Page 90 - Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

"Did you hear about Mostochowa?" a man asked.
"You mean the place where they were all forced out
of their houses to stand naked in the snow?" Yitzchak
said.
"Rumors," the rabbi cautioned.
"They were beaten," a woman said.
"Yes, Masha is right, beaten unmercifully. And the
blood on the snow, my Uncle Moishe who was there
said, was like rose petals falling. Rose petals, he said,"
the man concluded.
"No more stories!" Fayge shouted. "Nothing more
will happen to us. Nothing. We are uncomfortable and
crowded. We are hungry. But it will pass. We are going
to be resettled. That is all. And then I will be married.
With a canopy."
.
"I heard . . "
"Hush! Hush!" The woman near Hannah spoke in
tired spurts of sound. "The children can stand no more.
My child is senseless with all this talk."
A voice close to her said quietly, "Let me take the
child, mother. I will hold her for a while." There was
a small movement as everyone tried to adjust. "Oh, my
God, the child is not senseless. The child is dead. Bo-
ruch dayan ernes. Blessed be the righteous judge . . ."
Hannah wept.

83