Page 44 - Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

morning, even before the rooster crowed. Even before
the spring sun."
Shmuel seemed about to answer her back when there
was a loud knock at the door.
Hannah jumped at the unexpected knock, then a
small hope suddenly warmed her. Maybe the knock was
some kind of signal that the dream, the strange play,
was over. Maybe it was her mother or her father or
Aunt Eva standing out there. She started to rise, but
Gitl got up first and went to the door. When she opened
it, the door framed a man with shoulders as wide as the
door itself, wiry red hair, and a bushy red beard.
"Good morning, Yitzchak," Shmuel called out.
Yitzchak greeted Shmuel in return, but he kept his
eyes on Gitl, who gave him no more than a grunt in
way of greeting.
"Have some coffee, Yitzchak. It is a long way through
the forest from the shtetl to here, and even longer to
Fayge's village," Shmuel said, gesturing expansively with
his hand. "And have you heard about our little niece,
Chaya?"
"Little is what I have heard, but what you have here
is no little girl. She is a young lady," Yitzchak said,
grinning at her. "And you are feeling better? I see good
color in your cheeks."
Hannah looked down at' the table, embarrassed by
the butcher's compliments, and Gitl reached over in
front of her and took the coffeepot up, placing it down
again with a solid thwack in front of Yitzchak.
Taking the pot up eagerly, Yitzchak poured himself
a cupful that slopped over the rim.

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