Read Online A Life Worth Living by Pnina Baim - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Pnina Baim
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nine years old, and her father, after the obligatory twelve-month waiting period, had promptly remarried and had another set of children. Serena understood loneliness and nostalgia more than the average seminary girl.
The administration, on the other hand, wasn’t too keen on her. They didn’t like the stories Serena regaled the girls with late at night about sleeping in parks on a dare, or shoplifting a whole outfit by changing in the dressing room and walking out of the store in her new clothes. The school frowned on the questions Serena raised in class, about the role of women in Judaism, what happens after death, and where God was during the Holocaust. And although her clothing met the strict modesty guidelines the school demanded, there was something suggestive about how she put together her ensembles.
“ Buenas noches, muchachas !” Rikky burst into the dorm room. “Or should I say,” she paused to strike a pose, “what up, homies?”
Gaby looked up from the poem she was co-writing with Serena from her perch on the top of the bunk bed, and pulled out an ear bud. “You don’t think we speak regular English in Brooklyn?” She tossed the spiral bound notebook back to Serena, who was lying on the bed underneath her.
“Yeah, straight up English, yo,” Serena said. She scribbled something and returned the notebook to Gaby.
Gaby took a look at what Serena had written, and laughed. So far, the poem looked like this:
If we are here, how can we be free?
If we have always been here, how can we know what freedom is?
Air is sweet, and potential is endless, yet here we are, taking the path most taken.
I have never been freed, I have only been the walking dead.
“ N'importe quoi . I want to go to the Kotel . Want to come?” Like most Europeans, Rikky was fluent in multiple languages, and loved using the slang in each one.
“Hello, curfew,” Gaby reminded Rikky. “We should send this poem in to a magazine,” she said to Serena. “This is some quality stuff.”
“It’s only nine o’clock; we have an hour and fifteen minutes left before the doors are locked,” Rikky insisted.
Gaby looked at her watch. “It’s already nine-thirty, so we only have forty-five minutes left.”
“I have my wily ways,” Rikky said. “But enough with the depressing emo-time. The Kotel is so beautiful at night. Come with me!”
“Hey,” Serena said. “Weren’t you supposed to be going to Haifa tonight?”
“Yeah, but I wasn’t in the mood for packing. I told my aunt I’ll take the bus early tomorrow morning. That’ll give me enough time to get there before shabbos .”
“The buses stop running early on Friday,” Gaby said.
“I’ll take the bus that’s leaving at eight. I already looked at the schedule. So…” Rikky put her hands on her hips. “Are you girls coming or not?”
Gaby looked at Rikky, considering if she was brave enough to go out, knowing there was no chance they’d make it back in time for curfew. She still wasn’t sure how her mother had arranged for her to be accepted into the school, and if the same rules-to-be-broken attitude the other girls shared applied to her.
Rikky stood in the doorway, waiting for their response, her arms akimbo and an impish smile on her face. She was a slim girl, with long ash-blond hair that she liked to wear flipped over to the side. Probably due to some expensive European shampoo, Rikky’s hair was always remarkably straight and shiny. Other than Rikky’s white moon boots, she was dressed liked a typical seminary student, in a knee-length pleated black skirt and pink t-shirt.
Oh well. If she was with the other two, she was pretty sure she wouldn’t get into too much trouble for breaking curfew. “Sure, let’s go.” Gaby jumped off the bed and pulled on a long black skirt over her leggings. She put on a navy blue jacket with horizontal stripes to cover up the lime-green short-sleeve t-shirt she was wearing underneath.
Serena got up as
The administration, on the other hand, wasn’t too keen on her. They didn’t like the stories Serena regaled the girls with late at night about sleeping in parks on a dare, or shoplifting a whole outfit by changing in the dressing room and walking out of the store in her new clothes. The school frowned on the questions Serena raised in class, about the role of women in Judaism, what happens after death, and where God was during the Holocaust. And although her clothing met the strict modesty guidelines the school demanded, there was something suggestive about how she put together her ensembles.
“ Buenas noches, muchachas !” Rikky burst into the dorm room. “Or should I say,” she paused to strike a pose, “what up, homies?”
Gaby looked up from the poem she was co-writing with Serena from her perch on the top of the bunk bed, and pulled out an ear bud. “You don’t think we speak regular English in Brooklyn?” She tossed the spiral bound notebook back to Serena, who was lying on the bed underneath her.
“Yeah, straight up English, yo,” Serena said. She scribbled something and returned the notebook to Gaby.
Gaby took a look at what Serena had written, and laughed. So far, the poem looked like this:
If we are here, how can we be free?
If we have always been here, how can we know what freedom is?
Air is sweet, and potential is endless, yet here we are, taking the path most taken.
I have never been freed, I have only been the walking dead.
“ N'importe quoi . I want to go to the Kotel . Want to come?” Like most Europeans, Rikky was fluent in multiple languages, and loved using the slang in each one.
“Hello, curfew,” Gaby reminded Rikky. “We should send this poem in to a magazine,” she said to Serena. “This is some quality stuff.”
“It’s only nine o’clock; we have an hour and fifteen minutes left before the doors are locked,” Rikky insisted.
Gaby looked at her watch. “It’s already nine-thirty, so we only have forty-five minutes left.”
“I have my wily ways,” Rikky said. “But enough with the depressing emo-time. The Kotel is so beautiful at night. Come with me!”
“Hey,” Serena said. “Weren’t you supposed to be going to Haifa tonight?”
“Yeah, but I wasn’t in the mood for packing. I told my aunt I’ll take the bus early tomorrow morning. That’ll give me enough time to get there before shabbos .”
“The buses stop running early on Friday,” Gaby said.
“I’ll take the bus that’s leaving at eight. I already looked at the schedule. So…” Rikky put her hands on her hips. “Are you girls coming or not?”
Gaby looked at Rikky, considering if she was brave enough to go out, knowing there was no chance they’d make it back in time for curfew. She still wasn’t sure how her mother had arranged for her to be accepted into the school, and if the same rules-to-be-broken attitude the other girls shared applied to her.
Rikky stood in the doorway, waiting for their response, her arms akimbo and an impish smile on her face. She was a slim girl, with long ash-blond hair that she liked to wear flipped over to the side. Probably due to some expensive European shampoo, Rikky’s hair was always remarkably straight and shiny. Other than Rikky’s white moon boots, she was dressed liked a typical seminary student, in a knee-length pleated black skirt and pink t-shirt.
Oh well. If she was with the other two, she was pretty sure she wouldn’t get into too much trouble for breaking curfew. “Sure, let’s go.” Gaby jumped off the bed and pulled on a long black skirt over her leggings. She put on a navy blue jacket with horizontal stripes to cover up the lime-green short-sleeve t-shirt she was wearing underneath.
Serena got up as
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