Page 115 - Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

the information she delivered. "I call them Every Bowls
because they are everything to us, Without the bowl,
you cannot have food, you cannot wash, you cannot
drink. Memorize your bowl—its dents, its shape. Al-
ways know where you have put it. There are no re-
placements." She winked at Hannah. "That is the official
speech. My mother, may she rest in peace, used to give
it and now I take her place. If you meet me tonight
after supper, I will tell you the rest. And if you cannot
find me, ask anyone for Rivka. Rivka."
Too exhausted to react, Hannah nodded and held up
her bowl for its dipperful of watery potato soup. At the
next table, she was given a small slab of dark bread.'
She began to eat even before she left the line. She was
too hungry to eat slowly, and the soup and bread were
gone before she had time to look around.

After the meal, the zugangi were lined up again in what
seemed to Hannah to be a totally arbitrary order, or-
chestrated by the same three-fingered woman. She dealt
out slaps and pushes with such fervor that they all did
her bidding without protest. Hannah managed to dodge
a slap. The slap meant for her hit Shifre, who cried out
in pain and was hit again for the noise. Hannah bent
her shoulders over against Shifre's muffled sobbing, guilty
because she had been the cause of it, relieved because
the blow had not fallen upon her.
When they were lined up to the woman's satisfaction,
she nodded abruptly and walked to the front to address
them.

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