed me and forced me into the car. I tried to erase that terrifying scene from my mind. Diana answered the door.
She reached out and hugged me. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“I just wanted to thank you. I don’t even know how I can for what you did. You followed that car and you called the FBI in.”
“Well, I didn’t know how to call the FBI, but the police did that.”
“How’s Bonnie doing?”
“She misses you.”
“Bring her to visit, please. You come, too.”
She nodded.
Just then, Bonnie bounced into the room. She rushed over and threw her arms around my leg. “Stay. Don’t leave.”
“Hey, it’s nice to be so wanted.”
“Is it safe for you to come back here?” Diana asked.
“Oh, I suppose. They caught those men and I think the case in Mississippi is wrapping up. I heard they caught the mastermind behind the murders of the civil rights workers.”
“So, come back to our house.”
I shook my head. “I appreciate you’re asking me, but I am so happy where I am now. I’m even planning to go to school with Rivkah.”
“Really? In a Jewish school? Won’t that be hard for you?”
Though I was worried about that, I didn’t want to say so. “No, I’m sure it will be fine.”
I read some books to Bonnie and played some games with her, and then I told her gently, “I really have to go back but I’ll come again.”
“No!” she stamped her foot.
“Come on, Bonnie, I’ll make your favorite chocolate treat. Let’s go to the kitchen,” Diana said.
Bonnie reluctantly followed Diana. She turned towards me and waved sadly.
I felt bad.
The next day, I answered the door at the Jacobsons and Diana was standing there. “Is Bonnie here?” Her voice rose.
“No,” I answered.
“I can’t find her. I thought she must have come here.”
My stomach knotted. “Let’s go look in the yard and down the block. I’m not sure if she knows the way here.”
How could Diana have let this happen?
I pictured Bonnie in my mind’s eye. She had to be all right.
Just then, we heard the neighbor’s dog barking. Then we heard a giggle. We found Bonnie in the backyard playing with the neighbor’s dog. I wanted to yell at her, but I was too relieved that she was found to chastise her. I hugged her and explained to her why she mustn’t ever leave home like that by herself. “It’s dangerous, Bonnie. You’re not old enough to cross streets.”
Bonnie clung to me. Then Diana hugged her and took her back home.
I wished one day I could somehow help Bonnie. She was so unhappy in her present family situation.
…
The weeks flew by, and one night in late August the Rebbetzin and the Rabbi called me into his study. “Tikvah, school will be starting soon. Would you want to attend Beth Jacob School with Rivkah?”
“Yes, I would,” I said. That would be a dream to learn Torah and to learn about mitzvos at school. Rivkah had told me about all the wonderful things they learned at school and that they even had a production. It sounded like such a warm, wonderful place. She told me she loved school, and she was sure I would love it, too.
“We see how you’ve grown over the summer in your devotion to Torah and mitzvos, and we want you to have this opportunity.”
“I’m eons behind though. How would I catch up? I never learned anything formally about Judaism.”
The Rebbetzin glanced towards her husband. “I will teach you. We can start now, and I can tutor you.”
“Do you think your parents would agree?”
“Oh, they would want me to be happy,” I said.
I felt uncomfortable asking this, but I realized I’d better. “My father had to leave his business and, well, I don’t know if they will have any money for tuition.”
“That’s not a problem. I already spoke to the principal,” Rabbi Jacobson said.
I couldn’t believe it. He was doing that for me. I felt so touched.
Going to their school sounded like a wonderful idea. My parents would agree… wouldn’t they?
A little niggle of doubt blossomed in my mind. I remembered when my grandmother had mentioned Rosh HaShanah and my mother had told me, “That’s old-fashioned. We don’t do those things anymore.”
“Would they let me go to a Jewish school?”
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).
