Read Online An Orphan's Tale by Jay Neugeboren - Free Book Online Page A

the Mow-er… Mur-ray the Mow-er…”
    â€œThere’s no point in draining it yet,” Murray argued. “Why did we pay to get a heated pool if we don’t use it at this time of year?”
    Charlie sat in the car. Anita held Danny back slightly, by the arm, and whispered to him to take care of Charlie, to promise to see that he didn’t work so hard.
    Charlie looked past Danny, out the car window, into the blackness, and, in his head, he saw the tables in the main dining room, set with white linen cloths and the Home’s special Passover plates and silverware. It was black outside the dining room windows also, and most of the boys were swaying from side to side and flopping into each other, to prove how much wine they’d had to drink.
    Dr. Fogel sat at the head table, on two huge white pillows. Murray sat next to him on a single pillow, helping him run the Seder. The director, the counselors, and several guests-former orphans who had become successful doctors or lawyers or businessmen but who, like Sol, had no families of their own, sat with them.
    Charlie wondered: am I still the simplest son? He remembered the story they had read, about the four sons—the wise son, the wicked son, the simple son, and the son-who-doesn’t-know-how-to-ask. The wise son asked for the meaning of the Passover laws. The wicked son asked, “What do you mean by this Seder?” and by using the word “you” he did not include himself. The simple son asked what it was all about. But the simplest son said nothing—and Charlie could see Murray calling upon him to read the part from the Passover Haggadah. Even now, more than twenty years later, Charlie felt, all over again, slightly nauseated with helplessness. He heard the silence as the three hundred boys waited for him to read and then, realizing that they made the connection—Murray had chosen him because everyone knew he had trouble reading—he heard their raucous laughter fill the room and he saw Murray smile at him triumphantly.
    Charlie saw Dr. Fogel stand and point to the cup of wine that had been set out for the prophet Elijah. It was much later and the Seder was almost over. Some of the boys were sleeping with their heads on the tables. The dishes—all but the wineglasses—had been cleared.
    Charlie heard Dr. Fogel say that the coming of Elijah would herald the coming of the Messiah. The Jewish People had been chosen to be a blessing unto all nations, and all nations would, in the time of the Messiah, know why. The joy and freedom of the Seder—the singing and drinking and being allowed to eat as one wished, sitting or reclining—was but a small taste of the Olam Habah —the world to come. They would open the door for Elijah, Dr. Fogel said, and they would pray to God and ask Him to pour out His wrath upon the heathen who did not know His name. They would ask Him to destroy those who had destroyed the House of Jacob….
    The room was absolutely still. Charlie heard Dr. Fogel speak again. “We will now open the door so that Elijah may come in and join us. Let the stranger and the homeless—let all those who are hungry and poor—let the widowed and the orphaned—let them enter also!”
    Charlie saw the back of his own head as he turned to face the doorway. A group of boys raced to it, fighting with each other for the honor, and when they had shoved it open, there was Sol, a big grin on his face. The boys all gasped—and then they cheered. Dr. Fogel began chanting the prayer, looked up, and stopped. Sol stepped into the room, laughing and waving. Charlie remembered how his own heart had leapt, how he had run from his chair and tried to get through the pack of boys surrounding Sol. “It’s Elijah! It’s Elijah!” they had all screamed, and Charlie had joined with them.
    When Sol had reached the head table, and was shaking hands with the other men, Dr. Fogel was