Read Online The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen - Free Book Online

plaintive syllable.
    â€œWe
will
be married, Fayge. Your father will marry us. Maybe not here, in your
shul
. Maybe not even under a wedding canopy.”
    â€œNot under a canopy?” Fayge was shocked.
    â€œWe
will
be married, in God’s sight,” Shmuel said adamantly. “I promise you that nothing will keep us apart.”
    â€œThe Nazis will,” Hannah said suddenly. She could feel the rapid thudding of her heart as she spoke. “They’ll take you from here and put you in a concentration camp. Then they’ll put you in gas ovens and kill you.” She could hear her voice rise in pitch; its intensity frightened her.
    â€œChaya!” Gitl said sharply, putting her fingers up toHannah’s lips and whispering hoarsely at her. “Hush! The soldiers will hear.”
    Turning in Shmuel’s arms, Fayge stared at Hannah, her beautiful face sharp, her eyes nearly all pupil. “How can you talk like that? Your words will fly up to heaven and call down the Angel of Death, Lilith’s bridegroom, with his poisoned sword.”
    Gitl shook her finger at Fayge. “Nonsense! You talk like one of the old women in the village—angels and poisoned swords. Why not flying chariots and the finger of the Lord? Chaya does no such thing. How could she? She is only a child, as you are no longer. She is a child with too much imagination and stories filling her head. She has just been recalled by a miracle from the doors of death. Shame, shame, Fayge, to make her into some kind of monster.”
    Rachel interrupted. “Tante Gitl, I think I know what Chaya is talking about. She told us a story this morning. About two children named . . .” She thought a moment. “Yes, Hansel and Gitl.”
    â€œGretel,” Hannah corrected automatically.
    â€œYes, Gretel,” Rachel said. “And there is a witch who shoves little boys into ovens and eats them.” She shuddered and drew a deep breath. “A fairy tale.”
    â€œThe gas ovens I mean are no fairy tale,” Hannah said.
    Gitl raised her chin, squinted her eyes and, ignoring Hannah, addressed Fayge directly. “See, my almost-sister-in-law, the child was just reciting a story. And surely we have more important things to worry about than
bobbe meinses
, tall tales.” Her hands went up andthen back down to her skirt, where she wiped them twice.
    â€œAnd what could be more important than such a curse,” Fayge asked, adding slowly, “my sister Gitl?”
    Gitl smiled. “Are your mother and grandmother not important? Where are they? Why have they not come out to greet us?”
    Fayge looked around. “Gitl, you are right. Where are they? And where is Tante Sarah and Tante Devorah and . . .” Her voice trailed off and she turned back to look at Shmuel. “And all the rest, where are they?” Her hand twisted and twisted one gold earbob nervously.
    Stony-faced, Shmuel wouldn’t look down to meet her eyes. In a flat voice he said, “The colonel informed us that they have been sent for resettlement already. We will meet them there.”
    â€œYou can’t believe that!” Hannah cried.
    â€œWhat else can we believe?” Shmuel asked. “Gas ovens? Lilith’s bridegroom? Poisoned swords? The Angel of Death?”
    Just then Reb Boruch cleared his throat loudly and all the little knots of people who had been talking fell silent.
    â€œMy friends, my neighbors, my children,” he began, “it seems we have no choice in this matter. The government has decreed that we are to be relocated for the duration of this war. This war in which we Jews take no part. So it is with governments.”
    There was a murmur of assent from the men.
    â€œMy wife, my mother, my sisters—and all of yours—those who were waiting here in Viosk for our return from the forest, those who were getting ready for the wedding, they have been sent ahead. They have