Page 75 - Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

then back down to her skirt, where she wiped them
twice.
"And what could be more important than such a
curse," Fayge asked, adding slowly, "my sister Gitl?"
Gitl smiled. "Are your mother and grandmother not
important? Where are they? Why have they not come
out to greet us?"
Fayge looked around. "Gitl, you are right. Where
are they? And where is Tante Sarah and Tante Devorah
and . . ." Her voice trailed off and she turned back to
look at Shmuel. "And all the rest, where are they?"
Her hand twisted and twisted one gold earbob ner-
vously.
Stony-faced, Shmuel wouldn't look down to meet her
eyes. In a flat voice he said, "The colonel informed us
that they have been sent for resettlement already. We
will meet them there."
"You can't believe that!" Hannah cried.
"What else can we believe?" Shmuel asked. "Gas
ovens? Lilith's bridegroom? Poisoned swords? The Angel
of Death?"
Just then Reb Boruch cleared his throatjoudly and
all the little knots of people who had been talking fell
silent.
"My friends, my neighbors, my children," he began,
"it seems we have no choice in this matter. The gov-
ernment has decreed that we are to be relocated for
the duration of this war. This war in which we Jews
take no part. So it is with governments."
There was a murmur of assent from the men.
"My wife, my mother, my sisters—and all of yours—

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