Page 54 - Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

"As if that matters!" The girls were clearly shocked,
and Esther added, "My father will not let me even talk
to a goy."
"Esther, your father will not let you talk to someone
from Viosk," said Rachel.
"Well, I am going to talk to someone from Viosk
today!" Esther answered. "After I talk to Lublin Chaya."
Hannah turned to Rachel, shaking her head slowly.
"You can be my second-best friend, Rachel. My first-
best here." It seemed somehow important to keep the
two worlds separate. She was sure Rosemary would
understand.
The girls all smiled at her, waiting for something else,
and Hannah could not figure out what. Trying to mem-
orize their faces, to distinguish them, she saw that Shifre
had a pale freckled face and eyelashes so light they
could not be seen. It made her eyes look shifty. Shij're-
shifty. She could remember that. And Esther was plump
with rosy cheeks and a mouth that seemed to rest in a
pout. She was round like an Easter egg. Esther-Easter.
The third girl, the Cossack Yente, had a ferrety face,
sharp in chin and nose, and a yellowish complexion.
Yente—yellow. It was a special way of remembering
Aunt Eva had taught her. It worked so well, she got
As in school using it. And Rachel was just Rachel. Her
second-best friend, first here in the shtetl, in the dream.
"So," Rachel said, interrupting her thoughts, "tell us
about Lublin."
Hannah realized it would be as useless telling them
she lived in New Rochelle as it had been trying to con-
vince Gitl and Shmuel. The truth was, she was begin-

47