Read Online No Time for Tears by Cynthia Freeman - Free Book Online
Authors: Cynthia Freeman
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earrings.”
“ No , that’s the legacy she left you. It’s my place to provide. I am your husband…”
She didn’t want to argue that, but this was playing with their lives. “Listen to me, Dovid. I know that they will be back, and I can’t eat or sleep for thinking about it. But even if they don’t come back because of him, they will come back. Please, let’s not be here when the pogroms start again. You’ve heard what is happening in Kiev, in the Ukraine and in the settlements, you know the violence and burnings that are going on. No, Dovid, we can’t wait. Next time we might not be so lucky. That you’re alive is a miracle …”
Dovid looked at his wife. Actually he’d wanted this for a long time, and it was Chavala that was making it possible, arguing for it … he only hoped he could make it up to her. “Chavala … I never knew a man could be so lucky … you, my darling, are no ordinary woman…”
“How much do you want for these?” the jeweler in Odessa asked.
Chavala stood nervously as the jeweler looked through his loupe examining the small diamond earrings, wondering how these tiny gems had come to a peasant Small they were, but perfect and blue-white. “So how much do you want?”
How much? Quickly Chavala tried to figure what it would take them to get to Palestine. “Tell me what they’re worth to you, if the price is right, I’ll take it, if not, I’ll go elsewhere.”
He inspected them once again. “Ten rubles.”
“Thank you, that’s very kind, but give me back my earrings—”
“Fifteen. I should have offered only twelve, but… for a pretty—”
“I shouldn’t take less than fifty, but give me forty and they’re yours.”
He laughed, “You’re crazy … I can buy them in the marketplace for—”
“Thank you, but these are very valuable. I know what they’re worth.” She, of course, knew nothing of the kind.
“My final offer is twenty-five.”
“Thirty.” Fire was in her eyes, terror in her heart.
The man laughed, shook his head. Counting out the money he said, “You should be a diamond merchant. To bargain, you know how very well.”
With the rubles securely in her hand, she said, “And you know how to cheat.”
Turning on her heels she walked with high dignity out the door, slamming it behind her.
As she hurried along the street the echo of the gonifs words rang in her ears. “You should be a diamond merchant …” A possibility? Well, a small pair of diamond earrings was buying their freedom. Diamonds meant money and money meant freedom, the power to be free, at least to challenge the world. The words would live with Chavala … “You should be a diamond merchant …” If they had lived to escape the tyranny and near-death a few short weeks ago, perhaps anything was possible…
When she returned home it was with the steamship tickets they needed for steerage. But her greatest pleasure was handing Dovid one gold napoleon that she was able to convert from the rubles she still had left even after the tickets had been purchased.
Chavala took some heart that at least geographically they were in the right place. Odessa was within walking distance and on the Black Sea. Since Jews had never been able to own property, that was a problem they didn’t have—there was nothing to dispose of. As always, Jews left with only what they could carry.
So on the twenty-second of May in the year 1906, the Rabinsky-Landau family closed the door behind them. There was nothing to look back on in fond memory, except, perhaps for that small sanctuary marked by a blanket, Chavala and Dovid’s universe.
Moishe wheeled Dovid’s handcart filled with their bedding, clothing, cooking utensils and little Chia’s crib. Raizel carried one basket of food, and Dvora another. Sheine insisted she would be the custodian of her own belongings, which she had meticulously packed in a paper carton.
Dovid and Chavala walked side-by-side, she with the baby in her arms, Dovid
“ No , that’s the legacy she left you. It’s my place to provide. I am your husband…”
She didn’t want to argue that, but this was playing with their lives. “Listen to me, Dovid. I know that they will be back, and I can’t eat or sleep for thinking about it. But even if they don’t come back because of him, they will come back. Please, let’s not be here when the pogroms start again. You’ve heard what is happening in Kiev, in the Ukraine and in the settlements, you know the violence and burnings that are going on. No, Dovid, we can’t wait. Next time we might not be so lucky. That you’re alive is a miracle …”
Dovid looked at his wife. Actually he’d wanted this for a long time, and it was Chavala that was making it possible, arguing for it … he only hoped he could make it up to her. “Chavala … I never knew a man could be so lucky … you, my darling, are no ordinary woman…”
“How much do you want for these?” the jeweler in Odessa asked.
Chavala stood nervously as the jeweler looked through his loupe examining the small diamond earrings, wondering how these tiny gems had come to a peasant Small they were, but perfect and blue-white. “So how much do you want?”
How much? Quickly Chavala tried to figure what it would take them to get to Palestine. “Tell me what they’re worth to you, if the price is right, I’ll take it, if not, I’ll go elsewhere.”
He inspected them once again. “Ten rubles.”
“Thank you, that’s very kind, but give me back my earrings—”
“Fifteen. I should have offered only twelve, but… for a pretty—”
“I shouldn’t take less than fifty, but give me forty and they’re yours.”
He laughed, “You’re crazy … I can buy them in the marketplace for—”
“Thank you, but these are very valuable. I know what they’re worth.” She, of course, knew nothing of the kind.
“My final offer is twenty-five.”
“Thirty.” Fire was in her eyes, terror in her heart.
The man laughed, shook his head. Counting out the money he said, “You should be a diamond merchant. To bargain, you know how very well.”
With the rubles securely in her hand, she said, “And you know how to cheat.”
Turning on her heels she walked with high dignity out the door, slamming it behind her.
As she hurried along the street the echo of the gonifs words rang in her ears. “You should be a diamond merchant …” A possibility? Well, a small pair of diamond earrings was buying their freedom. Diamonds meant money and money meant freedom, the power to be free, at least to challenge the world. The words would live with Chavala … “You should be a diamond merchant …” If they had lived to escape the tyranny and near-death a few short weeks ago, perhaps anything was possible…
When she returned home it was with the steamship tickets they needed for steerage. But her greatest pleasure was handing Dovid one gold napoleon that she was able to convert from the rubles she still had left even after the tickets had been purchased.
Chavala took some heart that at least geographically they were in the right place. Odessa was within walking distance and on the Black Sea. Since Jews had never been able to own property, that was a problem they didn’t have—there was nothing to dispose of. As always, Jews left with only what they could carry.
So on the twenty-second of May in the year 1906, the Rabinsky-Landau family closed the door behind them. There was nothing to look back on in fond memory, except, perhaps for that small sanctuary marked by a blanket, Chavala and Dovid’s universe.
Moishe wheeled Dovid’s handcart filled with their bedding, clothing, cooking utensils and little Chia’s crib. Raizel carried one basket of food, and Dvora another. Sheine insisted she would be the custodian of her own belongings, which she had meticulously packed in a paper carton.
Dovid and Chavala walked side-by-side, she with the baby in her arms, Dovid
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