Page 46 - Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

"You see," he said, "I told you she was a young
woman."
"You said a young lady and a lady is what she is not
if she knows such things," Gitl said.
"It's on 'General Hospital,' " Hannah began.
Gitl turned to Hannah and shook her head. "So in
Lublin the hospitals tell you about these things. Then
I do not think much of hospitals. And I think even less
of Lublin. You know so much, my little yeshiva bocher,
telling you anything more is carrying straw to Egypt.
Ah!" She threw her hands up in the air and spun around
to face Yitzchak. "And you—you finish your coffee.
Look how the morning flies, and we sit here gabbling
about wedding nights, which will be here soon enough.
I have still to clean the house. I will not have Fayge
coming here, fresh from her father's house where there
is a serving girl to clean, and think me and all in this
shtetl slovens. We have to leave before noon."
"That is why I came early, Gitl, so I might help. My
children, too." Yitzchak stood, the coffee cup still in
his hand.
"The children—oy. And where did you leave them?
Outside in cages like the chickens?" She clicked her
tongue and went to the door. Opening it, she waved
her hand in greeting. "Reuven, Tzipporah, come in."
. Two little blond-haired children, no more than three
or four years old, suddenly appeared in the doorway,
silently holding hands.
"Go, sit at the table with my niece Chaya, the young
lady over there," Gitl said. "She will give you milk with
things in it and tell you stories of places called New this

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