Page 87 - Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

made to lie down on top of that. Six times they made
herrings. Six times. Until they were all dead."
A woman, her voice edged with hysteria, said, "You
heard, you heard, but if they were all dead, how could
anyone know for sure?"
The man coughed, and continued without answering
her, "When they made us lie down, I remembered what
I had heard."
Another woman said, "But they did not kill us. Just
made us a bissel uncomfortable."
"Uncomfortable! They took my wedding ring. They
kicked my Avrom in the nose. Uncomfortable!" It was
a third woman.
"It is just a story," the first woman said. "A night-
mare. Do not tell us any more of your awful stories."
The man coughed again, then said, "Is it not written
that we must bear witness?"
"What witness?" Fayge cried. "Were you there? It
is only gossip. Vicious, cruel gossip. Rumors. Shmuel,
tell him it is only that."
Shmuel was silent.
"Not gossip, Fayge. It's true. I know . . . ," Hannah
said.
Gitl pinched her above the shoulder to silence her.
The man spoke again. "The one who told me was a
distant cousin. He knew someone who escaped."
"You said no one escaped," Fayge put in.
"Hush," a woman near Hannah said "The children
will hear you and be afraid."
"I heard . . . ," another man began. Hannah rec-

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