The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem (40 page)

“Dio santo, Gabriel,” Rosa said to her husband, “how is it that she still doesn't have a child in her belly?”

“Don't interfere,” Gabriel said. “Everyone at their own pace.”

“But God forgive my sins, Gabriel, it's been seven months since the wedding.”

“Rosa,” he said assertively, “haste is of the devil. All in good time.”

Rachelika too was worried by the fact that her sister wasn't pregnant. When she'd discovered she was with child a month after her own wedding night, she'd decided not to tell anybody so as not to embarrass Luna. But when she began to show in the third month, she couldn't conceal it any longer.

Luna had showered her with kisses and wished her mazal tov, and to Rachelika's surprise, she couldn't discern even a hint of envy in her sister.

“I don't understand,” she said to Moise afterward, “how Luna isn't pregnant yet.”

He sighed.

“Do you know something I don't?” Rachelika asked him. “Does your friend David have problems?”

“Problems?” Moise laughed. “Who knows how many children he left behind in Italy.”

*   *   *

“Did you find out anything about the Kurd?” Gabriel asked Handsome Eli Cohen.

“No, Senor Ermosa, unfortunately I haven't found anything. He doesn't have an account with our bank. He probably keeps his money under the floor tiles. But I'm still convinced there's something behind his wanting to buy the shop.”

“We'll sell him the shop,” Gabriel said wearily. “Later, when Rachelika and Moise come, we'll decide on the price. But Eli, I'd like you to be here too. You're like family now.”

“Yes, Senor Ermosa, with pleasure.”

They held the family meeting after dinner. Becky and Rachelika cleared the table while Luna remained seated, her low spirits on full display.

“You get up too, princess,” Gabriel told her. “Help your sisters and mother.”

When the girls finished and were about to help Rosa wash the dishes, Gabriel called them over. “Come, queridas, leave the dishes till later. Come and sit down with us. You too, Becky.”

Becky was stunned. She'd always been treated like a baby, the family's little girl. She knew her father had invited her because of Eli, her Eli who was now helping determine the future of the shop. She felt a surge of pride. What a boy she had. She loved him. How would she survive the three-year wait until they could stand beneath the wedding canopy?

“You too, Rosa, come and sit with us,” Gabriel called to his wife who was still at the sink.

She turned around, a towel in her hand, and looked questioningly at him.

“Come, querida, you too should have a say in the decision.”

Rosa felt that her heart would burst out of her chest. This was the first time in her life that her husband had shown her such respect, and in front of the girls and sons-in-law too, the first time he was including her in a talk about the family's future.
Ya ribon
, the Days of the Messiah have come, she thought. He must be very sick, miskenico, if he's asking me to take part in a discussion about the shop. She took off her apron and sat down next to Rachelika.

“Come and sit next to me,” Gabriel said. “You are the senora of the house. You should sit next to the senor.”

She got up and Moise gave her his place. “My pleasure, Senora Rosa, my pleasure.”

She liked Moise. He was like the son she never had, and in her heart he filled the place left by Ephraim. Ephraim, she'd almost forgotten what he looked like. Her yearning and concern for him had given way to ire. She was angry at his lack of consideration, that he didn't even send a sign of life. After all, he knew how much she worried about him, and he—nada—he behaved like he had no family, so he could go to hell. If that's what he wants then so be it. He has no family.

Every now and then Rosa was alarmed when she heard about underground operations and arrests. She didn't even know the difference between Lehi and Etzel. They were one and the same for her. Her heart almost stopped beating when she'd heard that twelve members of Lehi disguised as Arab prisoners and British policemen had attacked the Ramat Gan police station, blowing open the armory door, taking the weapons, and loading them onto a waiting vehicle. She was sure that Ephraim was one of them, and it was only when the names of the casualties and captives were announced that she heaved a sigh of relief. Who knew how many times she and Gabriel had argued after he quoted Ben-Gurion, who'd said he wouldn't lift a finger to help free Dov Gruner, the commander of the operation who had been captured.

“He didn't take the weapons for himself,” Rosa insisted. “He took them to liberate us from the Ingelish.”

“And killed innocent people along the way,” Gabriel retorted angrily. “If Ben-Gurion doesn't want to help a Jew, then things have reached a low point.”

“Dio santo, Gabriel, that Ben-Gurion has addled your brain. He's made you blind.”

“Silence, woman! I don't talk from emotion like you. I read the papers before I talk. I understand the situation. And you, without reading, without knowing, without understanding, talk nonsense. Do you think I don't know it's because of your brother the borracho who's with them?” And with that he put an end to the conversation.

Now the Days of the Messiah were here, and God be praised, her husband was showing her respect in front of the whole family.

“I've given this a lot of thought,” Gabriel began. “Rachelika and Moise are right. There's no point in holding on to the shop, which, as that dog Mordoch said, is a bottomless pit. We're spending money we don't have to pay taxes to the municipality that cheats us shamelessly, and we're not bringing in a single grush. But I don't want to sell to the Kurd. I thought that if we advertise in the market that we're selling the shop, then perhaps we'll find other buyers.”

“Senor Ermosa,” Moise said, “please don't be angry, but I've already spoken to some people about the shop, and believe me, at a time like this nobody has the money to buy property. They all want to sell and there aren't any buyers.”

“So if everybody wants to sell, why doesn't the Kurd buy somebody else's shop? Why does he want ours?” Luna burst out.

“A good question,” Gabriel replied. “Why is he so insistent on buying our shop?”

“Forgive me, Senor Ermosa,” Eli Cohen interjected, “I don't want to contradict my future brother-in-law, but although times are hard, nobody's selling their shop. People are holding on to their property as if their life depends on it.”

“I was talking about the few who do want to sell,” Moise persisted.

“Where are their shops located in the market?” Handsome Eli Cohen asked.

“One's on Agrippas Street near Rachmo, another's in the alley by the Iraqi market.”

“And where is Senor Ermosa's shop?” Eli said. “On Etz Ha'Haim Street, the market's main street, the best location with the largest number of customers passing by. That's why the Kurd wants this particular shop.”

“There's a lot of sense in what Eli's saying,” Gabriel said.

“So what do you suggest we do, Papo?” Rachelika asked.

“I suggest we listen to Eli. What do you say, habibi?” he asked the young man, and Becky felt herself blush as her heart swelled with pride.

“The best thing,” Eli said, “is to hear what Mordoch's offering and go from there.”

But when they heard the Kurd's offer, it was so low that they rejected it on the spot.

*   *   *

The sound of a huge explosion catapulted Luna from her place behind the counter at Zacks & Son. The shop was empty, and only a few minutes earlier Mr. Zacks had walked across Jaffa Road to deposit the morning's takings in the bank.

Within minutes the street was filled with the wail of sirens from British police vehicles driving by the shop at high speed, passing Zion Square and on toward Princess Mary Street. Thick smoke rose into the sky from the direction of Mamilla and the entire area seemed engulfed in chaos. Soon enough the street had emptied. Alone in the shop, Luna was scared to death. A sense of foreboding gripped her. She wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible and run to her parents' house, but how could she? She couldn't leave the shop open and unattended. The keys were with Mr. Zacks, who hadn't yet returned from the bank. But before she could decide what to do Mr. Zacks came running in, out of breath. “There's been an explosion at the King David,” he said. “Run home before the curfew starts.”

“God help us. David, what about David? The carpentry shop's right next to the Rex Cinema. It's only five minutes from the King David.”

“David's a man, he'll look after himself. Run home before the English put up concertina wire all over the city and you can't get anywhere.”

Luna hurried toward Agrippas Street, her high heels catching in the cobblestones and making her stumble. In the end she took them off and ran barefoot. When she got to her parents' home, her father was already sitting at the radio surrounded by neighbors who'd come to listen to the news. “Thank God you're here,” he said to his daughter. “And David, where is he?”

“He probably can't get over here.”

Panting, Moise and Rachelika arrived a few minutes after Luna.

“We closed the shop,” Moise said. “The whole market's closed. They're saying the Etzel blew up the British offices in the King David.”

“Where's Becky?” Rachelika asked.

All of them were anxious about Becky. Rosa restlessly paced from one room to another. Not only was she worried about Becky, but whenever a disaster happened that evidently involved members of the Lehi or Etzel, despite her anger she was scared half to death that something had happened to Ephraim, God forbid.

Gabriel turned up the volume on the radio. The Voice of Jerusalem newsreader announced that at 12:37 an explosion in Jerusalem shook the city. An entire wing of the King David Hotel had been destroyed, leaving shattered masonry and clouds of dust behind. “The number of dead is still unknown, and whether there are Jews among them,” the newsreader reported.

Gabriel turned off the radio and the arguments for and against the action began in loud voices. Luna blocked her ears, went into the other room, lay down on her childhood bed, and buried her face in the pillow.

The door opened and Rachelika stood in the doorway. “What's the matter, Luna?”

“Enough, enough, I've had enough! I can't take anymore! I can't take this tension! Every day there's shooting. Every day there's explosions. Every day there are people killed. And who knows where Becky and David are? Who knows where they're stuck with all this danger out there?”

“David probably went to look for you at Zacks & Son,” Rachelika tried to calm her sister. “And when he sees that the shop's closed he'll come here, and Becky will be here soon. Calm down, Lunika, now's not the time for hysterics.”

“What do you want me to do? I'm dead scared that something will happen to me, dead scared that a building will collapse on me when I'm walking down the street, dead scared I'll be shot by mistake. I'm living in fear all the time!”

“Tell me, hermanita, what's really frightening you? Is it the situation out there or your personal one?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Luna, I'm your sister. I look at you and I see that your lovely eyes are sad. What's the matter, Lunika?”

“Nothing's the matter. You're talking nonsense.”

“Lunika querida, please talk to me. I don't want to interfere in your business, but if there's something you want to tell me, if there's something troubling you, talk to me.”

“The only thing that's troubling me right now is you. Just leave me alone!”

“All right, if that's what you want, but I know that something not good is going on. You can't hide it from me. You can put on a show for Papo and Mother, but not for me.”

“Mother doesn't even look at me, so I don't have to hide anything from her.”

“So it's true? There's something you're hiding?”

“I'm not hiding anything. Just get out of here!” she screamed as if possessed by a dybbuk and threw a pillow at her sister. “Get out of here! If you weren't pregnant I'd throw a shoe at you!”

The shouts brought Moise rushing in. “What happened?”

“Nothing happened,” Rachelika replied. “Let's go.”

Luna buried her face in the pillow and began weeping uncontrollably. She cried for a long time, her sobs turning into gasps. She wept for her life that had lost its meaning, for her youth lost forever, for her husband who she now knew for sure she shouldn't have married. How had it happened that she of all people, to whom so many men were prepared to give the moon, had married a man who didn't love her?

She suddenly felt that she wasn't alone. She opened her eyes and saw Rachelika sitting silently on the bed beside her. Rachelika stroked her head and brushed her tears away.

“Why are you crying, Lunika, why are you crying?”

She felt she could no longer go on living the lie. She had to tell her sister.

“I'm crying over my life, hermanita, my wasted life. I waited for my knight on a white horse for so long and he came, but he's not a knight or anything like it.”

“What are you saying? What's happening with you and David?”

“Tell me, Rachelika, how often do you and Moise do it?”

“Do what?”

“You know, do
it
.”

“Luna, what kind of a question is that?”

“All right, it's clear that you do. Otherwise your belly wouldn't be swelling, and it's clear that David and I don't do it,” she said and lifted her blouse to expose her flat belly.

“Luna, what do you mean, you don't do it?”

“How often do you and Moise do it?”