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#Post#: 45--------------------------------------------------
The Big Secret -- Sort of
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: December 13, 2019, 3:40 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
At long last the demonstration on why it is hard to buy single
quantities of toothpaste on Amazon was over. At even longer last
the stupid games of Break Down that Wall, Red Rover, and Wolves
and Bunnies was over. Tikvah and Corianne both ended up as
wolves for most of that one. Corianne was used to getting stuck
as a wolf, an awful uncaring wolf who went through the motions
except for a fun howl. "Arooooo!" Corianne howled as she let the
bathroom door swing behind her. She had to go back and retrieve
her toilettry pail. Tikvah was already in bed, her legs forming
pink hills, her upper body in a winter night gown.
She gave Corianne a look as Corianne began to undress. Tikvah
had been an even suckier wolf than Corianne. If you are a sucky
wolf, you stay a sucky wolf, which means it. The kids can even
try to make you catch them or they can stand around and gossip.
Here they did the first thing, because they didn't know
eachother well enough to talk.
"You're still feeling rotten about that phone call huh?"
Corianne tried to talk to her roommate again.
Tikvah blinked.
"Look, parents can be very cruel. Sometimes they don't mean to
be cruel, but they can be really ugly and stupid. I have a
stepmother like that and I have a father...Sometimes parents get
more interested in themselves and their own lives than they do
in us kids."
"Just leave me alone!" Tikvah snapped back.
"I'm sorry."
"You're not. You don't understand."
"I heard your half of the conversation. We were in the bathroom
at Walmart together remember? It may not have been in English
but I could hear your voice."
"You didn't hear my father."
"No, but I could guess what was going on."
"Well you guessed wrong. Look, I don't know how to say this
nicely, but mind your own business."
"I have to live with you."
"What's that supposed to mean."
"When you're unhappy you make other people unhappy."
"I'm sorry."
"No you're not."
"OK, then what did your dad say. I bet my Dad says worse
things."
"I'm sure he does."
"Yeah... well let's see."
"OK, I wanted my Dad to come visit me, OK."
"When?"
"Today... at WalMart, OK."
"Is he close by."
"New Square is just across the river."
"What river?"
"The Hudson."
"Oh that river."
"Yeah...but Dad's car was in the shop and the soonest he could
get here was about five thirty."
"We were already back at school by then or almost."
"You got it."
Tikvah smiled, but the smile failed to reach her eyes. "I had to
call him back and tell him not to come. You know what that feels
like."
"Did you tell him why..."
"Yes but it still hurt."
"Why don't you call him back then? Will he talk to you?"
Tikvah made a grab for her phone.
Corianne listened to the conversation in Tikvah's other
language. It was super sweet to have a totally, bilingual
roommate. Tikvah's English had no accent. Maybe her accent was
in the other language. When Tikvah got off the phone, she shook
her head.
"My tati, I mean my Dad doesn't understand schedules. We live by
them and everything is on time. I've lived that way for the last
year...I'm sorry..."
"It's OK to talk. I have a stepmother who doesn't understand
that kids are different people who like different things, like
eating fish. Some people who are kids eat fish. Some people who
are kids hate camp games. Some people who are kids want to wear
tights in the summer. It's not that hard, but she's got fixed
ideas."
"Well this isn't that kind of fixed idea. It's just back in New
Square, people wait for each other, but not out here."
"Do you miss New Square?"
Tikvah nodded and looked like she was going to cry again. The
world was one big, raw, onion to Tikvah who wept quietly.
"Why can't you tell your mother you want to spend time with your
father?"
"Because my mom wants custody of me. And my Dad wants full
custody or nothing. It's kind of selfish, but I didn't pick to
leave him. My mom did, you can't understand."
"Yes I can."
"You can't. My mom left my dad and everything changed. I didn't
want to change, but nobody gave me a choice, nobody. I just want
to decide for myself."
"Decide what..."
"How I live. I mean...you're not Jewish are you?"
"My Mom is half Jewish."
"Was her mother Jewish."
Corianne nodded. "Did she teach you anything..."
"We celebrated Hanukkah and Passover but didn't go to Temple or
anything," Corianne explained.
"Well, you weren't a frum yid."
"Isn't Yid a bad word."
"It means Jew. It means us. It's Yiddish."
"Is that your foreign language."
"English is my foreign language."
"OK....what's a frum Jew?"
"Religious, but it's part of your whole life. You feel you are
special because you have a Jewish soul or neshama, but that's
the philosophy, it's also all the stuff you do. You eat kosher.
You keep Shabbos. You dress tznius, that's Hebrew for modest.
You learn about this stuff in school, but girls get general
education too, which was good for when I got to Brooklyn, after
my mom ran away."
Tikvah sighed, spent. She honked her nose in a was of toilet
paper.
"Parents can be very selfish," Corianne reminded her roommate.
"My dad's not selfish! He's a good man," Tikva replied just as
the Suite Advisor, Albina knocked on their door. "Lights Out!"
she cried. "Oh shit," thought Corianne.
#Post#: 46--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Big Secret -- Sort of
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: December 13, 2019, 3:54 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Tikvah went over the phone call in her mind in the dark, strange
room she shared with another girl who was Jewish but... Corianne
was not confused, just not observant. That was common enough.
None of this was her fault.
"העלא ... דאָס
איז
טיקוואַה."
"פארוואס
רופט איר?"
"איך בין
נעבעכדיק
וועגן דעם
נאָכמיטאָג,
אָבער די
טינגז אין
דעם שולע
איך בין
מאָווינג
טאַקע
שנעל, און
זיי וואַך
אונדז ....
טאַטעשי,
לאָמיר
שטעלן זיך
אַ וויזיט
פֿאַר ווען
איך'ווע
גאַט
שאַפּינג
ווידער."
"ווען וועט
איר גיין
שאַפּינג?"
איך קען
נישט וויסן
נאָך,
אָבער איך
טראַכטן
אַז מיין
סוויט
אַדווייזער
- אַז ס
וואָס זיי
רופן זיי
דאָ - וועט
לאָזן מיר
וויסן אַ
פּאָר פון
טעג פריער.
איך קענען
רופן איר
ווען מיר
באַקומען
צו זיין
ביי זיך
און איר
קענט קומען
איר וועט
האָבן די
מאַשין
פאַרפעסטיקט
דורך
דעמאָלט. "
"וועלן זיי
מאַכן איר
קויפן שבת?"
"זיי קען
טאָן דאָס.
זיי וועלן
נישט
טראַכטן
עפּעס
וועגן מאכן
מיר טאָן
דאָס. עס
וועט נישט
זיין
פּערזענלעך."
"זיי האַס
אונדז איר
וויסן."
"דער טייל
איז נישט
פערזענליך."
"Unless it's grandpa with the BLT," thought Tikvah.
"צי זיי
מאַכן איר
עסן
כאַזער?"
"ניין" They serve it but they don't make
anyone eat it, just like they don't make anyone eat fish,"
Tikvah thought.
"אָוקיי,
איר לאָזן
מיר וויסן
ווען עס ס
'זיכער, און
איך וועל
באַקומען
איר."
"וואָס פון
דיין
מוטער?"
"זי האָט
איר ניילז
געטאן
ראָזעווע
און
ווייַס."
"זי דאַרף
באַקומען
דעם גט
פאַרטיק,
אויב זי
וועט ניט
קומען
צוריק."
"איר ווילט
חתונה
האָבן מיט
עמעצן
אַנדערש."
"עס איז
נישט גוט
פֿאַר אַ
מענטש צו
לעבן
אַליין.
איך וועל
פאַרלירן
ביידע פון
איר און אַ
מענטש מוזן
האָבן
קינדער."
"איר טאָן
ניט
פאַרלירן
מיר
טאַטעשי."
איך האף אז
דו ביסט
גערעכט.
"מיר נאָר
האָבן צו
וואַרטן
זיי,
טאַטעשי."
"איר טאַקע
טראַכטן
אַזוי."
"עס וועט
פּאַסירן.
איך נאָר
האָבן צו
זיין
געדולדיק
און
גנייוויש."
"איך ליבע
איר
טיקוואַה."
"איך ליבע
איר
טאַטעשי."
[Quote]
[Color=#DD4400]TRANSLATION[/Color]
The phone call began in an ordinary way.
"Hello...This is Tikvah."
"Why are you calling?"
"I'm sorry about this afternoon, but things at this school I'm
at move really fast, and they watch us.... Daddy, let's set up
another visit for when I got out shopping again."
"When will you go out shopping?"
"I don't know yet, but I think my Suite Advisor -- That's what
they call them here -- will let me know a couple of days before.
I can call you when we get to be by ourselves and you can come
and get me. You'll have the car fixed by then."
"Will they make you shop on Shabbos?"
"They could do that. They won't think anything about making me
do that. It won't be personal."
"They hate us you know."
"That part is not personal." "Unless it's grandpa with the BLT,"
thought Tikvah.
"Do they make you eat pork?"
"No." "They serve it but they don't make anyone eat it, just
like they don't make anyone eat fish," Tikvah thought.
"OK, you let me know when it's safe and I'll come get you."
"What of your mother?"
"She got her nails done pink and white."
"She needs to get that divorce finished, if she's not going to
come back."
"You want to marry somebody else."
"It's not good for a man to live alone. I'm going to lose both
of you and a man must have children."
"You're not losing me daddy."
"I hope you're right."
"We just have to wait them out, Daddy."
"You really think so."
"It will happen. I just have to be patient and sneaky." "And you
have to be fast," thought Tikvah. "It could work," she told
herself. "It could work."
"I love you Tikvah."
"I love you Daddy."
[/QUOTE]
"I'm going to be here at least a week," Tikvah told herself.
"School starts on Wednesday. If patient and sneaky were
precents, patient would be 90%, sneaky would be 10%. For Dad
speed would be 100%. Then something absolutely awful stole its
way into Tikvah's mind. "What if he considers me lost and the
rabbis consider me lost. If I'm lost there is no point in coming
to get me. I'm not supposed to be lost until I give up. I won't
give up. I just won't."
#Post#: 67--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Big Secret -- Sort of
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: December 22, 2019, 6:05 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Tikvah really looked forward to this phone call on this night
before the first day of classes. This was her third first day of
classes in a new school. It was important, even if she did not
plan to be here long. That night before she could go to the
station party up in the Okri-Funk penthouse, she had to stop by
the computer room and email a message to her mother in Brooklyn.
Albina said it didn't matter what she said, but it made her look
bad if kids didn't write.
Once that chore was done, the Station Party had been pretty
good. There was a Suite Advisor running a spin art booth. There
was Twister for those with no sense of tznius, since this was a
mixed group. There was social dancing, including both line and
partner dance lessons, vision boards, and various kinds of games
including tag and clapping games that Albina led.
The party had left her too giddy to sleep.Tikvah dialed her
father:
"העלא
טאַטי!"
"העלא
טיקוואַה,
ווען לאָזן
זיי איר
אַרויס?"
טאַטי, איך
האָב זיך
רעגיסטרירט
היינט צו
טאָג אין
דער שולע.
זיי לערנען
דאָ אַלע
סאָרטן,
פּונקט ווי
אין שולע
אין
ברוקלין.
"איך וויל
נישט הערן
וועגן דיין
גייסטישע
שולע."
"נו, איך
וועל זיין
אויב איך
קען נישט
אַרויסגיין
פֿאַר אַ
בשעת."
"איר וועט
באַלד
אַרויסגיין.
איך וועל
זען."
"טאטי, די
איינציגסטע
וואלן ווען
איך האב
זיך
איינגעשריבן
איז געווען
מעטאל
שאָפּ, און
מידנפולנעסס,
אַזוי מיין
רומייט,
דער וואָס
לייענט
תהילים און
איך, האָט
זיך
איינגעשריבן
פֿאַר
מעטאַל
שאָפּ."
"איר
רומייט איר
טאַקע
לייענען
תהלים."
"זי לייענט
זיי אויף
ענגליש. זי
האָט
געטראגן א
ביבל פון
דער
מיטלשול
ביבליאטעק."
"א גוישע
ביבל."
"א
קריסטלעך
ביבל,
אָבער די
פּסלאַמס
זענען די
זעלבע ביסט
נישט?"
"יאָ ... אויב
איר וועט
לייענען
זיי אויף
ענגליש.
טיקוואַה,
די גיכער
מיר האָבן
איר פֿון
דער
אַרויסגעוואָרפן
שולע, די
בעסער."
"איך
שטימען
טאַטי."
"דעמאלסט
זאג מיר
ווען דו
וועסט
ארויסגיין."
"איך ווייס
נאָך ניט.
איך וועל
וויסן
שפּעטער
אין דער
וואָך."
"אָוקיי,
איר לאָזן
מיר וויסן."
"וואָס
אויב עס
איז אויף
שבת."
"איך האָב
גערעדט מיט
אַ רב און
ער האָט
געזאָגט אז
עס איז
אָוקיי צו
פאָרן צו
ראטעווען א
קידנעפּט
קינד."
"אָוקיי,
ווען איך
געפֿינען
עס אויס,
איך לאָזן
איר וויסן.
איך ליבע
איר טאַטי."
"איך ליבע
איר
טיקוואַה."
--- Quote ---
> TRANSLATION
> "Hello tati!"
> "Hello Tikvah, when are they letting you out?"
> "They haven't told me yet. Tati, I registered for electives at
school today. They teach all kinds of subjects here, just like
at the school in Brooklyn."
> "I don't want to hear about your goyische school."
> "Well, it's where I'm going to be if I can't get out for a
while."
> "You'll get out soon. I'll see to it."
> "Tati, the only electives left when I went to register were
metal shop, and midnfulness, so my roommate, the one who is
reading tehillim, and I, signed up for metal shop."
> "You're roommate is really reading tehillim."
> "She reads them in English. She borrowed a Bible from the high
school library."
> "A goyishe Bible."
> "A Christian Bible, but the Pslams are the same aren't they?"
> "Yeah...if you're going to read them in English. Tikvah, the
sooner we have you out of that useless school the better."
> "I agree tati."
> "Then you tell me when you're going to get out."
> "I don't know yet. I'll know later in the week."
> "OK, you let me know."
> "What if it's on Saturday."
> "I spoke to a Rav and he said it was OK to drive to rescue a
kidnapped child."
> "OK,when I find out, I let you know. I love you tati."
> "I love you Tikvah."
>
>
--- End Quote ---
#Post#: 74--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Big Secret -- Sort of
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: December 25, 2019, 7:05 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Albina sat on the floor in the penthouse, lap top in front of
her. Two boys sat near her at a low table, blasting eachother's
ship-ios out of a computer screen sky and threatening each other
with annihilation. Albina opened the app and went over Tikvah's
phone use record as well as her app use record. It was all
there, the way she thought it was.
Next, Albina began to search the app for all weekend activities.
She narrowed to religion, not sure what she would see, except it
was there. Albina checked to make sure her eyes and desperation
were not playing tricks on her. It was there.
--- Quote ---
> [center]Young Israel Synagogue[/center]
>
> Services Saturday morning 9am. Leaves campus 7:00am. Walks
four miles each way in all weather.This is an Orthodox
Synagogue. Long sleeves for men and skirts below knee and three
quarter length sleeves for women. Open to all students. For
middle schoolers supervising adult is Dr. Zafran.
>
--- End Quote ---
"Fantastic!" thought Albina.
The worst that could happen was that Tikvah became someone else'
head ache, not that she would. It could go wrong a hundred ways,
but it was something. Albina got up, then squatted down again to
sleep her laptop. She unplugged it and went in search of her
prey.
Tikvah was drawing a solar system with crayons. She was coloring
in one of Saturn's rings when Albina nabbed her. "We need to
talk," she began.
Tikvah came along. She even smiled, enjoying the extra bit of
attention spread thin across eight young girls. "Let's go
somewhere quiet," Albina dropped the first hint. A corner with
empty couches would suffice.
Albina opened her lap top and showed Tikvah her call record.
"You've been on the phone with your dad a lot,"she began.
"I like him better than my mom...and he can't see me you know."
"He has supervised visitation."
"Yeah..."
"OK, now I notice you made a fairly long call on Sunday."
"I'm allowed to make phone calls." Tikvah rocked back and forth.
"I'm not saying you're not. You're also allowed to look at your
map app, which you did in the middle of the phone call. Here are
the time sheets in the app."
"You're spying on me!"
"You're phone and the app does the spying. Now, we both know
that you let your Dad pick you up and take you back to New
Square in April."
"He took me home for Passover."
"Was he planning to bring you back to Brooklyn after the seder?"
Tikvah did not answer.
"I don't want to call it a kidnapping, because you went
willingly. Tikvah, how did you get back to your mother after
your Dad took you to New Square last time?"
Tikvah blinked. "The police got me," the girl spat. She was
starting to flush.
"OK, if your Dad picks you up outside the Container Store on
Sunday, what do you think will happen."
"My Dad is not going to pick me up. It's kidnapping. He has an
order of protection."
"When does that ever stop anybody. Now if we can make it if, not
when, your Dad picks you up outside the Container Store, what
happens next?"
Tikvah sat completely still. She did not burst into tears. She
did not protest. She did not scream. Albina sat too. Tikvah was
an unprepared undergraduate called on in class. Albina waited.
"You are going to run after us, but you took the bus, and you
can't outrun a car, mora."
"Who's mora?"
"It's the Hebrew word for teacher. We called them that in New
Square."
"And after I am out of breath, what happens next. I just might
try to run after you, you know." Albina smiled. Tikvah blinked.
"We go back to New Square." Tikvah tied up the story.
"And what happens next? What do I do when I catch my breath
after futilely running after you and your dad?"
"I don't know."
"Guess, what do you think I do?"
"You call school security, but they're back at the school, and
we're already in New Square. It's only twenty miles."
"Who else might I call?"
"Can you call the police?"
"I'm a mandatory reporter."
"You mean you have to call."
"And since you are going to Rockland County, I'd probably call
the State Troopers, or just 911 since it would be an emergency.
We all have phones. It's easy, and if I had my wits about me,
I'd have the license number of the car your dad was driving."
Tikvah stared at the floor. She said something under her breath,
that Albina overheard.
"Mesira doesn't count when issues of life and limb are
concerned, that includes spousal kidnapping. That's what the law
considers it."
"It's a.... " Tikvah held back. "non-Jewish law."
"It's the law of New York State that we all live under."
Tikvah sighed.
"Now let's continue. I need you to focus. It probably takes a
while for the police to get their act together since your father
has no reputation for violence, and it's a basic custody
dispute. So you get back to New Square. What happens next?"
"I live with friends of my Dad cause he's probably living with
buchurim."
"And then..."
"I stay there. I go back to school, except it will be Rosh
HaShannah soon."
"And..."
Silence. Another Suite Advisor began rounding up her group.
"Curfew!" someone shouted. Albina kept sitting. Corianne walked
across empty space. "Give us a few minutes," Albina told the
girl. "We're in the middle of something."
Tikvah glanced around. "Are you going to sit here all night?"
Tikvah finally asked.
Albina nodded. They sat a while longer, or at least it felt that
way.
"After you are in New Square a day or two what is going to
happen, say one to four days for argument."
"The police will come..."
"And then..."
"They will take me back to school or Brooklyn, I don't know
which. Mom will be mad at the school for not keeping me locked
up," the words flowed freely.
"And what about your Dad."
"They'll put him in jail but he'll have a lawyer and..."
"What will happen to his supervised visitation."
"He wasn't using it anyway...oh sh---------t." Tikvah groaned
and doubled over. She shook and sobbed.
"Go wash up," Albina told the girl. "I'm going to call Suite
Curfew. That'll give us a few minutes when we're back
downstairs."
#Post#: 75--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Big Secret -- Sort of
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: December 26, 2019, 11:31 am
---------------------------------------------------------
"I'd like to get all this tied up tonight because it will give
you time to prepare," Albina explained to Tikvah who stood with
tears streaming down her face.
"What are you going to do?" Tikvah finally asked.
"Let's get you set up for as much supervised visitation as your
father is willing to give you. You want to see more of your dad
right."
"I want to go back to New Square."
"That's going to have to go through the courts or wait until you
are a bit older."
"By then..."
"By then what?"
"I'll be lost," Tikvah found the words.
"How so?"
"I'll forget my yiddishkeit."
"How so..."
"From here. It will get washed away. My yetzer hara...."
"What about your yetzer tov?"
"What do you know about yetzer hara and yetzer tov?"
"Not as much as I do about autonomy and free will. You have some
of that, and you're very good at using it."
"But in four or five years..."
"Want to look at eighteen months?"
Tikvah blinked. There was a full length mirror on the back of
Albina's door. "Look at yourself in the mirror."
"I look awful."
"Look below your waist, Tikvah. What do you see?"
"My tights are torn."
"You can order more on Amazon."
"I was lucky to take them when I left New Square. Stores don't
sell them."
"They do for winter. Now what else are yo wearing."
"I like dressing tznius."
"And what did you eat for supper tonight?"
"Pizza. I always get pizza. So what did you avoid?"
"Pig."
"And what else."
"Milk and meat together, but that's not really kosher."
"You've been fighting to keep your religion for eighteen months
and you haven't given up."
"But I can't win."
"Why can't you?"
"That's just the way grownups talk!" Tikvah dropped her bomb.
"OK, I'll buy that, but I have a master's in philosophy and an
undergrad degree in religious studies."
"But they're from sec-u-lar schools."
"Wow, did you hear yourself!"
"Are you going to call me narrow minded?"
"No, I'm admiring your vocabulary. You used the word 'secular.'"
"That means nonreligious."
"OK, but you didn't use the word, goyishe."
"It's a bad word."
"It's the Hebrew word for nations."
"But we're not talking about countries," Tikvah explained.
"We're talking about religion and no religion."
"Interesting. Who told you to stop using the word goyishe?"
"I taught myself. We had kids and teachers from all over the
world in my school in Brooklyn. Most were pretty nice. Some were
real snots, but they were all different from each other just
like Jews are different. We have neshamot, but even without one
we are all different. There may even be all kinds of nonJewish
neshamot but I am not sure about that. But if someone is
Dominican, that's what they are. You don't have to use a word
that mixes them in with people from Norway or Australia. That
would be stupid."
"Wow! You thought that up."
"So..."
"You're capable of spiritual and philosophical thought without a
huge community telling you what to do every minute."
"You think New Square is a bad place!"
"I would not want to live there. You can't live there due to
your parents divorce, but you can keep your faith. You're free
to practice it. You can avoid certain foods, dress tznius, read
religious books, pray in a synagogue with a minyan, pray any
time on your own. No one is going to take any of that from you,
and we can increase your contact with your father, if he is
willing. Do you think he would be willing?"
Tikvah blinked. "It's not the same as me going home."
"I have something for you to read," Albina said and she dug out
her Bible. It was a JPA which meant no New Testament. She really
was Jewish though the Bible was in English. She flipped to a
book in the Tanach near the end. "You know the story of Daniel?"
"He was taken to Nebuchanezer's court..." That was all Tikvah
could remember. "There's also Ezekiel, and most of the Talmud
was written in exile, in Babylon wasn't it?"
Tikvah blinked back more tears. "OK, I want you to get some
sleep. You have ten minutes until I call Lights Out. You go
through a school day and we'll call your father tomorrow to set
up your first supervised visit. After that, we'll just keep the
visits coming, and you'll start praying in shul once a week,
and....you'll need new tights. We'll figure out how many pairs."
Tikvah rose slowly. She was still sniffling. "If my mom finds
out you helped me buy tights."
"I'm on your side, Tikvah," Albina told her. "That's the only
side that matters."
"What about your side."
"You're right. That matters too."
#Post#: 81--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Big Secret -- Sort of
DIR By: StoryGod
Date: December 27, 2019, 5:10 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Albina opened her lap top to the white noise app she found at
lunch, attached a speaker and set the whole contraption near her
bedroom door. Extension cords came in easy, and tonight there
was a line outside her office. Corianne, Tikvah's roommate had
an ugly letter from her father. Rupinder was having cell phone
difficulties that Albina managed to fix by jimmying the
settings. Jupita wanted to know if it was OK to leave undies out
on a chair until morning and whether black undies meant you were
a slut.
Albina watched Tikvah get into the queue. That was fine. This
would either go or it wouldn't. "Put your phone on speaker,"
Albina told Tikvah. "Now dial your dad for me." The phone rang.
On the fifth ring a male voice answered. He said something in
Yiddish and Tikvah asked if they could speak in English.
"It doesn't matter if someone overhears. My....Suite Advisor is
in the room and she needs to hear."
More words in Yiddish.....
"Alright," the male voice switched to English. "There was
nothing planned, understand," the male voice sounded angry,
which Albina expected, but he had not one trace of Yiddish
accent, which surprised Albina. "I obey the court orders. What
kind of man do you think I am."
"I think you are an honest man tempted by opportunity. Tikvah is
now only twenty miles away instead of forty.That makes your
daughter easier to reach."
"I don't like what you're implying ma'am."
"You don't have to call me Ma'am. The name is Albina Kael. I'm
Albina or Ms. Kael"
"Alright Ms. Kael, I don't like what you are telling me."
"You don't like me telling you that it is easier to have
supervised visitation with Tikvah, then it was when she lived
with your exwife and inlaws."
"Who would supervise?"
"I would and you can bring a bochur if that's a problem. If you
come to Station Parties or to free time in the penthouse, that's
the thirteenth floor of our residence hall, you won't need a
bochur because there are men around.
"If you meet us in White Plains, you might want to bring a
bochur."
"And then what happens?" snarled the voice on the other end.
"More and more supervised visitation. I'll write to the judge
and say what a great, compliant record you have."
"And how does this get my daughter out of a goyishe school?"
"It doesn't but it gets her and you together more. You stand
less chance of losing her than if you sulk in New Square."
"I don't sulk, Ms. Kael. I learn."
"I believe that. How many languages do you speak fluently Mr.
Goldberg?"
"Six," he answered as if he were saying how many quarters he dug
out of his pocket.
"Which was your first one or were you raised bilingual."
"Tikvah was raised trilingual. My parents spoke only English."
"So next you'll tell me I'm 'very talented.' You'll say 'You
could do anything,' but what I want to do is learn."
"Absolutely, but can you spare some time from your learning to
see Tikvah. We'll be in White Plains on Sunday and can meet
either at the Westchester, the Container Store if you can find
that, or the Galleria."
"What time will you be in White Plains?"
"3:30pm."
"What's easiest for you?"
"The Galleria."
"I guess this is better than nothing."
"Alright, now you are going to resent this..."
"What do you want?"
"I want you not to drive your daughter back to New Square. I
know that both of you believe it is the right place, but right
now the court does not agree and that means the State Trooper's
or Rockland Sherriff's Patrol will bring Tikvah back to this
school and possibly to Brooklyn. You may lose all chance of
visitation."
"Do you think I would do such a thing, Ms.Kael?"
"Yes...you did it before."
"I learned my lesson."
"You need to be an adult in this situation."
"Which means..."
"Don't repeat a failed behavior."
"I see. So it's Sunday at 3:30pm in front of the Container
Store in White Plains, and be punctual."
"Yes...may I speak with my daughter without the speaker?"
"Of course."
Tikvah and her father spoke for five minutes in Yiddish. When
the phone call was over, Tikvah walked out smiling.
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