Read Online The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Nathan Englander
Ads: Link
one to drag him along.”
“What helps no one is a university education. That’s what’s a waste.”
“It’s an indefensible position. You know it’s not so.”
Kaddish put his glass on Lillian’s folder and sat down across from her. “The university is the worst place to be right now. You think I don’t get it, but I do. The men who run this country are more like me than like Pato.”
Lillian laughed out loud.
“Seriously,” Kaddish said. “Angry intellectual types make them nervous. I know it, because I feel the same way. If they’re as afraid of the boy as I am.”
“You do a fine job of torturing him for someone who’s scared.”
“When a government is scared, do you think it’s any wiser? I tell you, they’re not messing around this time. Order is what they’re after, and order is being restored. They’ve got everyone working double shifts, the goon squads and the garbagemen both.”
“And that’s the night you want to sneak off into with your son? It makes no sense. You contradict yourself all the way through.”
Kaddish adjusted his legs at the table. His knee passed Lillian’s, and she moved her feet so he could extend his leg between hers.
“It’s safe for us,” Kaddish said. “Safe for people who mind their own business and dangerous for the ones who threaten them.”
“Like university students,” Lillian said, taking Kaddish seriously, thinking it through.
“Yes,” Kaddish said. “Politicals and revolutionaries and hippies and university students.” He reached across the adding machine and pressed at the keys. He liked the clicking of the paper roll.
“What about bogeymen who roam the graveyards in darkness?”
“Not even on their radar,” Kaddish said. “The only danger from that cemetery is to those who don’t protect their names.” Kaddish could see that he was losing Lillian’s attention, problems appearing in her head. “I want to give him something, Lillian. The world flips: Good people with everything, comfortable people in a flash out on the streets. To survive one must have a skill. A bunch of facts won’t protect Pato, not if he reads every book in the world.”
Lillian didn’t need to hear this from Kaddish. She knew better than him what a person could lose. Every permutation of bad fortune made it across her desk. She was also the one whose parents were both struck down by illness within the same month—her parents gone, and she’d never gotten to reconcile. Not once had they seen Kaddish with her as her husband. She couldn’t match him for sad family history. This didn’t mean she was oblivious to the hardships in the world.
“I’m taking him with me tonight,” Kaddish said.
Lillian stretched out her fingers and stared at her hands.
“That Rafa is too fast,” she said. She put her hands on the table, her fingers spread wide. She raised her eyes to Kaddish. “You should take it more seriously, who your son hangs out with. It is no good these days to mix with the wrong crowd.”
“You want me to tell him, his father with a whorehouse education? This is what strikes fear into a college boy? He didn’t listen to me when he was six and thought I was the greatest thing in the world.”
“He didn’t think it at six.” Lillian replaced her glasses and straightened up her papers. Kaddish lifted his drink. “If you can drag him to that cemetery, you can convince him of this. Anyway, he is your son. Still you should try.”
Kaddish bit an ice cube in half.
“Trying is the one thing I’m good at. When have I ever stopped trying?”
[ Eight ]
THE DOCTOR’S INFORMATION was as good as his name. The stone read PINKUS “ TOOTHLESS ” MAZURSKY in Spanish and had an epitaph in Yiddish underneath:
Hang a scarlet cord from the gates of Heaven, as Rahab did from her wall
.
Pato dropped the tool bag and it hit with a clatter. Kaddish asked for nothing. He got down on his knees. He pulled a chisel with a crenellated end and then switched
“What helps no one is a university education. That’s what’s a waste.”
“It’s an indefensible position. You know it’s not so.”
Kaddish put his glass on Lillian’s folder and sat down across from her. “The university is the worst place to be right now. You think I don’t get it, but I do. The men who run this country are more like me than like Pato.”
Lillian laughed out loud.
“Seriously,” Kaddish said. “Angry intellectual types make them nervous. I know it, because I feel the same way. If they’re as afraid of the boy as I am.”
“You do a fine job of torturing him for someone who’s scared.”
“When a government is scared, do you think it’s any wiser? I tell you, they’re not messing around this time. Order is what they’re after, and order is being restored. They’ve got everyone working double shifts, the goon squads and the garbagemen both.”
“And that’s the night you want to sneak off into with your son? It makes no sense. You contradict yourself all the way through.”
Kaddish adjusted his legs at the table. His knee passed Lillian’s, and she moved her feet so he could extend his leg between hers.
“It’s safe for us,” Kaddish said. “Safe for people who mind their own business and dangerous for the ones who threaten them.”
“Like university students,” Lillian said, taking Kaddish seriously, thinking it through.
“Yes,” Kaddish said. “Politicals and revolutionaries and hippies and university students.” He reached across the adding machine and pressed at the keys. He liked the clicking of the paper roll.
“What about bogeymen who roam the graveyards in darkness?”
“Not even on their radar,” Kaddish said. “The only danger from that cemetery is to those who don’t protect their names.” Kaddish could see that he was losing Lillian’s attention, problems appearing in her head. “I want to give him something, Lillian. The world flips: Good people with everything, comfortable people in a flash out on the streets. To survive one must have a skill. A bunch of facts won’t protect Pato, not if he reads every book in the world.”
Lillian didn’t need to hear this from Kaddish. She knew better than him what a person could lose. Every permutation of bad fortune made it across her desk. She was also the one whose parents were both struck down by illness within the same month—her parents gone, and she’d never gotten to reconcile. Not once had they seen Kaddish with her as her husband. She couldn’t match him for sad family history. This didn’t mean she was oblivious to the hardships in the world.
“I’m taking him with me tonight,” Kaddish said.
Lillian stretched out her fingers and stared at her hands.
“That Rafa is too fast,” she said. She put her hands on the table, her fingers spread wide. She raised her eyes to Kaddish. “You should take it more seriously, who your son hangs out with. It is no good these days to mix with the wrong crowd.”
“You want me to tell him, his father with a whorehouse education? This is what strikes fear into a college boy? He didn’t listen to me when he was six and thought I was the greatest thing in the world.”
“He didn’t think it at six.” Lillian replaced her glasses and straightened up her papers. Kaddish lifted his drink. “If you can drag him to that cemetery, you can convince him of this. Anyway, he is your son. Still you should try.”
Kaddish bit an ice cube in half.
“Trying is the one thing I’m good at. When have I ever stopped trying?”
[ Eight ]
THE DOCTOR’S INFORMATION was as good as his name. The stone read PINKUS “ TOOTHLESS ” MAZURSKY in Spanish and had an epitaph in Yiddish underneath:
Hang a scarlet cord from the gates of Heaven, as Rahab did from her wall
.
Pato dropped the tool bag and it hit with a clatter. Kaddish asked for nothing. He got down on his knees. He pulled a chisel with a crenellated end and then switched
Similar Books
