Page 39 - Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

HANNAH WOKE EARLY AND THE HOUSE WAS STILL PITCH
black and silent. Fearfully, she felt her way through the
unfamiliar rooms in her nightgown and bare feet. The
floor was cold underfoot. When she found the front
door, she let out her breath slowly. Now, she thought,
she'd open it and be back home. Please. Please.
Cautiously she pulled on the door and stared out.
Pawn was just beginning beyond the rim of the field.
A thin strand of light spun out along the horizon be-
tween earth and sky. A rooster crowed his wake-up call
into the clear air. A-doq, a-doo echoed back.
" That was when she remembered the dream: she had
been at a Seder, surrounded by familiar faces, and for
some reason she hated being there. Th.e sweet wine,
the bitter herbs, she could almost taste them. She heard
her aunt's voice singing the "Dayenu" as if from miles
away. Suddenly a terrible longing for all the people in
the dream overcame her and she moaned softly.

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