Page 162 - Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

had been in a book, she thought, the skies would be '
weeping, the swallows mourning by the smokestack.
Her mouth twisted at the irony of it and she turned
to the three girls at the water pump. Suddenly, with
great clarity, she saw another scene superimposed upon
it: two laughing girls at a water fountain dressed in
bright blue pants and cotton sweaters. They were
splashing water on each other. A bell rang to call them
to class. Hannah blinked, but the image held.
Drawing a deep breath, she forced herself to bring
the camp back into focus; it was like turning a camera
lens. One way she could see the water fountain, the
other way the pump. Her heart was thudding under the
thin gray dress. She was afraid to move. And then sud-
denly she made up her mind.
"Listen," she said to the girls at the pump, "I have
a story to tell you."
"A story?" Shifre looked up, her light-lashed eyes
bright. "You have not told us a story since the first day.
At the . . ." She hesitated a minute, afraid to name the
memory, afraid a guard might hear and, somehow, steal
it away.
"At the wedding," Hannah said. "Funny how saying
it brings it back. At the wedding. At school. At home."
"Tell the story," Rivka pleaded. "I would like to hear
it." For the first time she sounded like the ten-year-old
she was.
Hannah nodded. "This isn't a onee-upon-a-time story,"
she said. "This is about now—and the future."
"I do not want a story about now," Esther said slowly.
"There is too much now."

155