Page 34 - Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

"Yitzchak the butcher is a monster. All he wants is
a nurse for his children."
"All butchers are monsters to someone who refuses
meat," Shmuel said. "And he only has the two children,
not an army. They are young enough so^you could be
a real mother to them and you are young enough so
you could give him even.more."
"Hah!"
Shmuel turned and smiled at Hannah, signaling her
closer to his side. She was hesitant to go. What if by
moving closer to him she became more Chaya and less
Hannah? What if by accepting the reality of the dream,
she lost her memories of her actual past? She wouldn't
move. No one could make her. But Shmuel's smile was
so genuine. It reminded her of Aaron's. He held out a
hand.- ' ' '
"Come, Chaya, or do you think me a monster like
Yitzchak?"
She moved.
Close up she could see there was a band of paler skin
around his forehead, which his cap must have kept shaded
from the sun. And he had the bluest eyes she'd ever
seen, bluer even than Aaron's.
In a loud conspiratorial whisper, Shmuel said, "She
is still waiting to hear from Avrom Morowitz, who went
three years ago to America, promising to send for her.
But why should he send for her when be has not both-
.
ered to send even so much as a letter . . "
"I would not go to America/for Avrom Morowitz
even if he sent a thousand letters. I will live and die in

' • . • " / " '
27

1,